June 17,2022 Day 21: Mite Cove to Pelican 66 miles- 1822 total miles
We knew we wanted to get to Pelican today, but before Pelican we wanted to explore this little section of water. Chris saw that there was a public forest dock that led to a shelter and we wanted to go check it out. We made it to Bohemia Basin Shelter, docked the boat and went exploring. I haven’t seen a shelter quite like this one before. It was basically a cabin with three walls. Instead of having a front door and the wall there it was all open. It did have a big tarp you could lower to close it all off. There was a wood burning stove, a little desk type thing, and some bunks people could sleep on. Off the front porch type thing was a fire pit. On the dock there was a bunch of chopped wood, but I don’t know if that is always there. We walked around the beach at low tide and walked over to the mouth of the river. The kids played in the river and Ellen threw rocks in the river. Everytime we are on land I am on high alert for bears. I am most nervous that one will come between us and our boat/dinghy and we will be trapped until it decides to move. Also having three little kids just keeps my guard up. After exploring for a while it was time to get back on the boat and keep on exploring.
We anchored at Lost Cove for lunch and then continued on. We went down a finger of water called Stag Bay and made it to the end of that. That whole finger was so beautiful. Tall mountains looming overhead capped with snow. The melting snow creates these beautiful waterfalls and it was just stunning all through here.
At the end of Stag Bay right at the mouth of Saltery River we saw a brown bear walking around on the beach. After watching the bear for a while we headed towards Pelican.
Pelican is another fishing village. People will also come here to do fishing charters like in Elfin Cove. People will either boat in or take a float plane. There are lodges for them to stay in.
When we got to Pelican we got gas, and docked the boat and walked around. Pelican is also a boardwalk town like Elfin Cove. While there we looked at the showers and laundry and debated if we needed them. We just did laundry/showers in Hoonah, but we would need to shower and do laundry before our stay in Juneau. We thought Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay had laundry and showers, but we couldn’t quite find out for sure if they were for lodge guests, or open to boaters as well. Pelican did have internet so we tried to get more information on Bartlett Cove. We also messaged our families that we were doing OK. In the end we decided to wait on laundry and showers and hope Bartlett Cove had them. We were hoping to eat on land in Pelican, but the cafe was closed for the day. It looks like the fishing charter lodges do serve food to their guests, but it didn’t look like it was open to the public, bummer.
We weren’t sure if we were going to stay the night at Pelican, but there was more we wanted to see nearby so we hopped in the boat and went exploring some more. We decided to boat to the end of Lisianski Strait. At the end of Lisianski Strait we saw 2 bears on the beach/meadows. Both were brown bears. After watching them for a while, it was time to move on. We headed back towards Pelican, shortly after we turned around we saw another brown bear. When we were almost back to Pelican we saw a mom and her big cub walking around when another bigger bear came out and was approaching them. Mom and the cub took off running and the big guy chased them. Mom decided she wasn’t going to be able to outrun the big guy so she turned to fight him. They stood up on their hind legs and she let him know to back off. Soon the bear drama was over and each set of bears went on their merry way. It was quite exciting to watch.
After watching so many bears it was getting late and we decided we would just tie at the dock in Pelican for the night. Chris took the kids potty while I made dinner and we settled in for the night.
Bear Count: Today: 7 Total: 14 (Another day doubling our bear count).
Ryan’s Thoughts: We saw bears and one was a baby and one stood on its hind legs and a bunch of otters.
Lillian’s Thoughts: Today is the 3 week mark! In the morning I had a granola bar. The afternoon was no better! SO to pass the time I will sing it in a rap. “First we went through rough water, then I sang a song! Back back forward forward brush brush oh oh! Then I watched a movie! Oh Oh hahahaha. Sing with me! Then it was the evening. The evening was a whole lot better, I saw bears BEARS!! Holy Holy! Then we walked around! And now I’m going CRAZY!!!”
The drone pictures are from Mite Cove. We like to do drone footage of where we stayed in the morning before we leave. Sometimes we get to anchorage pretty late at night and we are ready to get into bed.
