Snettisham 2009-1

Snettisham 2009 - 7: Family
July 17 - 19

kayaking

Since my niece arrived, I'd been looking forward to taking her and her parents to the homestead for the first time, so we set aside a weekend early in the summer for a family trip. With such a large group, my parents were kind enough to take us all down in the Alaskan and join in the fun. I'd spent the previous weekend with Kellee at Snettisham, but managed to pull enough energy together to get ready for this one, including loading about 12 pieces of lumber down to the boat Thursday evening. I suggested they leave Friday in the mid-afternoon so they could arrived in time to tour the property and settle in before it got too late; they planned to depart Aurora Harbor at 3:00 pm. Swamped at work, I stuck it out until three as well, then stopped by the gas station to fill jerry jugs with extra fuel, changed clothes, grabbed Nigel and the perishables, and flew off to Douglas harbor to meet up with them somewhere down the channel on the Ronquil. I parked at the harbor at about 3:45 and thought I saw the Alaskan passing Sandy Beach. The ramp was fairly steep, but I made it down in one trip, loaded the boat, returned the cart to the bottom of the ramp (it's been a long time since I've had to do that alone!) and cleaned Nigel's poop off the dock. I took off just as the rain set in, ending our stretch of beautiful weather. As I pulled out of the harbor with my half empty beer in hand, I turned on the handheld, determined that channel 10 was clear, and was about to hail the Alaskan on 16 when I heard my mother call me. We briefly touched base, then I started down the channel bucking some miserable chop from the south. It wasn't very big, but severely uncomfortable and the rain soon started coming down in droves (see photo above). Visibility dropped. I wound up throttling up, which speeded up and eased the bumping somewhat and heading for the Alaskan somewhat farther down the channel. I was quite disappointed to find that the boat I was making for was actually a fishing boat and the Alaskan was nowhere in sight. Thankfully, the seas diminished a little as I entered Taku Inlet and I started to make out a faint yellow dot in the distance which I hoped was my destination. I was quite happy to pull up to it, roughly off of Point Arden in the middle of the Inlet. I handed off Nigel and my gear to my dad and Jia Jia, tied the tow line to the bow, and descended into the salon to relax and play games with my niece until we arrived at the homestead. We finished a puzzle, played some Connect 4, then hung out in the fo'c'sle playing Super Mario Brothers on a DS. My mother made a variety of delicious burgers for supper.

Once we arrived, my parents set anchor and we loaded up the Ronquil with all our gear and the lumber I'd brought along to finish the connecting deck. I pulled away without passengers, then realized I had plenty of room and turned around to pick up Mike, Amelia, and Jia Jia. We arrived at a fairly high tide and dropped off all the gear and the 2x6s and 2x8s that I'd brought along. I quickly anchored the boat, then gave everyone a tour of the property. We wound up back at the lodge where we built a little fire, made jiffy pop, drank hot chocolate, and played mastermind and "BS" (the card game). Later I hauled the lumber up from where we'd left it at the edge of the shore when we first arrived. Unlike most of my guests, my brother's family turned in relatively early so I was able to make some notes in bed about the day and about the previous weekend in preparation for writing trip reports and get a little extra sleep too. At about 10:30 I heard a series of eight or so gun shots and, worried that my parents were trying to signal us, threw on some clothes and ran down to the point to take a look. All appeared serene, so I went back to bed. The next day we watched a Coast Guard buoy tender enter Gilbert Bay and leave that evening, but I suspect it wasn't related.

Ronquil getting ready to be towed

About to anchor

Alaskan

The next morning I got up at 8:30 and cleaned up the lodge. My brother and his family were still in their cabin, so I decided I'd kayak out to the Alaskan to find out what my parents were planning and cajole them to shore. High tides (ideal for making landings) were in the late morning and evening, which made spending the afternoon ashore awkward. In the end, they agreed to come in later in the morning on their inflatable dingy and take it from there. Back at the lodge everyone was up and I made pancakes for breakfast and Russian tea. My mom came to shore to walk Rosie, decked out in her new adorable yellow life jacket. The last time she came to Snettisham in the Alaskan she leaped out of the inflatable as it was being hoisted aboard and, thankfully, my crew was able to pull her out of the water into a kayak and from there to the boat. The handle on the life jacket makes that much easier! Rosie was vomiting and otherwise not feeling well, so my mother left her ashore while she went back to the Alaskan.

The rest of us lounged around the lodge and Jia Jia and I played Connect 4. At 10:30 my parents showed up and I got to show my dad the deck that Chris and I built this spring and the new connecting walkway. We all chatted in the lodge for a bit, then Amelia made taco salads for lunch and we ate it in the sunshine on the front deck. After we rested for a bit, my mom took my dad back to the Alaskan and the rest of us got ready to go kayaking. We met my mom on the water (she'd towed a kayak with her to the boat); Jia Jia and I took Keet, the double kayak, and my brother and Amelia took Taan and Cheech. My mother met us out in there in Tsaa and we took off across the river. Unfortunately, we left on a falling tide, which meant that the current along the far shore where the main channel runs was swift. Motivated to get to the rocks (which makes for more interesting kayaking), I reached the opposite shore first, struggling against the current as I approached. I took a chance that the current would be tolerable right against the rocks and bolted across the channel. Surprisingly, this seemed to work, and I quickly discovered that I could paddle upriver easily and found a place to hold my position and wait for the others. Jia Jia thought the rocks were big (they were). She needed to get out of the kayak soon so I looked for a spot along the rocks. However, they were as inaccessible as they were dramatic--steep, smooth, and wet with the falling tide, and I didn't want to risk her falling in. Up ahead I saw a little beach so I hightailed it there, leaving the others in the middle of the river. I tried to motion back to them to hug the shore and escape the current, but didn't manage to get the message across. Jia Jia and I pulled up to the beach which turned out to be all along the bottom of the big avalanche--I didn't know there was a beach there! At the lower end of it was the big, smooth rock that Kellee and I had seen while kayaking the week before, now accessible via the muddy beach at the bottom. Jia Jia and I explored a little, walking to the two waterfalls upriver. The larger one made a gorgeous pool at the bottom that drained to the river via a clear, brisk little creek with fry in it. It was lovely. The beach itself was pretty muddy and strewn with slimy rocks. I taught Jia Jia, by accident, the words "stepping" and "deep" as I helped her over the rough terrain.

Soon the others showed up, worn out from fighting the current. It was a beautiful afternoon, warm and pleasant, and we all wound up hanging around on the smooth rocks after looking around the waterfalls. A little pool at the top of the rock had worn away a smooth, amber-stained channel down to the river. On the way back Jia Jia rode with my mom in the double kayak and we enjoyed traveling with the current; surprisingly, with the falling tide, the water was often only barely deep enough to float in. Jia Jia and my mom went aground several times.

Back at the lodge we drained the kayaks and then I got ready for dinner and started to relax. But, there was one small work task that I wanted to finish over the weekend--cutting the rest of the decking pieces for the connecting deck. I'd already measured them earlier in the day and asked my mom to hold them while I cut. We only managed to make three cuts before I ran out of gas. I'd brought along an extra gas can for the generator, but forgot to take it off the boat when we unloaded. My mom was headed back to the Alaskan to pick up my dad, so I asked her to bring one of the extra jerry jugs I'd left there for the return trip (emergency gas). I went back into the lodge and a few minutes later was surprised to see my mother kayaking back to shore without my dad; I was confused until I saw the jerry jug on the kayak. She'd picked it up from the Ronquil so I could finish my task. Amelia came out and helped me hold the boards while I finished cutting them and my mom kayaked out and picked up my dad in the dingy. It was very satisfying to lay the boards out on the joists and give it the appearance of a finished deck. I used up the rest of last year's Sweetheart sockeye for dinner along with rice and zucchini and we all ate in the lodge and visited for some time, playing a little Imaginiff. After my parents left for the Alaskan, we played memory, Uno, and BS. Then Jia Jia wanted to play outside. I didn't have much to entertain her, so I tried to make a teeter-totter out of a 2x4 and one of the log supports for the new benches. It didn't work very well, and we wound up hopping on one foot and otherwise fooling around on the deck before bed.

Rosie in her life jacket coming to shore	Lunch on the deck	Pool below the waterfall
Avalanche beach	Stream	Picnic rock

The next morning I was about to wash dishes when I discovered that the propane tank for the range was empty--I'm actually pretty amazed it lasted this long. I hadn't changed it since last summer and had used it pretty heavily this year. I took off the old tank using my new crescent wrench and attached the new one. I was struggling to turn the valve on when my family came over and Jia Jia came back to help. I struggled, but was unable to turn on the valve and went back inside to find some things to help gain leverage. Jia Jia thought it was all ready, so she turned on one of the burners. I started to tell her that we still needed to open the tank, but was surprised to hear

gas coming out instead. I discovered that the valve on the tank was already on, hence my difficulty in opening it. With a hot pad I was able to turn it off and then on again. We went ahead and lit the pilots, but I was concerned that I could have easily left the homestead with gas leaking out. Jia Jia and I made eggs for her and Amelia for breakfast and Mike and I ate instant oatmeal. I spent most of the rest of the morning cleaning up and getting ready to go. While Mike and Amelia packed up their cabin, Jia Jia helped me paint the ends of the decking pieces I'd cut with Jabsco and then she swept the decks and stairs and part of the inside of the lodge. Around 11:30 we were ready to go. I carried my gear down to the water, then started to pull away in a kayak when Jia Jia came down and called after me, wanting to come

along. I came back and she sat in front of me and paddled most of the way to the Ronquil. Once I pulled anchor and started the engine, she steered it back to shore. We loaded the rest of the gear, then Jia Jia drove all the way back to the Alaskan.

On the way out we passed a whale near Sentinel Point and another huge iceberg near the entrance. We were all pretty tired and the rocking seas made several of us a little queasy. My mother made delicious fried rice, but our stomachs didn't settle enough to eat it until later in the trip. As we approached Mayflower Island, we slowed down and pulled the Ronquil in. My mom and I loaded my gear and Nigel on board, then I untied the tow line from the bow and waved goodbye to Jia Jia.

No photos of Jia Jia are included in this report at the request of her parents.

Jia Jia and Guma's boots