We departed just shy of noon, somewhat delayed as Kyle was called into a work meeting for most of the morning, but the day was fine, a blue bird day, deeply hazed in the distance from (presumably) Canadian wildfires. There were a few ripples coming up the channel, but by the time we hit Taku Open we were on calm seas which held through the trip, a glorious day to be on the water. We passed one whale at the entrance to the port but it was otherwise quiet.

Arriving around 2:00, I anchored the boat just off shore (having initially forgotten that we were to board again shortly), opened up, made us some quesadillas, and then took us all over the Gilbert Bay to introduce my guests to Sweetheart Creek. I knew the chances of fishing were slim, both because it's peak season and I'd already spotted at least four boats at anchor, and because we were a full week into sunny weather and the creek was likely to be too low for successful fishing anyway. One group was leaving as we arrived and another boat left shortly thereafter, but that left a large Gastineau Guiding boat and a smaller boat and we found both points on our side of the creek occupied in numbers and people fishing the upper pool on the opposite side as well--desperation fishing is what I told Jia Jia and Kyle. I asked a couple of the ten or so people on top of the lower point if they minded if we fished the crevasse down below them and one of them assured us we could, so at least we had a place to cast, but it is dark and damp there and people had left trash behind. I had as much success as I expected--that is to say, none--and I was disappointed that I couldn't have at least showed them a nice fishing experience on my point. I could see even from the lower point that the water in the middle pool where I usually fish was very low, as I could see the large rock in the center that is usually more or less submerged or at least awash. It didn't help that there was a young bear roaming quite freely around the area.

I made a number of casting attempts toward the white water, never quite reaching it, then began to teach Jia Jia how to use the net. On her first throw, it predictably landed just off the rocks in a tangle, but I told her to let it soak, and when she pulled it up, I was astonished to find a silvery squirming fish in the net! She had caught a fish on her very first cast. It was small for a sockeye so I assumed jack until I saw the pale pink spots just as I was about to bonk it: dolly. It was large and plump, bigger actually than jacks usually are, but I let it go per Jia Jia's instruction. A good start! She made more casts, improving in her technique, as did I, but no more fish were caught. When Kyle reported that the upper point was vacant, I suggested we reposition, but the young bear had the same idea soon took up position there and ate a fish that must have been left behind. One of the crew near us then crossed the creek to discourage him and took up fishing there instead, catching a pink quickly. The bear headed in our direction and so we called it a day, though he wound up passing over our point and swimming across the creek downstream. In retrospect, it wasn't the best night to go as we were all tired and probably would have benefited from a chill evening at the cabin, but I had suggested it because it was our best chance, theoretically, of not having a crowd. It was never going to be fishable that weekend though. When we got back, we camped out on the porch for the rest of the evening, drinking and chatting and feasting on Jia Jia's bison lasagna at around 9:00, then sticking around until it was getting dark. We headed to bed after 10:00. Two bats showed up to delight us around 9:15, sweeping back and forth for about ten minutes before disappearing.

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I had a good sleep that night followed by a more satisfying bird survey than I've had in a while since the birds have been keeping to themselves in the bushes. I saw at least three orange-crowned warblers--two scruffy YOYs and an adult I think--three Lincoln's sparrows, and two Wilson's warblers including a young female and what looked to be a young male molting into a black cap, one of which was singing their fall song (or another adult was). I had tea and then walked down to the edge of the beach to check out the eagle nestling which I'd noticed was visible from the landing through a gap that I'm not sure used to exist in the foliage at the edge of the nest. He looked big and healthy! Cailey seemed excited for a walk and the day was lovely so we headed up to the grassy point where I saw an eagle flailing about in the tall grass behind the point. At first I thought it might be a fledgling eagle, but the white head suggested otherwise. I'm not sure what was troubling him, but he flailed around for a while, then hopped a bit, and then flew onto a log before heading downriver. I didn't find anything interesting in the grass when I investigated. 

When I got back, I had a delicious cup of jasmine tea on the porch just before Jia Jia and Kyle arrived. We chatted for a bit, then I broke the peace of the morning to weed whack the "garden"; the sedge had grown about six inches, but most of the other vegetation had not changed very much, so it was accomplished in less than half an hour and I only had to sweep the rocky path afterwards. We had leftover lasagna for lunch and enjoyed the bird activity around the porch. It was an overcast day with only a brief front bringing a spattering of rain. I tried a couple of times to check/fill the oil in the generator, which I've been meaning to do all summer, but the first time I tried it was too warm and oil poured out. I had the same experience later (and the next morning) and determined that the oil level must be doing well, not surprising given the minimal use it's had this summer.

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We were all up a little earlier the next day and I took the time to thoroughly stretch in the morning (to an X-Files) in an effort to help the pain in my right knee. I was just starting to work in the shed as the others arrived. My main objective was to pull out all the old paint cans and determine their status, both to recover space in the shed and see if there was any functional primer for Schist House. With the layers of awkward plastic covering everything inside (for drip protection) and the general crowding, I wound up rolling up all the plastic and doing a thorough superficial clean. All the items I'd left sitting out for one reason or another were put away, clutter was stored neatly, the floor was swept, etc., resulting in a surprisingly tidy and organized space. I did not find the floor jack as expected, so will need to look in town. I thought I'd brought it down, but I can't think where it would be if not there. The building definitely needs to be leveled again!

With that done, it was already past low tide and Jia Jia and Kyle had had their tea inside, so we headed out for a walk, first heading downriver to the landslide. A bit of it had eroded away from the tides, but most of it was still intact and, again, impressed me with its volume. We saw the big eaglet again just as we passed underneath, watching us. This time the mud had hardened enough that we could walk right up to the waterfall and I began to climb it just for the fun of it, the slope providing plenty of little ledges and crevasses. Except that the second handhold I grabbed began to come away from the cliff, a big slice of slate, so I hastily retreated!

From there we turned around and walked up to the grassy point, wondering if it was formed in the same way. The main difference is its volume--wider and longer--and the fact that the outside perimeter along the river is composed of large rocks. Perhaps it began as a rock fall and was chased by mud? By then the cloudy morning had morphed into big patches of blue sky and the sun turned the temperature sweltering. It had rained all night and the moisture had removed most of the haze we'd been experiencing for several days, so the mountains popped again. Weirdly, patches of fog right along the ground kept sweeping over us and clouds of it like dust swirled upriver.

We had quesadillas for lunch and then I decided to prep Mink Cabin for Dru and David should they be able to come in September. I'd already cleaned and found it in good condition, but the valve next to the filters had a bad leak in the bottom that my feeble duct tape attempt did not ameliorate. There was no way it would be functional. However, the nearby valve for the hose was working just fine so I figured I could swap them, as the leaking valve didn't leak unless it was open. Easy, right?

Well, not so much. Kyle joined me on this task and I enjoyed explaining a little bit about the water system since, one day, he is likely to take over maintenance. The hose valve came off very easily with a little hot water poured over it (having only one coupling to deal with), but we failed completely to remove either side of the filter valve from the hose and, in the process, the small, rigid water line to the cabin broke inside an elbow coupling. We wound up hacksawing through the black hose on either side of the valve to remove it, then hacksawing through the hose remaining over the couplings on either side of the valve from two or three angles until we could peel it off. I unscrewed one of the couplings of this valve and had just enough hose tape left to screw the valve into the position of the hose valve (after accidentally screwing it right back into the same location). It went back together well from there and then I made an attempt to glue the rigid piece of hose back in its coupling. I'm not optimistic because very little of the upright hose now fits into the coupling, the rest being full of the piece that broke off and can't be removed, but it was worth a try. If it doesn't work, there won't be water in that cabin this time but I'll be able to replace the elbow later.

We had bison pasta for dinner with the rest of Jia Jia's lovely loaf of sourdough bread and lingered on the porch until the bats came and left again. This time they made several swoops upward just in front of the porch, thrilling all of us.

I had big plans for the next day and my internal clock woke me earlier than I had been getting up, just as requested. It was 6:30 and I had time to linger in bed a little before I actually got going, but when I did get up I discovered as I dug my phone out that it was actually 5:58. Oh well! I went ahead and cleaned the cabin, but left the windows open to air it out, then swept the cobwebs from Schist House on the way to the lodge, for I meant to put a first coat of beige paint on it since I didn't have primer. I had a bit of breakfast, then gathered all my materials and opened up the can of paint. Unfortunately, I had not done all the necessary due diligence! The identical can of beige paint I'd used on Gneiss House had mixed up beautifully but, unlike this can, it had been partially used. This unused can was so separated I despaired of ever mixing it and quickly gave up the project. Later that morning I made a long list of supplies needed for the many little projects that I identified that trip or that had built up over the summer. Over the course of the previous day and later this day, though, I did open every can of paint and determined whether they were salvageable. I found some good spar urethane and a whole can of red stain from the lodge which came together after a bit of elbow grease and repeated stirrings which I plan to use for the exterior of both outhouses, but most will head back to town and none will be (intentionally) left at Snettisham again.

With no more chores I could reasonably do, I attempted a nap with Cailey and managed to doze just a little bit. I'd done the dishes and put the newspaper up and swept the night before, so I only had a few more things I could do that early, so I walked the garden, checked on the new cottonwood tree--now nearly my height, having added at least two feet this summer and no longer needing any weeding, though I did bend back some berry branches reaching it--and stowed away the kayak. I also had a chance to work on my puzzle, which was very pleasant, then had a cup of cafe francais on deck. After that it was mostly the endless packing up. With the low tide at 11:30 we were going to make a low tide departure and I wasn't sure how fast the tide would rise, so sent everyone down with a first load of gear around 11:50 after an early lunch of quesadillas. I think Kyle made three trips, Jia Jia one or two, and me two. After my first trip I found that the tide hadn't dropped enough to be able to fetch the anchor on the far side of the boat, so we left Jia Jia on site to watch it and make sure the water around the boat didn't get too deep while I did the last close up chores and fetched Cailey and Kyle got another load. We were all aboard with the boat upright, though not floating, at 12:20 and I predicted we'd sit there for another five or ten minutes before floating. I was wrong, but thankfully the rain was holding off and it was a pleasant day to sit outside! I'm used to stressful low tide departures where the tide is rising so fast I often lose sight of the anchor (drug straight toward shore) while doing the final close up chores, but in this case it was only creeping up and it was over half an hour before we were floating. We drank the last three cans of alcohol we had--summer shandies--and played 20 questions while we waited. Our ideas stemmed from our interests: river otter for me, ramen for Jia Jia, hydropower engine for Kyle.

The day had hazed over again in the absence of rain, though not nearly as bad as it had when we came down. There was a little chop to slow us down in the entrance to the port, but after that it turned into such a gentle following sea that you wouldn't have know there was any breeze at all until you turned against it. There was a whale outside the port and another near Taku Harbor, some Dall's porpoises in the middle of Stephen's Passage in the vicinity of South Island, and I think we passed a couple of murres in Taku Open. We made it back to the harbor in good time and were soon on our way home and I had the novel experience of a whole post-trip afternoon in which to crash, as expected. I passed out at 7:15 pm and remained groggy the whole next day--early mornings and close ups take their toll on me these days!