Alaska or Bust: Day 14 and 15, Copper Center to Seward and kayaking Resurrection Bay

Day 14 – Copper Center to Seward… A very long day!

We slept in a bit this morning; Tom realized at about 2AM that he left his new trekking poles on the McCarthy Shuttle. We waited around a bit this morning to see if the shuttle folks were able to locate them so we could pick them up before heading down to Seward. Well no such luck, at least at this point L.

We headed out at about 9:30 and planned to stop in Eagle River to pick up groceries for the week, then to Anchorage to REI where I needed to pick up some warmer clothes. During our drive this morning that was very wet, dreary and cold, the temperature dropped as low as 42 degrees. The Anchorage REI was the best, but then I haven’t been to their store in Seattle (thanks HeeSun for reminding me that their flagship store probably is their best).

We also stopped at a musk ox farm near Palmer. The musk ox is an Artic animal that survived the ice age, their body is compact to conserve heat and their long guard hair protects them from the weather, wind and mosquitoes. In order to survive the long artic winter temperatures, they grow a thick layer of Qiviut (pronounced KI-VEE-UTE) over their entire body. This fine hair is shed every spring naturally when it’s no longer needed. The farm in Palmer combs off the fiber and has it spun into yarn. Qiviut is very rare and one of the finest fibers in the world, it compares with Cashmere and Vicuna but it has no barbs so doesn’t scratch like wool. It has good tensile strength but doesn’t hold up well under friction so does not make socks, mittens or gloves. The yarn is sent to Native Alaskan women who live in remote villages in Alaska who hand knit the Qiviut into lovely garments. They formed a co-op and are paid by the piece that they produce with no quotas. They also get profit sharing. So what is so cool about Qiviut? It is 8x warmer than wool by weight, it is a natural ash brown color, is one of the rarest fibers on earth, it won’t shrink in any temperature of water, it is incredibly soft and does not contain any lanolin or natural oils and they are hand knitted. But unfortunately they are expensive. Since I am a knitter, I can totally appreciate everything that goes into producing something from Qiviut. I have been looking forward to actually touching it, so I couldn’t help but buy an earflap hat. I only wish I could have afforded to also buy one for both Hanna and Pete.

The drive from Anchorage to Seward was breathtaking!! The weather cleared and the drive along Cook Inlet was beautiful as well as the going through the mountains and in view of several glaciers. We didn’t arrive at the camp ground until after 10PM and it was quite muddy but right on the shores of Resurrection Bay with an incredible view of the mountains and glaciers across the bay. Tomorrow we will change campsites and will have a water front site J. We hope to do some hiking and kayaking while we’re here for 3 nights so I am hoping for great weather.

My Canon digital SLR camera bit the dust while we were at Wrangell-St Elias NP, Canon was unable to help me with it and said that it would need to be sent in for servicing L so now I am down to my point and shoot. I like it and it is easy to carry around but it just isn’t the same.

Day 15 – Seward and kayaking at Humpy Cove on Resurrection Bay

This morning we moved our campsite to a waterfront site that is awesome beyond belief. We overlook Resurrection Bay and are surrounded by mountains and glaciers. We are in both an avalanche zone (which we obviously don’t have to worry about) and in a tsunami zone. So if there is an earthquake we will be heading for the hills. Last night our campsite was in a muddy, wooded area that was on a hill and we practically had to go 4 wheeling to get over the large tree roots that covered much of the site. This is a much-improved location!!

This afternoon we went kayaking on Resurrection Bay at Humpy Cove. We took a water taxi up the bay and landed on a beach in Humpy Cove. As we were kayaking, the sun came out and the sky cleared for a while. We did a short hike to a waterfall that was stunning and saw a salmon run up the small stream. Tonight we are going to head into Seward and check out the town a bit. We still have to figure out what we are going to do tomorrow and need to schedule a trip to Kat-Mai NP and a trip into Denali.

Kate