Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Beaver Dam to Gravel BarStart hiking (around 11:30) by crossing the Ekwi (higher now than yesterday) and then walking along an extensive beaver dam to get back on the trail. Many river crossings today — takes a lot of time to change shoes — and some very rocky stretches. Some parts of the trail are nearly grown over with willows or washed away by decades of run-off. It is pretty easy to follow the horse trail, but where a horse crosses the river is not necessarily the best place for a person to cross on foot! John found a good bear tree beside the trail and collected some grizzly hair for tying flies. (Date) passed one of Stan's camps — he has trimmed the brush so he can land a plane right on the trail! Stop around 6:00 and camp on a very windy gravel bar (actually we're just above the gravel bar) next to the Ekwi River. There is a family of ptarmigan living on the gravel bar and they walk by our tents and cackle that night. No fish caught, despite very fishy-looking water.
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After a long night of powerful rain and hail we were slow to leave the warm of the tents. But by about 9am the skies were beginning to clear |
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photographer: Bill |
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We have to cross the Ekwi here, and it has risen significantly following last night's storm. There's also a beaver dam to scale on the opposite side. |
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photographer: John |
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About half-way across the top of the dam, looking back. This is one industrious rodent. You can see they used the collapsed bridge abuttments as dam anchor points. |
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photographer: Bill |
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After every crossing we had to drop our packs, dig out our shoes & socks, dry our feet and climb back into our hiking boots. Several times we tried hiking in our wading shoes, but that never seemed to work for very long. |
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photographer: Bill |
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John and Sandy crossing the Ekwi. |
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photographer: Bill |
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Taking bearings following a river crossing |
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photographer: John |
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Second night camp on a windy gravel bar next to the Ekwi. |
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photographer: John |
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Another view of the Gravel Bar camp from above, looking across the bar and the Ekwi. |
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photographer: Bill |
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Any left-over food or food wrappers would attract grizzlies. So each night we had to make certain all our provisions were stored away from camp in bear-proof containers. And then, also some distance from our tents, we would have a fire for burning trash. And several cocktails. |
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photographer: John |
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