Another adventure is complete. This was supposed to be a laid back trip for kids who liked beach combing and lounging around. Except we all know that Christophe is taking it up another notch this year. So it is no real surprise that we crossed a glacial stream over a fallen tree and traversed a small ridge to get to our camp.
We got dropped off in the town of Seward south of Anchorage around 1pm. WHile eating our lunch there we saw a sign posted on the outhouse that told us of the bridge that had been knocked out by a fallen tree. We did not let this upset us of course. I still had Haley, Geoff, Spencer, and Chrissy from the two previous trips; Cody, Maddy, and Hannah had all been on trips in the past; and Claire, Casey, Erica, and Josh just looked tough for begginers. So it was no surprise that when we got to the broken bridge that they were not daunted by a cold quick moving river to cross. In fact they were more than eager to help find a place to ford the river. But, that was going to be harder than they expected.
In an exceptionally high wind storm this past year many trees had fallen. One of them happened to fall onto the bridge that we needed to cross. It did not totally take it out, but pushed it's metal support over with it's crown putting the deck of the bridge at a forty degree angle with one of the railings only half attached dangling in the stream below. Spencer suggested that we walk accross the bridge holding onto the upper railing. The safety officer in me had visions of the whole thing giving out while a kid with a thirty pound pack was halfway accross it. Therefore, no. Next suggestion was to cross a log halfway to a small sand bar and then to a partly submerged tree to the other shore. Again, no. Next was to wait for low tide and see if the level went down enough to walk throuh it. The river crossing was close enough to the ocean to be affected by the tides, and at the time it being middle tide the water level was about waiste deep. So, we explored the beach.
At low tide the water did not seem to go down significantly. We had to find an alternate route. I split the group in half. One group seached the island for an alternate camp site while the other searched for a river crossing upstream. I took five volunteers to look for a fallen tree upstream. I figured that with a wind storm enough to have dropped trees all over the vicinity there must be one upstream that crosses the river completely. About a quarter of a mile up we found one on the other side of a big patch of Devil's Club. It was about four feet above the river and thirty feet long. On the other side there was a steep ridge covered in vegetation that came down to the river making a fifteen foot cliff down river. Haley found a passage over the ridge where it met the river with a steep climb and descent with some brush to hold onto. We got the others and made it accross with very few tears. Later that night some of the kids told me it was the highlight of the trip to accomplish something that looked so scary and they though they couldnot do. It was the highligh of my trip too.
The next day we spent beachcombing. We found numerous shells, a few sea stars, snails, and limpets. The limpets were my favorite because they would stick to your face if you held them there for ten seconds. I had two on my ears like earrings and a few more on my cheeks and nose. It kind of tickled. Spencer put about thirty on his face so that he looked as if he could have been a Star Trek character.
Later that night we found a spot to cross the stream on foot at low tide. We packed up camp in the rain hurridly. We walked through the freezing knee deep water to the other side. It was a cool rainy day so I watched the children for hypothermia like a hawk. We hurried to an open patch of forest a quarter mile back on the trail and made it our new home. I went into super calm, "we need to get our act together," mode. They had all of the tents but one set up in a pinch. One of the kids left the poles behind and Tera had to go back and find them. I was disappointed. We put up a tarp to cook diner under and collected firewood. Making a fire was dificult to nearly impossible in the rain. I had some of the kids take turns standing over me so that the tinder would not get wet while I scraped off magnesium into a pile. I made a pile so big that it blew up into a blsast of white light! It was like an old flash bulb going off. But, eventually I did get the fire started and we had marshmellows. And that is what the kids needed most.
This is Christophe signing off, be well and live fully.
