July 28, Point Walpole to Point Windham

From the area of Point Fanshaw (several miles before point Walpole), I had to choose between several different route options that would get me to Juneau. The Western route would be a crossing over to Admiralty Island, home of the world's highest concentration of Coastal Brown Bears, then up through beautiful Seymour Canal, across to Stephens Passage at Oliver Inlet via an old rail tram, then across to Douglas Island to Juneau. This seems to be the standard route. A second option would be to cross to Admiralty, then, rather than heading up Seymour Canal, to head up the East side of the Glass Peninsula, up the West Side of Stephens Passage, then across to Douglas Island and to Juneau. The third option, which appears to be the least commonly taken, would be to travel up the mainland side of Stephens Passage. The attraction of this route would be (potentially) more striking coastline, with views up several long, steep fjords, including Tracy and Endicott Arms and Port Snettisham.

This last option is the one I chose. All three alternatives sounded fantastic, but it seemed more likely that I would make a trip down Seymour Canal and/or the East side of Glass some time in the future. The Southern end of Stephens Passage, though, is quite a long trip com Juneau, and I wasn't sure how long it might be before I could make it back.

I was not disappointed. The scenery is unbelievable, and I was compensated for missing Admiralty bears by my earlier and later interactions with Brown Bears on Revillagigedo an Chichagoff.

In any event, the 28th was a day of crossings. Port Hougton, about four miles, Hobart Bay, about two miles, then Windham Bay, about three. The weather was again indecisive, with rain in the morning and evening an periodically through the day, but views up the three inlets were good and the scenery was very pretty. I thought the view up Windham Bay was particularly striking, and the rocky coastline was quite beautiful. Although I got little help from the flood current, the 28th was another solid mileage day.