Outer South Baranof, Trip Conception and Plan

Just a quick look at a chart or topographic map of the Southern half of Baranof Island is enough to convince you that the landscape will be striking: deep, long fjords, huge alpine and sea level bowls, and a rocky coastline with few beaches. I've been looking at that map for a long time, wondering if my parking skills were up to the task of a kayaking that coast, and this past winter, I convinced myself that although the coastline is serious, it's broken frequently enough by fjords and bays that provide protection that the trip was within my reach as a paddler. I had enjoyed my limited outer coast paddling experience the previous summer (Cape Caution, Dixon Entrance, and Outer Chichagof), and was looking for a beautiful trip that would also be a bit of a challenge.

After some thinking and chart reading, decided I would end the trip in Angoon, which I had never before visited.

My summer schedule this year was substantially more flexible than the previous several years, so I arbitrarily settled on a late-June departure that was twice postponed, ultimately to July 6. One of those delays was due to a mechanical problem on the ferry Columbia, no doubt due to the criminal under-funding of the Alaska Marine Highway System by Alaska's executive, which is happy to spend on roads in Anchorage and sees no problem with neglecting the infrastructure needs of Southeast Alaska and the Aleutian chain.

I found the outer coast section of the trip challenging, beautiful, and sometimes frightening. Scenery on the Eastern side of Baranof Island is also magnificent, and although the paddling was challenging, the power of the sea there, in Chatham Strait, is of course much diminished. And although the landscape of Southern Admiralty Island is not at dramatic as that of Baranof, the camping opportunities were excellent and the paddling some of the most enjoyable of the trip. Overall, a physically and emotionally challenging paddle, but a great success.

Lessons from the trip:

1. I need to carry more food for exposed trips like this.
2. I don't handle sitting in camp alone very well. This, if nothing else, might be a good reason to paddle with a partner.
3. My self-rescue needs to be 100% dependable for paddling in these exposed, powerful conditions, which is currently is not. Project for this year, I think.