Up the River

Robert, Sunday, June 8
Today we took a trip up the Stikine River. (If you’re interested, it’s pronounced sta-keen with the accent on the second syllable.) We were on a jet boat that is designed for trips up rivers where the water might get very shallow. The boat drew about 2.5 feet when stopped and mere inches when moving. And moving it did. Most of the time when we were moving it was at 30 mph. The ride was actually very smooth (most of the time) and the boat was comfortable. The boat had enough seats for about 18 passengers and there were only 7 on this trip so we had lots of room. The captain knew a lot about the river and he pointed out many interesting things that we would have never noticed without him. We left the dock at 1:30 pm and proceeded to the mouth of the river where it empties into the saltwater bay. There is a huge delta there that is about 20 miles wide. Much of the river in a braided ribbon so the choice of routes is almost countless. He took us along some that were only about 30 feet wide and others that were almost a mile wide. When we crossed the bar (where the river meets the bay) there were gravel bars and a lot of very shallow water. To get through he had to go fast to reduce the boat’s draft. We wore seat belts as he explained that if we hit a gravel bar at the speeds he was going, we wanted to be restrained. Fortunately we didn’t hit any but the boat made several very sharp turns that could have thrown us out of our seats without the seatbelts. He stopped the boat multiple times so that we could get out and walk along the bank. Needless to say we got back to the trailer with very muddy shoes. We went as far up the river as several miles into Canada. As the distance from the mouth of the river to the border is 40 miles my guess is that we traveled a total of 100 miles. In Canada, we came across a commercial fisherman who was salmon fishing with a gill net. The net was about 100 feet long. The captain knew the fisherman and we stopped to talk in the middle of the river. He had placed his net over a gravel bar where the water was only about 10 feet deep. He said that the bar caused the fish to swim to the top of the water where he could catch them. Much of the river at that point was 30-40 feet deep and his net only extended about 6 feet deep. It had floats about every 6 feet. He said he left it set until he could see one or two floats being pulled under. That meant there was a fish there. When he reeled in the net he pulled the fish out and put them into a box. The captain said that he got $5 per pound and the fish he was catching were about 20 pounds each or $100 per fish. It looked like he had 30 or 40 fish. It’s no wonder he was out working on a Sunday. The season is short and so in a few months he has to earn most of what he earns for the year. The water in the river is very murky. As much of the water is from glaciers, it is filled with rock flour. That is finely ground rock that the glacier grinds from the underlying rock. Along the way there were streams that entered the river with water that was crystal clear. This was water from snow melt. We went up several of these streams. Many of them had Forest Service cabins that are available to rent. We stopped at one. It had wood beds and a fuel oil heating stove. They rent for $35 per day. You have to bring your own fuel oil, food, cooking stove, sleeping pads, and sleeping bags. To use them you make arrangements with one of the local captains such as the one driving our boat to bring you in and then come get you out. During the peak time when the salmon are running, they would be great for someone who liked to fish. On the way back down the river we saw a brown bear on one of the banks. Before we could get very close, it disappeared into the bush. We did get a few pictures however. We got back to the dock at 7:00 pm. Just as we were approaching the dock, one of the two engines quit. Turns out it ran out of fuel. Just as we reached to the dock, the second engine quit for the same reason. That was close. If we had been out on the water, it might have taken some time to raise someone to come out and tow us in. We ate dinner in the hotel right at the docks and came back to the trailer.