Greg -

Jack, Janet, and I just returned from our two night trip up the Stikine River to the Mount Rynda cabin.   Wednesday afternoon, we loaded our gear onto the Recreation and Lands hauling skiff and the crew gave us a lift to the cabin.  An hour or so later, they dropped us at the cabin, which is situated on the bank of Andrew Creek (a feeder creek) about twelve miles from the mouth of the Stikine.  The waters from Andrew Creek are crystal clear and slow flowing.  Where the creek meets the Stikine's roaring fload of chocolate brown water, the waters stay suprisingly separate creating a clearly visible  delineation between the two bodies of water.    Floating out onto Andrew Creek you can see large, cumulous cloud-like formations of the Stikine's silt beneath the surface of the creek's clear water.  

The cabin is an old style A-frame situated about twenty feet from the bank.  I don't think that I've ever experienced a cabin so full of mosquitoes.  We began swatting them and didn't stop until left earlier this afternoon.   We must have killed over two hundred of the blood sucking demons over the two days that we were there.   There are no hiking paths to speak of around the cabin and it rained steadily the entire time we were there so it was a great excuse to relax and read next to the oil stove.  I would ventured out each afternoon to fish the creek and paddle up the south fork of the Andrew.   The salmon have yet to hit the stream and the heavy rains had killed the fishing so I was content to just take in scenery along the banks. 

The crew picked us up early this morning so that we would reach the mouth of the Stikine on a rising tide - helpful should you become stuck on the way out.  

The ranger program at the potluck tonight is about spiders that live throughout SE Alaska.

Andrew Creek

Mount Rynda Cabin