Garnet Ledge

We awoke around five o clock to get started well before high tide. The Stikine, the fastest flowing navigable river in North America, empties into the ocean just North of Wrangell. It is a large river (56,000 cfs at its mouth vs the Mississippi at 122,000 cfs) that stretches over 400 miles in length. In spite of its size and speed, the mouth of the Stikine is surprisingly shallow. The river's mouth is probably over two miles wide. As the river widens, the flow slows allowing the heavier particles to fall, creating wide sandbars, or sand flats as they are called locally. Navigating the flats is tough even for locals and boats frequently get stranded. I was hoping to be to cross the Blake channel and past the flats before the tide receded too much. Our timing was somewhat correct. At the flats, we hit bottom several times but were able to step out and drag the canoe over to deeper water. We managed to locate the deeper channels by observing the behavior of the water at the surface, although this worked only marginally well. Boaters who hang up on the bottom are often faced with a six hour delay until the tides return. We were fortunate to be in a canoe.

We made it across the Blake with little fanfare, although the rec crew buzzed our canoe on their way to Virginia Lake which livened things up a bit for us.
It took us a good four hours to reach the cabin - the last mile was the toughest as we had to battle the swift current.

After unpacking our gear, we hiked to the ledge from the cabin which took us through an incredibly dense section of forest. The Garnet Ledge is home to an exposed slab of schist that is literally filled with garnets. Every protruding rock was flecked with garnets, ranging in size from a salt grain to the the size of a green grape. Kids from Wrangell collect them and sell them to tourists at the ferry dock.

We spent the afternoon reading at the cabin. Jack was racked out from the paddle - he crashed around 5:30. It began to rain around seven. I love the sound of rain falling on a metal roof- second only to the sound of studded tires rolling over blacktop.

I'm hoping that the weather holds for us tomorrow. The forecast calls for a chance of rain with temps in the 70's.