It was time to leave Garnet Ledge and paddle to Wrangell. The tide was low when we got to Garnet Ledge, but during the hour or two that we spent there, the tide came up. You can see the log in the middle of the picture and that's the log we sat on to eat our lunch. Now it was half-covered with water. Good thing we tied up our canoe.
I believe Wrangell is 6 miles from Garnet Ledge. We were told it would take us 2-3 hours to paddle that distance (it took us just under 3 hours I believe). We wouldn't have the river's current pushing us, but we did have the high tide in our favor. Because we were in the middle of ocean, far enough away from land where you couldn't use the land to gauge progress (unlike how it was on the river), it felt like we were getting nowhere fast...which was probably true. *chuckle* I decided I would play a little game with myself so I wouldn't go crazy crossing the ocean. I started counting 50 strokes each side. 1..2..3...27...49..50! And then I would go to the other side and do the same. I didn't tell Quent what I was doing, but he figured it out after awhile. He asked what I was doing, but I wouldn't tell him. "Are you counting strokes?" So he began to count. He figured it out and then we began to count 50 strokes together. We never stopped, unless we took a quick sip of water. The water was calm for the most part. We were finally together with the group, instead of way behind. Steve and Dan were far ahead of us. Dave and Paula stuck close to keep a watch on the paddlers (Paula rode with Dave because she wasn't feeling well). Britta and Sarah were close by us, too. There were some other canoes up ahead from a different group. We could see them in their red canoes. At one point a jet boat stopped to pick up a set of the canoes. At first I thought they were picking up Steve and Dan. I was like, "What!? Cheaters!!" But then I realized that it wasn't Steve and Dad. Those other paddlers are still cheaters though. I couldn't believe they would paddle all the way down the Stikine and not paddle all the way to Wrangell when they were that close.
I believe Wrangell is 6 miles from Garnet Ledge. We were told it would take us 2-3 hours to paddle that distance (it took us just under 3 hours I believe). We wouldn't have the river's current pushing us, but we did have the high tide in our favor. Because we were in the middle of ocean, far enough away from land where you couldn't use the land to gauge progress (unlike how it was on the river), it felt like we were getting nowhere fast...which was probably true. *chuckle* I decided I would play a little game with myself so I wouldn't go crazy crossing the ocean. I started counting 50 strokes each side. 1..2..3...27...49..50! And then I would go to the other side and do the same. I didn't tell Quent what I was doing, but he figured it out after awhile. He asked what I was doing, but I wouldn't tell him. "Are you counting strokes?" So he began to count. He figured it out and then we began to count 50 strokes together. We never stopped, unless we took a quick sip of water. The water was calm for the most part. We were finally together with the group, instead of way behind. Steve and Dan were far ahead of us. Dave and Paula stuck close to keep a watch on the paddlers (Paula rode with Dave because she wasn't feeling well). Britta and Sarah were close by us, too. There were some other canoes up ahead from a different group. We could see them in their red canoes. At one point a jet boat stopped to pick up a set of the canoes. At first I thought they were picking up Steve and Dan. I was like, "What!? Cheaters!!" But then I realized that it wasn't Steve and Dad. Those other paddlers are still cheaters though. I couldn't believe they would paddle all the way down the Stikine and not paddle all the way to Wrangell when they were that close.
The closer we got to Wrangell, the more the waves picked up. We could see a wall of rain coming toward us. I didn't want to put my rain jacket on until I absolutely had to because I was warm from paddling. When the waves became more choppy I stopped counting because it was hard to keep track, plus it was something to distract me. We were pretty close to Wrangell by that time. We were just paddling along the shore. We paddled toward the summer dock where we started our journey, but the dock was gone, so we decided to keep on paddling to the float dock. The waves were so choppy that I had to get down on my knees. There were some waves that really tossed up the front of the canoe. Britta caught a glimpse of that and she laughed. Yeehaw! I loved riding the waves!
Once we were on the float dock, the border control customs officer (Todd Smith) met us to check our passports since we just came from Canada. Aye?
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