Neka Hotsprings Adventure

A couple weeks ago in Mid-June Pat and I went with our friends Sarah and Torsten to the Eight Fathom Bight cabin, which is at the tip of Port Fredrick south of Hoonah. There is a gravel Forest Service road that extends from the cabin 9.5 miles to the Neka Hot Springs site, which has a cedar hot tub built up that fills with the hot spring water. We loaded up the boat with 4 mountain bikes, fishing/crabbing gear and Barley, and headed for a 3-day weekend down there.
Again, we had 85 plus degree weather and sunny, blue skies, making it a hot trip!!

Bagging up herring for crab bait before the trip...

Four Mountain bikes loaded up for the trip- plenty of space!

The Eight Fathom Bight cabin. It was built by Icy Straights in Hoonah and barged to the site. It is by far the nicest Forest Service cabin out there, and almost as big as our house!

We decided to halibut fish the first night we got there, but since it was so hot and there was no wind, the bugs were TERRIBLE! This is Jackie attempting to avoid her face getting eaten.

Barley trying to avoid the swarms....

Swarms of bugs around Torsten....he tried to fend them off with Barley's blanket.

Sarah wrapped up in the Zodiac cover.

We lastest about 10 minutes, and then decided there was only one option- pull the lines and head back to the cabin for a fire....

Enjoyed a beautiful sunset....

Flock of geese in the sunset.

Then Torsten and Pat built us a cedar fire.

Tip of Port Fredrick, the boat anchored in the morning for our bike ride adventure.

Beach around the cabin.

Since we didn't need to use the stove due to the weather, we used it as zodiac storage overnight to avoid attack by the local brown bears.

Cabin porch hang-out.

Start of the ride to the hot springs...

Bear country....

Huge old growth forests- Sarah's got nothing on this tree.

Barley needed a rest- running 20 miles alongside bikes in 85 degree weather isn't easy.

Biking hard.

Shade break for Barley.

Successful trip to the tub!

All Barley wanted to do when we got to the hot springs was get in the water, but it was (obviously) too hot for him!

I jumped right in the tub- time for a libation! Barley wondering why he can't get in.

Waiting for the tub to fill back up after we drained it to replace the water.

Panorama of one of the views during the bike ride back from the tub.

They had these signs around directing us to the hot spring tub.

Barley was so tired after the bike ride that he passed out the entire afternoon on the boat while we went halibut fishing....

The boat loaded back up and headed to fish....

Sarah floating in the middle of Icy Straight while we halibut fish.

Nice view!

Torsten dealing with Sarah's tube.

Sarah and Barley soaking up some rays.

Torsten taking a nap while trolling around the Sisters.

This is what you do with Mountain Bikes so that you can fish on your way back to Juneau!

Dungy!

Too bad King Crab is out of season.

Torsten's first halibut.

Orcas!!

Spring is finally here.....

Post #2.

Spring finally broke Mid-May and we really haven't had a lack of sun. These past 2 weeks have been 70's and breaking 80's and it keeps on coming.

Here is a glimpse of our spring so far-

Pat ready for his first bike ride to work.

Jackie and our friend Bri took a 5 day trip to visit Bri's home town of Cordova over Jackie's birthday. Nice weather, eh? Bri boarding the plane!

The flight to Cordova.

View on the way to CDV.

The Cordova Harbor...gearing up for the Copper River Salmon opener.

The Bay.

Bri's brother took us out on his boat for a ride. The view leaving the harbor.

On the water.

Bri, her brothers dog and his friend.

Exploring the bays.

Copper River delta, still frozen over.

What a lucky dog...Barley was glad for Jackie to come home. He gets to spend works days in Jackie's office and always tags along during field samplings.

Transition from skiing after work to fishing. Here is the first of hopefully many gorgeous sunsets. These next sets of photos are the progression of this particular evening's sunset.

Barley in his spot.

Family photo.

Starting to turn fireball...

FIREBALL

 WHEW!!

SO. Bright.

Back at Amalga Harbor.

Back at the harbor.

Jackie joined Juneau Mountain Rescue. Not a bad way to spend the day-training on the Mendenhall Glacier ice climbing and rigging.

Can you see Pat in the center right of the photo?

The Icefall...can you see the 2 people?

Waiting for our helicopter pick-up.

 Landing site.

The next weekend, Memorial Day, Pat and I (Jackie) took a 3 day trip down to Icy Strait, Funter Bay, and then up Northern Lynn Canal to spend the final night at the St. James Bay cabin with some friends.
Again, we hit a warm and sunny weather window.

The picture above is a dungy pot, that we pulled full of juvenile king crab!

An hour later, Pat caught his first King Salmon of the year!

Driving out Icy Strait.

Sunset at St. James Bay cabin.

These pictures are a bit out of order. Anyways, the sun is setting in St. James Bay.

Jigging for halibut. Barley's favorit spot.

Barley on look-out.

The sun in St. James Bay.

Continued.

Beautiful clouds....

Making dinner at the cabin- obviously cooking a dungy crab feast!

Barley sleeping in the grass. What a life.

Sea Lion haul-out....

The men fishing.

Jackie caught a white king salmon! Super rare and tasty!

The white salmon fillet..............VS. 

The red king salmon....we grilled a side-by-side comparison. Obviously they were both AMAZING, but the white king really tasted different, surprisingly. An oilier, lighter king salmon, with great flavor.

And 18 dungy crab to shell....it only took us 4 1/2 days and some offloading to friends/coworkers.

And last weekend, an overnight camping trip to Barlow Cove. Again, notice the warm, sunny weather!

MOTHER BEAR AND CUB TRACKS ON THE BEACH

Setting up our fire area. It is about 8:30 pm.

Sun in the clouds. 9:30 pm

Soaking in the evening sun.

Kicking it by the fire.

Barley laying on the tide line debris. Easy access to chewing sticks.

Our boat is tendered on the right. This is about 10:30 pm.

Midnight. Time to head to the boat for bed.

80 and summer in Juneau!

View from my spruce tip picking spot!

Barley seeking some shade in the lupins.

I spent the day sampling on the lake yesterday in 78 degree weather. Life is good!