Scrambling on the Ridge Between Blackstone Bay and the Tebenkof Glacier, Prince William Sound

There wasn't an overabundance of sunny weather in Southcentral Alaska during our summer of 2006.  So you had to be ready to sprint out and take advantage of any short sunny stretch that showed up.  That's exactly what Cory Smith, Rob Whitney and I did on September 13th.  Having boated by the stunning Tebenkof Glacier scores of times, I figured this would be a cool area to check out.  So that's were we headed.  The access to the glacier turned out WAY MORE brushy than I had expected (or the map would lead you to believe).  But once we climbed out of the brush, the ridge cruising above the Tebenkof was Prince William Sound at its best.  This was a spectacular day in the Sound during a 2 1/2 day stretch of clear weather.  But it's a good thing we went when we did, as the next day things were back to wind and rain - the Prince William Sound norm for the summer of 2006.

For a double-shot of photos and commentary on this trip - check out Cory Smith's web site.
This was our approximate route.  The total distance was a bit over 12 miles.  We hit two true peaks on this ridge. We left the boat (in the distance) high and dry and tied the raft and kayak to trees at shoreline.  There's no worries about pulling an anchor if the boat isn't floating.  [Rob took this picture.] We started the hike along a salmon steam filled with spawning (and spawned out) pink salmon, or "humpies".
Whenever there are this many humpies in such shallow water, you know there will be bears around. Sure enough, we immediately spotted a black bear scarfing down breakfast.  We yelled at him a couple times and he didn't budge.  But then he snatched up the salmon he was munching on and trundled off into the woods.  [Cory took this picture.] The woods that we first entered we're neat - a carpet of moss covered everything.
But this "enchanted forest" soon gave way to dense alders and riparian willow thickets. Eventually we got sick of brush bashing and decided to climb out of it.  Cory was wishing he brought his pack raft - the river flowing from the Tebenkof Glacier would have been perfect for floating. Rob uses his bad-ass triceps to muscle up the mountain.  The terminus of the Tebenkof Glacer is in the distance.
Here's a panoramic of the Tebenkof Glacier terminus.  As you can see from the green on the valley floor - there is no bushwhack-free way to hike to the Tebenkof Glacier in the summer.
Rob scores big ... he finds a radiosonde.  There is a little self-addressed bag in the housing of this weather baloon data transmitter.  So if you find one of these you can send the electronics part back to NOAA.  Here's more info on what Rob found. Cory nears the top of the first peak, where we stop for a few minutes ... ... before chasing after the next peak.
For mid-September it sure was a hot day! I liked this section - out of the sun and ascending in the shade. Rob took this picture.  The specks on top of the peak are Cory and me.  The peak in the distance to the left is East Seawolf Peak.  I climbed that peak 2 years ago with Bill Spencer, Benji Uffenbeck and Trond Jensen.
On the second peak we climbed I took this 360 panoramic shot.  From this vantage point - there is a lot to see!
The next peak to the south had this neat punch bowl with a cornice remnant floating in it. Cory heads back down ... the Tebenkof Glacier runs out below him.  
We took a different route coming out of the valley to try and avoid maximization of bushwhacking.  We sure wish we had brought pack rafts! Back on the tidal flats, trees that sank into the salt water aquifer and soaked up preserving salts still stand after their demise by the 1964 earthquake. The tide was much higher than when we left, so we had to do a little wading to get back to our raft and kayak.  Here Cory wades through the humpies.
We crossed the stream to a bear "feeding table".  It was time to wash pants after this crossing - to get rid of the "humpie stank". Here you can see the bear's teeth marks on the humpie's back. Near our raft and kayak there was this well defined bear trail heading down to the stream. 
   
  Getting ready to head back to the mother ship, after a killer day in Blackstone Bay.  Thanks to Rob and Cory for teaming up with me for this hike.  
     
  Web page by Tim Kelley.  Photos by Tim, Cory and Rob.