Stikine's guiding thread

[stikine]

Hey all,
After my recent retirement I've joined up with some of my friends who have a local charter business that run some tours in the local area. We are focused on river tours up the Stikine river, Anan wildlife observatory, Le Conte glacier, and whale watching.
I'll try to post pictures periodically from our trips.
Shakes glacier up the Stikine river.

Anan cabin black bear

 

[stikine]

 

[stikine]

Stellar sea lions on the buoy

 

[davidwyby]

Bucket list!

 

[cory]

That first pic water looks cold!!

 

[flushcut]

Nice scenery!

 

[Mrs.B]

Best of luck on your new adventures! I look forward to lots of pics.

 

[stikine]

We do a Sea wildlife trip.
Today was a bit of a slow start but we did get into some humpbacks, stellar sea lions, and some sea otters.
Here's a picture of a mellow sea otter.

 

[davidwyby]

Don’t let me forget to post all the critters I saw in AZ.

 

[cory]

What is the water temp? I'm guessing mid to upper 40s

 

[stikine]

What is the water temp? I'm guessing mid to upper 40s

That's about right, upper 40s

 

[Burnham]

In other words, if you fall in and can't get back out, you die in about 10 minutes from hypothermia...right?

 

[stikine]

I think that would depend on several variables but yes, hypothermia will set in.

 

[cory]

Or, if you jump in and stay for 3 minutes, you feel amazing afterward and can unlock some of your superpowers.

 

[Burnham]

I should have known that was coming .

 

[Burnham]

You know of course that the only reason you feel amazing afterwards is from the intense pleasure of escaping the torture of icy emersion?

One could pound one's thumb with a hammer for 3 minutes, and I'm pretty sure you would feel amazing when you stopped that, too.

 

[flushcut]

That and painful shrinkage.

 

[davidwyby]

Inversion

 

[flushcut]

Testiculus retractis is a terrible affliction affecting men of all ages.

 

[cory]

One could pound one's thumb with a hammer for 3 minutes, and I'm pretty sure you would feel amazing when you stopped that, too.

Similar to what my uncle used to say about setting your hair on fire and putting it out with a tack hammer, feels great when it's over.

But, just saying, generally when you emerge, the intensity of the difficulty has faded a lot by then, if not entirely, and the good feelings/superpowers etc begin to arise. I guess I need to put a SE AK plunge on my bucket list.

 

[stikine]

Down to Anan wildlife observatory today for our "Ancient Forest" tour. The fish and bears won't show up for another couple of weeks but it's a nice trail and setting. I did spot a couple of brown bears on the shore as we boated down but they boogied into the woods before most of the clients had a chance to see them.

Anan lagoon at low tide.

Clients heading up the trail. Guide John in front of the group and I was bringing up the rear.

 

[stikine]

@cory the water was 51 degrees on my fathometer yesterday when I checked my crab pots.

 

[cory]

Perfect temp for first timers.

 

[davidwyby]

Used to jump in Puget Sound in the summer…and right back out! 😆

 

[stikine]

Back down to Anan today. Had this black bear to look over 3 different times today... clients were happy to say the least. It was only 20 feet from the foot bridge and feeding on skunk cabbage ( the large leaf plant).