Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Pack Rafting across Admiralty

Last month I took a week off with the wife and a couple friends and did the cross Admiralty canoe trail. From Mole Harbor to Angoon.

http://www.seatrails.org/com_angoon/trl-crossadmiralty.htm

We caught a ride with a friend to Mole Harbor in his boat. Whales and porpoise were spotted along the way. One humpback calf entertained us with some pectoral slapping and frolicking. The site where Hasselborg had his homestead is just around the corner from the trailhead. An old bear guide resides there these days. It's a good little hike out of the way so we didn't stop in.

It's a several mile hike and a two mile paddle to the first cabin on lake Alexander. The cabin is on the far end of the lake on a spit. It's elevated above the lake with a wonderful view and a wood stove for heat. There was a good 700' elevation gain on this portage. The trail is in the process of being worked on so overall it was in very good condition.

Loading? blowing up the boats after the first portage.



Off we go!! The Paradox pack performed very well, thank goodness it's waterproof!




Lake Alexander cabin view.



The second day we hiked across the small spit and paddled the end of lake Alexander and portaged to lake Hasselborg. This day is spent mostly paddling with the one short portage. Pretty much six or seven hours to the next cabin. We stayed in Little Shaheen cabin two days. Oil heat in this one. Loons visited regularly. A doe and yearling rested across from the cabin on the shore most of one morning. Apparently the good fishing is in Hasselberg creek at the other end of the lake. We didn't catch any legal fish




Little Shaneen cabin.



Third day we rafted and hiked into McKinney lake and tried our hand at fishing, no keepers.



Brownies for desert!

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Another night in Little Shaheen then it was off to Distin Lake and Sportsman Cabin. This is a great cabin. Next time we will spend an extra night here. It is a much smaller lake I would have liked to explore more. The portage was short enough we didn't defate the rafts.

The quick easy way to portage. Just watch out for low hanging branches and probably a good idea to keep your eyes open:) At five pounds you can also carry the rafts by hand or with a string run through the tie downs.

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Happieness is a big wood pile and a wood stove.


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After a night in Sportsmans cabin we headed off at 0700 to a short portage to Davidson lake and to the last portage to Michell Bay, trying to get there at high tide for our ride. Happily by this time most of our pack weight was eaten. This is a fairly good four mile hike out to the bay with a couple hills to climb.

Several of the lakes have these three sided shelters at the portages but don't count on them being where the maps say the are. Sportsmans cabin was quite a ways from where the map and the Forest Service GPS coordinates said it was.

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More....

Rest stop between Davidson Lake and Mitchell bay in beautiful old growth forest. Paradox pack was great for Packrafting. It easily held two deflated packrafts under the Talon. Never leaked a drop inside, I did seam seal it before the trip. Kind of wish I would have gotten the day Talon for a little more exterior storage while the pack was on the front of the raft. Many thanks to the folks at Seek Outside for getting the pack to me on time for this trip.





Hiking out to Mitchell Bay.



Almost there only a mile to go!



We did pack a 375 but never saw one bear. The closer to Mitchell bay the more sign we saw. It did rain but for the most part it was just overcast. The only other people we saw were three trail workers the first day.

You can paddle all the way to Angoon but we had someone pick us up and run us to a friends lodge for a hot shower and an all you can eat buffet before flying back to Juneau the next day!!!



The deer we saw from Little Shaeen cabin.

looks like a great trip. I have used a few of the FS cabins down that way and it was very enjoyable. I am too old to sleep on the ground anymore but still enjoy camping.

Cool beans.

My son and his buddy did this one earlier this summer. I dropped them off at the mouth of Olivers Inlet and the paddled sea kayaks to Mole Harbor. They saw a few bears in Seymour Canal and in Mitchell Bay, but none on the portage. They didn't run into anyone else.

Start of their adventure at the mouth of Olivers.



They said they navigated the narrows in Mitchell Bay at mid-ebb tide in 3' whitewater. I chastised them for not having Go Pro footage. Thye did this in just under 4 days and caught the Fairweather back in time for 4th of July activities.

That's funny, we saw bits of blue and white plastic on various rocks along the trail! They must have been hustling to do it in four days from Olivers. We did a more leisurely trip. "No death march" was our motto. We left July 22.

Yep - they dragged 'em like dead deer! My son's buddy works for a guiding company. Hope he didn't get in trouble for using (abusing) the gear.