Cape Alava 2008

The 3 day Cape Alava trip started on November 28th, 2008, and ended on the 30th. About 10 people went on this hike. The remarkable thing about it was that the vast majority of the hike was on boardwalk. It rained the whole time, but not to let this opportunity go to waste, the Scouts formed a water catching system of their tarps. The water catching system worked so well, we didn't have to fetch water for the entire trip. To pass the time, Scouts did things like cut wood with an axe and go on a day hike. On the Saturday night hike, they found lots of whale bones, one of which was bigger than some of the Scouts on the trip.

One of the Scouts found a large cedar log on the beach. Once they cut into it, they found beautiful dry cedar which made for a nice hot fire, even in the rain. The fire may not have dried our clothes completely, but it did warm our spirits (and our buns)!

Unfortunately, the low tides were timed that we were unable to see the famed Petroglyphs (maybe next year).

Though we hung food up in buckets to avoid animals stealing our grub, raccoons tried to make off with one of the Scout's packs one night. He woke up just in time to scare them off and get his pack back.

To round out our wildlife experiences, deer walked by our campsite several times, including a very close encounter while we were making breakfast on Saturday morning. We could also hear, but not see, sea lions out in the rocks and water. The rocks and "stacks" were really neat. It would have been fun to climb and explore the largest one. - JFW

Click on thumbnail images to view larger images.