Floatin' the Wos'

     So Sarah and I have been gettin' out there now that she's full-on summer break.  This weekend, in light of our 6-year, decided to do something.  Sky-diving was our first choice, but for $600+ we elected for something more frugal.  Having been to Homer only once or  twice we headed south and at the recommendation of friends hit up the Kachemak Bay State Park with the goal of some packrafting.
     We headed to Homer, AK under overcast and rainy weather and checked out the town.  It was less-than-thrilling and a major tourist-trap:  Filled with eateries of the average kind and enough galleries to make a hippie or hipster OD. That's all I could find.  That fun lasted less than the time to wait for Mako's water taxi to Kachemak Bay State Park.  We rode that pleasant boat ride with views of sea otters, waterfowl, black bear and humpback whales to the trailhead in Halibut Cove Lagoon.  From there we took to the China Poot Lake trail and camped that night on China Poot Lake-shore with an amazing sunset and the coveted mid-week solitude.  Lucy got a bit seasick from the ride, puking and opting-out of dinner.

China Poot Lake Trail

China Poot Lake camp looking west

Sunset on China Poot Lake

 Descent to the Wosnesenski River

     We woke up the next morning to several sea-plane landings on the lake(irritating break from solitude), and continued on the trial to the Wosnesenski Lake Trail.  Numerous salmon berries and blue berries were a pleasant snack while hiking.  The trail was indeed overgrown and brushy as Homer locals had warned, but not a bushwhack: better than expected for mid-August.  Where this trail took a hard right turn(west) and paralleled the river, we broke down the to Wos' for an easy and incredibly aesthetic ride out toward the ocean.
     Although we started rafting the river about 1/2 way down from the headwaters, we heard of folks flying in to the lake below the glacier and rafting from there with a little more spice to the river higher up(class II?). Nonetheless, our trek was great.  We ate lunch in the river valley, blew up the rafts and hopped on for the ride.  We rode for about 2.5+hours on class I+/II- of fast glacial river, with occasional log jams to maneuver, but no sweepers/strainers/portages or butt-dragging.  We saw bald eagles and salmon swimming upstream as well as incredible valley views with glaciers and a respectable waterfall($cha-ching$).  In fact, one salmon tried to go up under Sarah's boat.

Look! A flying salmon!

She did better on the raft than the boat.

We set up camp just up-river from the ocean on a vegetated gravel bar as shelter from the day-winds and for the sake of fresh water.  The clear skies and cool breeze with up-valley views made for an ideal evening.  We even had a celebratory dessert and hit the hay early.  

Vegetated gravel-bar camp.  Lots of bear tracks.

     After a good nights' rest we rafted the remaining <1hr out to the ocean, with a bear spotting to top it off.  We paddled the short ocean stint with otters and waterfowl sightings and arrived at the Haystack TH, an obvious-looking rock structure on the shore, where our taxi would pick us up in a bit.  We spent our time waiting walking up and down the ocean shore taking in the unique breeze oceans offer, looking at the driftwood, collecting a variety of ocean bounty, admiring the dramatic vistas with volcanoes on the horizon and savoring the successful completion of another trip.  Bam, cat's in the bag.

Morning put-in.

We made it! View back toward river mouth, where the bears catch only the tastiest, most tender salmon.

Haystack Rock and TH.

     To top it off we had another close whale-watching opportunity on the ride back to Homer.  The drive home was just as remarkable.  AK is a special place and I'm reminded of this all the time, but especially on trips like this one.

Humpback whale spotting.

     Shout out to "Gus" of True North Kayak Adventures for beta on the river as well as Mako's Water Taxi with trail info, timely transport and the pause for whales.