Back to Sitka via Baranof Warm Springs

Warm Springs Bay is roughly 80 miles from Petersburg. The available anchorages in between dictate two possibilities. One can split it 55 miles and 25 miles by choosing one of the harbors on the south end of Admiralty Island or split it 25 and 55 by anchoring in Portage Bay on Kupreanof Island. The weather forced the latter.

It had been blowing all week. The winds reported at Five Finger Light were 25 knots gusting to 40 knots. Not safe. By Saturday, the winds had “calmed” to high teens gusting to the low 20s. Not comfortable but doable. The Sunday forecast was for further moderation with it piping back up Monday. I decided to go.

We were late leaving. It was only 45 minutes, but it meant arriving in Portage Bay after dark. Two circumstances, one serendipitous, saved the situation. The first one was I had anchored there before. In 2000, Karen and I had put in there to await more favorable weather so I was familiar with the entrance. The other was that the sky had cleared and a half moon illuminated the Bay. Upon rounding East Point, an anchor light was shining where I had planned to anchor. Another sailboat had taken my spot. Fortunately there was plenty of room and we hooked with no complications.

Since Sunday was the long leg, we were underway at first light. The winds at Five Finger were 16 gusting 19 southeast. That meant that as soon as we entered Frederick Sound the winds rounding Cape Strait and out of Thomas Bay pushed up a nasty 4 foot chop on our aft quarter. The combination of pitching and yawing made for a very unpleasant ride and caused the vandals to come visiting. Thankfully it only lasted for a couple of hours. The sun was out and the porpoises were playing in our bow wave. The respite was brief though. As we rounded Cape Bendal we were once again subjected to the southeast winds blowing up Keku Strait. Four hours across the Sound to Point Gardner seemed like forever with the last hour requiring manual steering because of the heavy tide rips. What blessed relief to enter Chatham Strait even though it had begun to rain. An hour later we were tied to the dock in Baranof Warm Springs.

I had wanted to visit here for a long time, after hearing many stories of drinking, partying, and of course soaking in the springs. And here I was. Jazz and I explored the nearby environs, he reading the p-mail and me taking in the sights. The village of Baranof is situated on the north shore of the Bay between a large rock outcrop to the east and the waterfall to the west. There are less than 12 buildings visible with quite a few hidden in the trees upslope. Everything is connected by State-maintained boardwalks. One of the first buildings along the boardwalk from the floats is the public bath house. An interesting structure consisting of three rooms with doors facing the walk and open from waist high to ceiling on the bay side. Each room has a large tub and a chair. I decided to take Jazz back to the boat, grab a change of clothes and a beer, and take a soak. I knew it would be cold getting in and out of the tub because of the open air “window”, but I figured the warm water would be worth it. Brrr. Not quite. I stayed in long enough to get cleaned up and decided to drink the beer back down on the boat next to the heater.

Because our travel day was shorter on Monday I decided to hike up the boardwalk in the morning and find the actual springs. The boardwalk ended about a mile up the hill with no obvious springs in sight. There were a bunch of black plastic hoses, both large and small paralleling the walk. Of these, three were warm to the touch. Being the intrepid detective, I followed the warm ones to an area above the end of the boardwalk where it smelled faintly sulphurous. Aha! Imagine my disappointment when the hoses ended in a crevice with an old piece of roofing tin thrown over it. It wasn’t big enough for Jazz to swim in. Time was up. We had to get underway. As we were walking back, we ran into the caretaker who gave me directions to the springs. It would have to wait for the next time.

The next time came sooner than I expected. The forecast on Sunday afternoon was for 20 knot northerlies in Chatham Strait on Monday afternoon. I couldn’t receive the weather deep in the bay but looking out to the mouth it looked OK. And it was for about an hour. By the time we got to Takatz Bay about 7 miles north, we were bucking into 25 knots and 5 foot seas. We were down to about 4 knots of headway making the trip up to the entrance to Peril Strait an hour and a half longer than expected. Screw it! We turned around and ran before it back to Warm Springs Bay. Before entering the bay I flipped over to the weather channel. They had changed the Chatham weather to small craft advisories with winds to 30 knots and seas to six feet. Tuesday was 15 knots out of the south. Another day in Baranof Warm Springs.

After getting the boat squared away we walked up to find the springs. They are about 75 yards off the boardwalk towards the falls. Actually, the springs themselves are above a pool formed by naturally occurring rocks and a built-up wall. The pool overlooks the falls. Very spectacular. It is totally open however with no shelter from the rain which was continuing unabated, raising the question of what to do with clothes. Dealing with soaking wet clothes in a small enclosed cabin is no trivial matter in wet weather. Problem solved, don’t wear any! So I took Jazz back to the boat, took off all my clothes except socks, pulled my xtra-tuffs and rain gear back on and hiked back up. Heaven! The roar of the waterfall provided the sound track with the cold rain contrasting nicely with the hot water. I drank a beer, soaked til I pruned, pulled rain gear and xts back on and hiked down to the boat.

Tuesday we cruised up Chatham Strait, turned left into Peril Strait and anchored in Nismeni Cove about 22 miles up the Strait. Wednesday we made it down through Sergius Narrows, Neva and Olga Straits and into Sitka. I’m tied to the north transient float and all plugged in.

Two of the pics are of Baranof, one of the bath house and one of the pool.

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