Alaska 2016 | Day 91 | Prince Rupert to Lowe Inlet

We woke up to fog in Prince Rupert. An hour later when we left, the fog had begun lifting but was still patchy. No big deal…radar, chartplotters, AIS, and autopilot make running in the fog safe and reasonably easy.

Fog and sunshine in Chatham Sound

Much of today’s run was in Grenville Channel, a long, narrow, strait, and kind of boring body of water. The scenery is decent, though, and once the fog burned off the weather was beautiful.

Scenery along Grenville Channel

Lowe Inlet is a favorite anchorage. It’s scenic, with steep, tree-covered hills rising to rocky mountains. There’s not a clear cut in sight. And Verney Falls, at the head of Lowe Inlet, is beautiful. This time of year, an endless procession of salmon hurl themselves at the falls in a valiant effort to return to where they were born to spawn more salmon. Bears know this, and seemingly effortlessly pluck salmon from the falls.

Side note: if you don’t know about the salmon lifecycle, read this Wikipedia page.

Salmon throwing itself at the falls

Looking down at Verney Falls 

The best place to anchor in Lowe Inlet is right in front of the falls. I dropped 100 feet of chain in 20 feet of water. The current pulls the boat back and holds it in place, no need for swinging room. From this vantage point, it’s easy to see when bears are feeding at the falls.

Safe Harbour anchored in the current from Verney Falls

Sure enough, as we approached the falls to anchor, a bear emerged from the forest and began fishing. By the time I had finished anchoring the bear was gone. Unfortunately, this was the only bear we saw. Still, watching the salmon leap out of the water and try to reach the lake was amusing.

58.24 nm today

2621.34 nm total