I spent this summer (2014) primarily near Seward, AK on the Kenai Peninsula. I say near Seward, AK because I was actually about 12 miles South on Fox Island, an island in Resurrection Bay. I worked at a tour boat Day Lodge for Kenai Fjords tours as a kitchen steward, which is pretty much a fancy way of saying dishwasher (well, I did serve King crab and do some other prep work). I lived on the Island 5 days a week and lived in Seward 2 days a week. While on the island I had free food and housing and in Seward free housing. Another perk of this job was that Kenai Fjords Tours has partnerships with other tour companies that allow the employees to utilize guide and touring services for free or at a greatly discounted rate, so needless to say this was a great way to see Alaska.
The island is fairly small, maybe two miles long and 1 mile wide, but it is quite steep. The lodge is located between the pebble peach and a small lagoon with a creek flowing into it. Down the beach there is an overnight lodge, Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge (or the Wildy as we called it). Behind the Wildy there is the only trail (which is a word that can be interpreted loosely in Alaska) on the island. The trail goes behind the lagoon, up the creek, to a ridge separating two of the peaks, and up to the peak on the right. The first stretch of the trail has steps going up and down to big rocks and tree trunks. The middle part is sort of swampy and is haunted by an aggressive Goss Hawk that likes to swoop down on unwary hikers and take their hats and/or scratch them (yes, that actually happened to a couple of my coworkers). The last stretch of the trail, from the ridge to the peak, is very steep and sort of unstable, but there are ropes tied to trees to help one up the trail. The trail really isn’t as bad as it sounds: the bird can be fended off with a large stick and the trail completed in an hour traveling at a leisurely speed (my record was 37 minutes, but I was dying at the end). The view at the top is easily worth it as well. One can see a 360 degree view of the surrounding islands, channels, mountains, and part of the Harding Ice Field to the West (I had some good shots but I misplaced my film). I resolved to hike that trail every day at one point, but it didn’t happen. I did climb it fairly frequently though. It was well-nigh impossible to climb in the rain: every rock and root becomes a water slide on the part of the trail. It rains pretty frequently in the area too; it is considered a temperate rain forest. When it rains on the island several waterfall appear down the steep slopes.
Not the island, but similar
Not the island, but interesting geology in the area, couple hour boat ride.
The other peaks and ridges can only be reached by bushwhacking (in other words crawling up 60 degree angle slopes on hands and knees, getting shanked by Devil’s Club, stepping in moss covered holes, and swimming through chest high brush [going down hill is worse]). I did some bushwhacking on the island early in the season and got burnt out on it pretty fast. I did reach one of the other high points on the island though. There was no view, however, because of the high brush. Then there was the other time when I almost died, not really but it was pretty sketchy (I will write about that one in a later post).
Devil’s Club
Sea kayaking was another recreational opportunity open to me. Sunny Cove Sea Kayaking also operates off the island and is partnered with Kenai Fjords Tours: their guides hung out in our bunk house and ate our food and in return they helped us clean and took us kayaking for free. Kayaking is a good way to see nature, get exercise, and spend some time in thought, prayer, or meditation. Considering that, I would think I would be really into, but I really didn’t care too much for it; it was okay and I would do it again, but I certainly don’t see myself dropping $1,000+ for a kayak any time soon. I also spent quite a bit of time fishing, a little bit in the lagoon and a little bit off the dock and shore. The lagoon has small Dolly Vardens and the ocean has Pacific Cod and Rock Fish. There are halibut as well (appropriate since the location of the lodge is called Halibut Cove) but it’s not that easy to catch one off the shore with a compact fishing pole. Most of the fish I caught here were small but provided me with some meals and fun. My fishing poles and reels, however, frequently malfunctioned, cutting my fishing short. One time I snapped my pole in half trying to get it unsnagged from the ocean floor; ironically the day before I reeled up half a fishing pole from the ocean covered with barnacles and junk.
As far as wildlife goes there are river otters, porcupines, seals, and whales around Fox Island. There are also a variety of sea birds that frequent the area as well as Steller Jays. This is where I first learned how good porcupines are at climbing trees! The sea mammals are a little rarer than porcupines and Steller Jays though. Sometimes you can sea a humpback surfacing in the distance. Twice this summer Orcas came into the cove and rubbed their bellies on the gravel bottom near the shore, by far one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The seals mostly like to stalk people on Kayak outings.
Orcas playing in the cove of the island
Living with people was another interesting experience. It was sort of like a 3 month hostel stay/summer camp. I met lots of really cool people and good friends, however, it wasn’t the easiest thing to live with a dozen people. We definitely got on each others nerves for not cleaning up a mess, hogging the TV, and other petty things. So yes, there was a little bit of drama, but it really wasn’t too bad. I was usually out of the loop (thankfully) as far as drama was concerned. It was challenging for me to be one of the few Christians there too because there were some differences in lifestyle. Despite disagreements, irritations, and misunderstandings most of us became pretty good friends. The love for nature and adventure, the shared experience of being overran by tourists daily, and listening to the same park ranger presentations every day gave us a camaraderie. I think we were all a little guarded at first but before long we were having food fights, hiking together, and singing strange Russian songs on island karaoke nights.
There are a couple of other reasons this island experience was special to me personally. Funny to say, but the fact that I was a dishwasher was meaningful to me. One of my favorite spiritual books, The Practice of the Presence of God, was written by a 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence (aka Nicholas Herman) who was a cook/dishwasher in his monastery. In the midst of his menial work he found such bliss in practicing the presence of God which could be considered silent internal prayer, meditation, and/or contemplation. It is even rumored that people would travel from afar to watch him do his kitchen labor in his state of spiritual inebriation. I felt like this job was an opportunity to practice the spiritual discipline of internal prayer while doing work that is not glamorous. I say discipline because some days when I was elbow deep in a prime rib pan with a fistful of steel wool I would lose perspective of the transcendent joy that is mine and inside me through God. Other times I would scrub enthusiastically and joyfully, oblivious to the mess and stench of the dish pit, only conscious of the love of God. The other reason this experience was meaningful to me is because another saint I respect, another Herman in fact, lived on an island in Alaska. Father Herman of Alaska was a Russian Orthodox monk who lived on a small island off the coast of Kodiak and was given to asceticism and inner prayer. He was one the view missionaries during the colonization of the “new world” to advocate for the rights of the Native people and stand up against the corrupt politicians who sought to oppress them. In fact, Father Herman was one of the first sign posts to point me to Alaska, I first learned about him hitchhiking about a year earlier. I will recount that experience in the coming articles.
St. Herman of Alaska
Pilgrim's Map 