Sincerely, Denise

THORNE BAY AT THE DOCK

Friday, June 5^th

Today is our trip to the native village of Kasaan as we have a tour scheduled for 12:30pm. It’s about an hour on a gravel road to get there, and had decided to pack a lunch to have in Kasaan before our tour. I had read about a beach just north of Thorne Bay called Sandy Beach which was described as a “great beachcombing beach” so Connie and I (the only ones that wanted to go) hit the road early to go investigate. It was another gravel road and lots of potholes enroute, during which we sighted a mama deer and fawn! Fawn was a freshie, could barely figure out how to use its legs. Sandy Beach turned out to be somewhat ho-hum, but was still beautiful. Not much in the way of shells or anything of interest, the rocks being gray and shale-like. There were a TON of mussels growing on the rocks however, even on the gravel where we were walking, they were everywhere. We scurried back to pick up our comrades at the dock at 10:45 for our trip to Kasaan. Our contact at Kasaan was a woman named Kris who was extremely welcoming and had urged us to pack a lunch and eat it in their tribal community building because “it was so pretty” which it was. Native artists had drawn murals on the walls inside the building, and there was a stunning totem commanding the center of the room. We enjoyed a leisurely picnic lunch while she told us a bit about Kasaan. Mike Jones, the president of the Kasaan tribe, eventually arrived and we embarked on an amazing 3 hour tour and educational seminar on the Haida history, and the Kasaan history. Although he lived most of his adult life in Seattle as a flooring contractor, he returned to Kasaan 6 years ago to retire in his home community. He recently assumed the position of President and takes his job very seriously, frequently traveling to Washington DC and Juneau to have a voice in the government. Mike is passionate about his heritage, preserving Kasaan, and protecting the people and the land in this community. We were completely immersed in his world for these three hours and while it was a lot to take in, I feel so fortunate to have had this intimate and thorough experience and education on the Haida. Eventually it was time to say goodbye to Mike and Kasaan, and make our way back to the boats at Thorne Bay. On the drive back we came across more deer and fawns. It’s fawning season apparently as the locals told me, and there are a lot of them. Dinner tonight was on Bryans’ boat where Bill and Lorraine treated us to smoked baby back ribs, german potato salad, fresh corn and a delish dreamsicle dessert. Following dinner we had a discussion on itinerary going forward for the next week or so, deciding to head to Thom’s Place on Wrangell Island tomorrow morning for some anchor time and crabbing! We have had a lot of dock time up here so far, and we all prefer to be on the anchor. Great day all around.