Deadliest Paddle Episode 2

The bad news: we missed another episode of our favorite reality show last night. The good news: Rob, Hal and Jeff treated us to another late evening kayak experience. This time we added a few more paddlers to the mix. Hal's neighbor James and Phil, his coworker just up from New Zealand, and another Kodiakan Amanda. By the time we got the gear and the group together, picked up some food to eat at the beach, and launched everyone it was near 7:30. We put in at Mill Bay and paddled out and around Miller Point - part of Fort Abercrombie State Park. Usually teeming with comorants, eagles and puffins, the rocks off of Miller Point were eerily quiet. Once we reached the point we rafted up and enjoyed a Rainier "loud mouth malt." Calm water allowed us to drink, eat and be merry while the sun slowly slid toward Kodiak's mountain peaks. After rafting we paddled between rocks that punctuated the shoreline to find a small beach. Meghan was excited to find anemones, crabs, and chitons in the tide pools. I chatted with the Kiwi about skiing in New Zealand and we made plans for a mountain bike ride later in the week. Soon we all geared up and shoved off to return to Mill Bay. I lingered in the kelp beds soaking up every moment of the sunsetting pink light on the silvery sea. By the time we landed our boats we saw a couple of otters, no one went for a swim and it was past ten o'clock. The Deadliest Paddle it sure wasn't.

Wild and Scenic Film Festival

Last night I attended the "Sundance of Kodiak." Well...it was a film festival, in any case, and the only one that has taken place since we arrived last fall.

The South Yuba River Citizens League's Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival was presented at the Kodiak High School. We arrived late and were seated in the drama pod-appropriately enough-the main showing was in the choral pod. An interesting and diverse crowd was in attendance-representing many different facets of Kodiak society. There was a silent auction during the intermission and my friend won a beautiful pendant. I was happy to walk away with some festival swag-Tom's of Maine toothpaste, Patagonia stickers, Clif Bars and Sierra Nevada bottle openers.

My favorite film of the night was called "Goldfish" (watch it here), recipient of an Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival. I also enjoyed the eye-opening tear-jerker "Burning the Future: Coal in America"(Montana CINE Best of Fest winner) and the heart-warming "Sand Dancer" about an artist in New Zealand. "Homegrown Revolution" was inspiring and I wished Bruce had been there to see it. The Future Farmers of America, Kodiak Chapter, the Alaska Marine Conservation Council and a local sports store sponsored the event.

I suspect that most of the crowd was very excited to view the last film on the program, called "AK the Hard Way," which follows a group of skiers on their road trip from Squaw Valley to southern Alaska, with stops at Mt. Baker, Whistler and Smithers, BC. Unfortunately, before the last selection could start, a future farmer stopped the projector, telling us that there wasn't time to view the last short. I feared that the audience might start pelting him with toothpaste and Clif Bars, but, eventually, folks filed out of the drama pod without incident.

These photos depict the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home of the Porcupine River Caribou herd and the Gwich'in Nation.