June 2

Today the weather was so nice we decided to have a fun day. In the morning Ginger prepped all the food for our picnic and I helped prepare it and package it. Just before noon we took off to visit an old fox farm and play on the beach. 

Before we made it to the fox farm we visited bird island, a rocky outcropping that has black-footed kitty birds and seagulls that their eggs there. It was cool seeing all the birds paired up around their nests. 

Then we went kelp picking. We gathered a couple of bull kelp and will be making kelp pickles out of them. 

Ginger, Jeanie and I harvesting bull kelp.

Finally, we made it to the island. It was a gorgeous beach of dark, slate rocks and white seashells. Bentley, Jordan, and I went tidepooling while Jeanie perused the beach. Following a nice long hike we all ate lunch and watched the oyster catchers flitting around. Just after lunch we were lucky enough to see an oyster catcher nest with three eggs in it! 

Jordan and Bentley tidepooling at the old fox farm.

After lunch we also toured the old fox farm. It was become dilapidated in the past 20 years according to Ginger. The floors and walls are rotted, some structures on the property have already collapsed, and the house used to be the home of land otters so it has feces and destroyed objects everywhere. It was still an amazing space to explore though. We went to the back and saw where the foxes were kept and eventually killed. 

Abandoned fox farm

After the fox farm tour Ginger went to grab the skiff and we all piled in to head back for a nice banya. A banya in Alaska is basically the same as sitting in a sauna. It was a toasty 149 degrees when we got in and of course after finishing in the banya we all had to jump into the mountain water creek that’s 38 °F!