Davidson Creek
  April 22


Davidson Creek

Spring had been spectacular—it was time for a shakedown camping trip, in April!  Chris and I had plotted with Rob and Katie to spend a weekend up Taku Inlet fishing for Dolly Varden in Davidson Creek, which flows down a tantalizing long valley upriver of Turner Lake.  Unfortunately, a concussion kept Rob at home and a southeasterly storm kept Chris and I home most of the weekend too.  But Sunday was spectacular and the tides were right, so we decided to make a day trip out of it.  It turned out to be a ludicrously long way for a day trip, and I laughed and congratulated ourselves on our frivolity on the way back.  Davidson is far up the inlet, farther than I think I realized, just downriver from Hut Point and very much in the intertidal portion of the river.  It didn't help that a little north wind chopped things up on the way there.  We arrived at the end of a falling tide and worked our way through the huge crescent shaped outlet creek between high-banked sandbars (I’d used the Alaska ShoreZone coastal mapping program to scope it out beforehand, so I expected the curves).  The water was plenty deep in the channel, thankfully, except for the big turn where we nearly touched against the rocky bottom.  But, the water was crystal clear close to the creek and it was easy to navigate around the sporadic large rocks. 

We pulled the boat onto the edge of the mud flats about 100 yards from the roaring waterfall and set the anchor high in the rocks at the edge of the trees.  Cailey was beside herself dancing around in the mud.  Since it had long since melted in Juneau, we were surprised to find everything covered with snow, about four feet in most places!  Heading up Taku Inlet was like going back in time, the snowline quickly dropping to sea level as we passed Cooper Point.  So as soon as we rose up off the intertidal beach, we were tromping through thick spring snow.  It wasn’t as deep within the trees, but we still would have wound up camping on snow if we’d spent the weekend—there was no bare ground at all!  And, of course, it was deepest along the side of the creek and we walked carefully lest we fall through.  Surprisingly for so far downriver and such a forested valley, we found lots of moose sign.

As we worked our way upstream, it became more obvious why no salmon run up it—the creek cascades down a series of violent falls for some distance before starting to level out (my dad said that the Forest Service had tried unsuccessfully to open it up to salmon).  From that point on, though, it looked like a fish’s paradise with deep pools and fast riffles, deadfalls and rocks.  We stopped there and had a snack sitting in the snow; the sun was so bright and hot that the icy seat was pleasant!  Then Chris worked his way toward the main channel over a series of logs and rocks to fish and I tried my luck in a deep hole between the bank and a big slab of rock.  I couldn’t believe there were no fish in there, but I never had a nibble.  A few minutes later, I heard the “fish on” shout from the other side of the rock.  By the time I got there, Chris had landed a lovely little stream Dolly on his third cast.  He packed her in snow to keep the dog away while we briefly continued fishing; unfortunately, we wanted to catch the tide and had a long trip back to Juneau so didn't stay much longer.  As we clumped our way back to the boat, Cailey pranced energetically around us, having hardly stopped her joyous romping the entire time we were there.  She accidentally swam for the first time while trying to catch up to Chris across a deep side channel, and I had to help her out onto a steep rock.  Back at the boat we packed the fish in a bucket of snow and headed back home.  That night we ate Davidson Creek Dolly Varden for dinner and basked in the glow of spring sun and adventure.


Cailey Boat Dog
Channel with sandbar and Taku Glacier behind
Near the bottom of the falls

Part way up the falls
Forest view
Davidson Creek as it flattens out

Davidson Creek
Chris and his dolly
The dolly on ice

Relaxing on a snowy rock
Debbie all bundled up overlooking the falls
Ronquil at anchor


The Ronquil at anchor on the way out, Norris Glacier behind