Overcast to mostly cloudy. Light winds. Temperatures in the 40s.
Connor wanted to go hunting today. I was interested in tagging along, but had phone calls this morning, so was limited in the places I could go. He ended up choosing the Port Krestof area, which worked for me.
We launched from Starrigavan in the pre-dawn dim light.
We were already in Port Krestof when brilliant colors graced the clouds as the sun rose.
I waited in the boat while Connor hunted the west shore. I was surprised at how long he took. I didn’t realize he was going to be sitting and blowing the deer call. He didn’t see any deer, nor did I.
There were some waterfowl, including a flock of maybe 50 Canada Geese.
While we were there two other hunters coming in. It looked like they were probably duck hunting
We went over to the east side of the bay to hunt the muskegs.
From where we anchored, we followed the shoreline. It was a bit cliffy, so had some ups and downs. It might be interesting to spend more time looking at the cliffs. I did not notice much diversity in the places I looked, though (lots of Diplophyllum)
We bushwhacked through a brushy area and then came out into the boggy area.
Connor stopped to call. I poked around a short distance away, mostly looking for/at liverworts while trying not to make much noise.
We moved on to a cluster of trees I had taken note of on our summer trip from Point Brown side.
Along the way we crossed the otter trail I had followed on our earlier visit to this area. I was a little surprised to find it here. I had thought it might have gone along the other side of that tree patch.
Browsed shrubs and plentiful droppings indicated the deer regularly use this patch of trees.
Connor called again.
I looked at liverworts further back and found a new one for me, Anastrepta orcadensis.
We skirted edge of muskeg heading southwest. Our plan was to loop back (Connor didn’t want to get too far from shore, as he is still not up to full strength in recovery from pneumonia)
When I crossed the otter trail again, I noticed it seemed to be heading to a lower drainage area out of the muskeg, but I would need to follow it to be sure.
Connor had basically given up on calling, so we just walked quietly and looked.
He dropped down to check a final finger of muskeg and I stopped to look at liverworts growing under shrubby cedars.
On our return, I made an effort to find and follow the otter trail as best I could. It seems very well travelled, and in some places a bit braided.
A pond in the transition from forest to bog seems to be a favorite place for them to roll around.
Following the trail out was a little inconvenient in a few places, but not nearly as much as the one at Inner Point. It looked like this trail was shared in places by deer. Maybe a somewhat braided set of deer and otter trails through this aera.
It came out between where the boat was anchored and where we had gone up into the forest earlier.
Heading from there to the boat, I probably should have gone up above the cliffs, but ended up skirting in front of and between them. It was doable, but a little tougher than this morning’s route.
We went out to glass Kamenoi Point Beach. No deer there.
Glassy conditions on the water encouraged us to decide to go out a little further. Connor wanted to see the little nook that seems like a good anchoring point (at least for smaller boats).
By the time we got back out on the water, the wind had come up, even starting to white cap. We checked Mountain Point then headed back to Starrigavan.
Some Edgecumbe students were jumping into the water off the dock when we arrived. It looked cold to me.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
(Many photos of a ritter otter trail in this gallery – I’m going to try and put together a separate page about this trail with all the photos linked with a map.)
