Day 4: “Our Trail”

Our wake up was an hour earlier this morning, and I’m pretty sure I was among the many that felt it. The oatmeal was hot, though, and the freshly baked bread that Emily and Jon made the night before was sliced and ready for lunch sandwiches.

We headed out around 9:30 and hiked to what has now become “our trail.” We have found a rhythm now, and the assembly lined formed quickly. We were soon working hard to clear and gravel another section—one which had a particularly beautiful overlook of the bay and the ocean beyond it. Seaplanes flew overhead every now and then, and the sun heated us up in the morning.

Jon was the “Leader of the Day” and he took it quite seriously. We had well placed snack breaks and he led a very fun and feel-good stretching session. In the afternoon, Jon realized that his peeps were feeling the hard work from the past two days. Sore backs abound, we knocked off around 3PM and headed to the “touch tank” at the Kodiak Fishery Research Center.

The touch tank, along with the giant cylindrical enclosed tank, was, in short, AWESOME. Salmon, Cod, and Halibut whipped around the tank. Starfish, sea cucumbers, huge crabs, and flounder inched along the bottom. The touch tank, however, was another matter entirely. A long, narrow, shallow tank lined the back wall. You could be holding a rose starfish in one hand and a sea urchin in the other while looking out at the snow capped mountains on the other side of the bay. Ahhh…Alaska.

Andy also introduced us to the aquarium’s resident Biologist who knew everything about octopi. He was quiet and humble, but full of fascinating information. One story that was particularly shocking was that if they put the 25-pound octopus in the fish tank with the giant fish and monstrous crabs, it would eat EVERYTHING in the tank within a few days (except the starfish and sea urchin)! Eventually he offered to bring out one of the baby octopi, Christina, he had in the back. We were astonished when he brought her out in an open bucket and let us hold her. She wrapped herself around Jasmine’s wrist and sucked her tentacles onto Hayley’s hand as well. We were completely enamored with her.

We left there wide-eyed in amazement and headed back to the boat for pizza and pasta made by Ethan, Emily, and one of the trip leaders—Mike. Rummy has become the card game of choice and it went late into the night. While Ethan won the night before, Ralph (the trip leaders’ father—also a teacher) took home the gold for Wednesday night. We were promised another early morning and long day of trail building, so everyone turned in by midnight.