Best Kept Secret



Trail Leads to a Lovely Mountain Lake



Gravel Trail and Stone Steps



A Nice Rest Stop



We departed Sitka on the west side of Baranof Island and retraced our course through Sergius Narrows and Peril Strait, arriving at Appleton Cove on the northeastern side of Baranof Island to anchor for the night.  Left Appleton Cove the next day for Hanus Bay, where we had anchored several days earlier.  We had previously noted two small tour boats taking passengers ashore.  We suspected it was a fishing and/or bear watching expedition.  Sure enough, we found a well maintained gravel trail through a beautiful forest that followed the river to two lakes.  The river was teaming with spawning fish, especially thick just above the river falls.  There were so many fish, we could have used a net or bucket to scoop them up!  The eagles were picking fish out of the water but we didn’t see any bear fishing that day, I guess they had the day off or were tired of posing for the cameras.  We thoroughly enjoyed our trail hike,complete with stone steps, skid-free bridges and boardwalks, and even large flat rocks used as seats for rest stops.  There was no indication of who maintained this nice trail; our best guess is the Tongass National Forest Service.  It’s no doubt, a best kept secret for fishing and bear watching that's not generally visited by individual boaters.



River Falls



Spawning Fish



Non-Skid Boardwalks