ORCAS ISLAND — Kayaking upon the relatively serene waters of the Puget Sound is one thing.

Paddling around Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula where even the mud can be dangerous is quite another.

That feat was recently accomplished by Djuna Mascall and her husband Matthew Nelson of Orcas Island along with Mathew Wendell of Seattle. The trio went around the Kenai Peninsula, completing the 500-mile trek in 22 days. The trip also included seven rest days.

The journey began May 24 on Turnagain Arm in the Cook Inlet and concluded in Whittier on June 22.

“We aren’t claiming to be the first people to do this,” said Mascall, “but we still haven’t found anyone or heard of, or heard from, anyone else who made this trip. People do things like this and then don’t say a word about it.”

That’s not the case for these three. They are spreading the word of their accomplishment. If you are interested in how they went about it or learning about the unique ecosystems they stroked through, plan on attending a slide presentation at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Padilla National Estuarine Research Reserve. The program is presented by the Hole in The Wall Paddling Club.

A social period will begin at 6:15 p.m.

“We are excited to have them,” said Rem Smith of the Hole in The Wall Paddling Club. “They are some very experienced kayakers.”

The expedition around the Kenai Peninsula helped raise money and awareness for Cook InletKeeper, a non-profit organization devoted to protecting Kenai waters. It was an obvious choice for the group.

“My husband grew up in Alaska,” said Mascall, “and we met there. It’s a great place to paddle. That particular area has three very distinct zones that present real challenges for paddlers. We were able to raise a good bit of money for Cook InletKeeper. They do a lot of good work.”

An interesting fact: more than 50 percent of the world’s salmon come from the waters the three kayaked.

All three are avid kayakers who have paddled in conditions ranging from the benign to the hazardous. None, however, had ever attempted a trip of this magnitude.

“This is the first experience we’ve had as a group when it comes to paddling that sort of distance,” admitted Mascall.

While Wendell wears a suit to work in Seattle, Mascall and Nelson are employed at Body Boat Blade International on Orcas Island. The company offers year-round kayaking courses ranging in length from three hours to five days.

The Kenai trip took some planning.

“There were a lot of logistics to be worked out,” said Mascall. “The biggest of which was just getting the kayaks up there. Then there was a lot of information to be gathered and studied.”

They studied charts, talked to the locals and consulted the Internet about tides, currents and weather. Mascall said they read everything they could get their hands on about the area.

The three carried a hand-held SPOT Messenger device. The unit acquires one’s location from the GPS network and routes it through the SPOT satellite network. Contacts (friends and family) receive either a text message on their cell phones with a message and coordinates, or an e-mail with a message and a link to a map.

After collecting their kayaks, the three set out from Turnagain Arm, at a place called Portage Creek. It is one of two areas where the peninsula narrows to a mere 12 miles.

“The other point is where we ended,” explained Mascall. “That’s the closest you can come to circumnavigating the whole Kenai Peninsula. There’s a glacier blocking the way (at Portage Creek).”

Turnagain Arm is a treacherous piece of coastline that Mascall described as the trickiest portion of the trek.

Turnagain Arm boasts several dangerous aspects.

It’s one of about 60 bodies of water in the world to have a tidal bore. A tidal bore is defined as: “a phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave (or waves) of water that travels up rivers or narrow bays against the direction of the current.”

On high spring tides, the bore at Turnagain Arm may be more than six feet high and travel at 15 mph. Turnagain Arm sees the largest tidal range in the United States and the fourth largest in the world.

Turnagain Arm is also shallow and silt covered. These lead to another interesting characteristic — miles of dangerous mudflats when the tide is out. The mudflats are dangerous to walk on.

“It’s like quicksand,” explained Mascall.

Throughout the years, the flats have claimed limbs and lives of beach explorers.

Throw in high winds and blustery weather and you’d better know what the heck you’re doing before setting out in a kayak.

“The first couple of days,” said Mascall, “were probably the most difficult and worrisome. It’s so shallow, except for channels, it dries out and there is all this quicksand-type mud.”

Mascall said the outer coast was tricky as well because there aren’t many places to land.

The trio resupplied at the towns of Homer and Seward. At all times, they had a 16-day supply of food on board just in case they found themselves trapped by weather. They opted against freeze-dried rations, instead relying on dried goods such as lentils, rice, fruit, oatmeal, pasta, etc.

“We were really prepared,” Mascall said. “The weather turned out to be very good and there wasn’t any high winds. We didn’t have any days where it really downpoured. We had some misty days. A little bit of everything.”

Plenty of animals made their presence known both in and out of the water.

“We saw a lot of black bears,” said Mascall, “but no brown ones. We also saw humpback and orca whales and a lot of mountain goats.”

Overall, the trip went smoothly.

“My favorite paddle was definitely from Homer to Seward,” admitted Mascall. “The outside coast is just beautiful. It’s so remote. It felt really wild. The landscape was just amazing.

“Out there you feel very small. But it was still a great time. Except for Turnagain Arm, that is.”

For more information about the paddling exploits of Mascall, Nelson and Wendell, go to ourowntwohands.blogspot.com or catch it firsthand at the presentation.

Vince Richardson can be reached at 360-416-2181 or by e-mail at