There are trips you take, and then there are trips that quietly rearrange something in you. Pybus Point Lodge was the second kind. #HostedByRedmond

Mike and I were invited to Southeast Alaska by the team at Redmond, and I said yes before I really understood what I was saying yes to. I pictured trees. Water. Maybe a fish. What I got was a float plane touching down on glass-flat water, a lodge tucked into the spruce with rain rings spreading across a green bay, a humpback surfacing off the bow, and a boardwalk through the rainforest that ended at a hot spring.

Here is how the whole thing went.

Getting there is already the story

You fly commercial into Juneau, and then you get into something much smaller.

I am not naturally a small-plane person. I gripped the seat. Mike reached over and took my hand, the same way he has for thirty years, and did the thing he always does, which is be completely calm while I am completely not. He has been my calm for three decades. It works on airplanes too.

And then I looked out the window.

Clouds sitting in the valleys like they had been poured there. Snow still hanging on in the high places. Water the color of sea glass shading into deep green where the channel dropped off. There is no photograph that does it justice and I tried, I promise you, I tried.

The landing is the part nobody prepares you for. The plane comes down and instead of wheels and asphalt there is water, and a long soft hiss, and then you are just… floating. Taxiing. Like a boat that was recently a plane. I have had a lot of landings in my life and that was the best one.

Flying on a sea plane turned out to be a bucket list item I didn’t know I had.

One practical note before I go further, because so many of you told me to do this and you were right: the motion sickness patch. I wore one the entire trip. Between the float plane and days on a boat in open water, it made the difference between being present and being miserable. Thank you for that one.

The lodge itself

Pybus Point Lodge sits right on the water, cabins and decks built into the trees, with a dock stretching out into a bay so still it works like a mirror. We pulled up in the rain, which I had braced myself for and ended up loving. The rain made rings all over the green water and the whole place went quiet and beautiful.

It is all-inclusive in a way I had not expected. Not just the meals and the boats and the guides, but the actual clothing. They hand you full Grundéns rain gear, bibs and jacket and boots, so you are not out there buying foul weather gear for one week of your life. The four of us came down to the dock that first morning head to toe in black rain gear looking like we knew exactly what we were doing. Did I mention we went with our dear friends? Yep it was epic!

Time to fishing

Our guide was Ryan, and I want to be clear that a good guide is the entire trip. He was patient with people who had never done this, he was fun to be around, and he knew that water.

The first fish up was a lingcod, and it was gorgeous, and we had to throw it back because it wasn’t in season. That was my first lesson in Alaska fishing: there are rules, the rules exist for a reason, and the good outfits follow them without complaining.

Then came the halibut.

I caught two at once. Two fish. One line. I did not know that was possible and I am still a little smug about it.

My next halibut was so big we couldn’t keep it — over the allowed poundage — so back it went, and honestly, watching that thing go over the side was its own kind of thrill. Lizzie pulled up the most beautiful fish of the whole trip, this electric orange rockfish that did not look real sitting on the deck of a gray boat under a gray sky.

Somewhere in the middle of all this I looked around and thought: so basically I am a fisherman now.

What else is out there

You go out for fish and the ocean keeps handing you other things.

Porpoises running alongside the boat, breaking the surface in pairs. And then, on a flat silver morning with the mountains stacked up on the horizon, my first whale. A humpback, rolling up out of the water off the bow, unhurried, like it had all the time in the world.

I have wanted to see a whale my whole life. Standing at that rail watching it, I wasn’t thinking about a single other thing.

The glacier day

One day we ran the boat deep into a fjord to see the glacier, and that day deserves its own paragraph in my head forever.

First the icebergs start showing up — that impossible glowing blue, floating in water so calm the mountains double themselves underneath. Then the walls close in and you are running through a narrow channel with waterfalls coming down the rock on both sides, moss and spruce clinging to granite.

And then the glacier. A wall of blue ice coming down off the mountain into the sea.

Ice from the ice ages, sitting right there in front of us. I don’t think my brain ever fully caught up to that.

The tiniest town on the water

Another day we went looking for hot springs and found Baranof Warm Springs — a handful of houses on stilts and a hand-painted plywood sign that says WELCOME TO BARANOF WARM SPRINGS in blue paint. No roads. Just a wooden boardwalk running up through the rainforest, wet planks and ferns on both sides.

At the end of it: natural hot pools set into smooth gray rock, steam coming off the surface, water running somewhere behind you.

I had no idea a place like that existed in Alaska. I’d go back for that alone.

A salmon on a fly rod

Near the end of the trip I caught my first salmon on a fly rod.

Standing on a gravel bar with the creek running past and spruce all around. When I got it in I made a face that can only be described as feral and had somebody take a picture immediately, because my dad is going to be so proud of me.

That was the moment the whole trip landed for me. Not the big halibut. The salmon.

The part I didn’t expect

I went to Alaska for the scenery and came home thinking about the people.

We got to spend the trip with the Redmond team, and yes, their products are fantastic — but what stuck with me was how they are with each other. The work environment, the way they talk to one another, the actual comradery. It is the most impressive team I have ever connected with, and you notice it most when you are all on a boat together in the rain all day.

We also got to share it with friends. Camille, who makes everything more fun. Porsha Murdock, who is a professional mountain biker and one of those people who is good at hard things and somehow not intimidating about it at all. Lizzie and her beautiful orange fish. Chef Jared, whose food had no business being that good in a lodge that remote — one morning breakfast was chia pudding cups layered with berry compote, fresh mango and peach, pumpkin seeds on top, sitting in a bowl of ice like it was room service.

And Mike, on the dock, in rain gear, throwing up a peace sign.

If you’re thinking about going

• How you get there: fly into Juneau, then float plane out to the lodge. Leave yourself a buffer day — weather runs the schedule in Southeast Alaska, not your itinerary.
• What’s included: lodging, meals, boats, guides, fishing gear and rain gear. You genuinely do not need to buy foul weather gear for this.
• What to actually pack: layers you can peel off, a warm hat, and the motion sickness patch. I wore mine every day.
• What you’ll catch: halibut, rockfish, salmon, and probably a few things you have to hand back. Size and season limits are real and your guide will hold you to them.
• Who it’s for: total beginners. I had never done any of this. The guides teach you.

Coming home

I keep going back to that first landing — the water coming up under us instead of a runway, and that long hiss, and then the quiet.

Alaska is beautiful in a way that makes you stop performing about it. You just stand there.

Thank you to Pybus Point Lodge for having us, and to the Redmond team for sharing it with us. I am still thinking about all of it.

Our stay at Pybus Point Lodge was hosted by Redmond. All opinions, and all the fish, are my own.

You can find more of our travels here!

ALASKA — BUT MAKE IT A WEEK

Pybus Point Lodge • Admiralty Island

DAY 1 — THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
?? Fly into Juneau
?? Board a float plane to Pybus Point
?? Take in the unreal aerial views
? Land right on the water
? Check into Pybus Point Lodge
?? Dinner + settle into lodge life

DAY 2 — GONE FISHING
? Meet your guide + gear up
?? Head out in full rain gear
? Fish for halibut + rockfish
? Watch for porpoises + wildlife
? Dinner back at the lodge

DAY 3 — GLACIER DAY
? Boat deep into an Alaskan fjord
? Cruise past glowing blue icebergs
? Waterfalls + towering granite walls
?? See an incredible tidewater glacier
? One of those how is this real? days

DAY 4 — BARANOF WARM SPRINGS
? Boat to tiny Baranof Warm Springs
? Walk the boardwalk through the rainforest
?? Soak in natural hot springs
?? Explore this tiny roadless community
? Cruise back to Pybus Point

DAY 5 — FISH + WHALES
? Another day on the water
? Halibut + rockfish fishing
? Keep your eyes open for humpbacks
? Porpoises alongside the boat
? Soak up those wild Alaska views

DAY 6 — SALMON ON THE FLY
? Head into the backcountry
? Fly fish for salmon
? Gravel bars + spruce forests
? Celebrate that first salmon catch
?? Final-night dinner at the lodge

DAY 7 — ONE LAST ALASKA MORNING
? Slow breakfast overlooking the water
?? One last walk around the lodge + docks
?? Float plane back to Juneau
?? Leave wondering how one week went so fast

LITTLE THINGS TO KNOW

STAY: Pybus Point Lodge
GET THERE: Fly to Juneau ? float plane to the lodge
INCLUDED: Lodging, meals, boats, guides, fishing equipment + Grundéns rain gear
PACK: Warm layers, beanie, comfortable clothes + motion-sickness medication if appropriate for you
BEST FOR: Couples, friends, beginners + anyone wanting a true Alaska adventure
PRO TIP: Build a buffer day into your travel plans because Southeast Alaska weather can change flight schedules.