Ketchikan to Prince Rupert

We spent the night in the ferry line-up and were awakened about 3:30 a.m. when the ferry came in and unloaded. Our vehicle was supposed to be ready to load at 4:30, so we didn’t bother trying to go back to sleep.

Other than the shortage of sleep, the ferry trip went very well. We had an excellent big breakfast once we were underway and saw our first porpoises of the sailing while in the cafeteria line-up. I had a snooze later in a lounge chair but Fran stayed awake the whole time, keeping an eye on our route and watching the boats. You are never far from land or fishing boats on the inside passage. The ocean was very calm once again and the sky blue; a pretty day.

Prince Rupert is a major transportation centre with a huge grain terminal

and an enormous container handling facility where containers are loaded to/from ships.

This picture shows some of the nice homes on the hillside overlooking the harbour.

The city is fairly small, about 12,000 population, with some interesting looking museums that we plan to check out tomorrow. We were too tired to do anything more than set up camp in the RV park today.

Our Last Day in Ketchikan and Alaska

We pulled out of Camp Walmart this morning and took the highway north along Tongass Narrows as far as it goes (18 miles) to Settlers Cove State Recreation Site. We took the cairns on a really nice hiking path to the Lower Lunch Falls with access to the beach. They also went for a wade in the water. Gino especially likes to go wading.

The water falls and hiking trail through the rain forest were very pretty. And I took lots of pictures.

A few miles back toward town was Totem Bight State Historical Park. It was a really nice spot to stop at. A short trail led through the woods to a ‘clan house’ and totem park. The totems are either restored originals or duplicates carved by natives. The clan house had beautiful carved and painted corner posts and totems. The front was also carved with imagery that represented the clan and/or its chief.

We were given a pamphlet which explained the background and story behind each totem in the park.

The fireweed was sure pretty, too.

Back in town, we stopped at the mall and MacDonald’s for lunch and there was a little excitement when a fight broke out between two teenage boys. Some customers subdued them until the police arrived. Exciting!

After lunch we drove through Ketchikan, which was busy again with four huge cruise ships at the docks, and south as far as we could (13 miles). There were lots of nice homes overlooking the ocean on the South Tongass Highway just as there was on the North. We stopped at Herring Cove where we hoped to see bear catching salmon in the river, but all we saw was a bald eagle eating a fish.

We stopped at a turnout on the way back to town and watched the small fishing boats. There are often Humpback Whales off this point bubble fishing, but we didn’t see any today.

We found a spot right near the Plaza Mall to hang out for the rest of the evening where we can watch the action on the ocean (fishing boats, float planes, cruise ships). We are leaving very early tomorrow on the ferry to Prince Rupert so this is our last day in Alaska. It’s hard to believe – we’ve been here more than two months but it seems like a much shorter time.

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, etc.

We hopped the shuttle downtown this morning and joined in with the 10,000 cruise ship passengers taking in the tourist attractions in Ketchikan. The place was certainly busier than it was yesterday! We felt like old hands with all the newbies around.

We first stopped at the Visitor Center to line up our activities for the day. We decided on a trolley tour, followed by a performance of the lumberjack show.

The trolley tour was okay, but the driver/narrator was Hispanic (clearly not a local and a little hard to understand) and it covered pretty much the same route we did yesterday on foot. We got a kick out of this young Labrador retriever trying to catch fish in the creek. They were jumping all over the place and he didn’t know which one to go after first. Bet he was tired by the end of the day!

It ran a little late so we rushed straight to the lumberjack show. It was packed with cruisers. It was entertaining but not really worth the price of admission ($37/person).

We decided to go back up the funicular for lunch at the Cape Fox Lodge since we had enjoyed it so much the day before. It was a little busier in there but we just relaxed and enjoyed the view. And, bonus, we were able to ride it down as well as up!

Fran had his camera along today so after lunch we went back up the Ketchikan Creek so he could take some pictures then we went down and around to the library where we caught the bus back to Camp Walmart. The pictures I’d sent for developing were done so I spent the rest of the day getting them organized to go into our Alaska album.

We've been really lucky with the weather here. It's been sunny and nice which is pretty unusual in an area that gets 15 FEET of rain a year!

Ketchikan Blueberry Festival, etc.

This weekend is the Blueberry Arts Festival here in Ketchikan. After taking the shuttle downtown and spending some time at the Visitors’ Center getting information, we walked up to Main Street to check out the festival. There were lots of food booths and vendors of handcrafted items, mostly jewelry. The lineup was too long for the blueberry crepes, but we did try the beef teriyaki shish-kabob and the fry-bread.

The crowds were a little much so we followed the walking tour map to explore the neighbourhood and find our way down to the Ketchikan creek. The streets are literally carved out of the mountain and the house construction must have been really challenging.

We watched the salmon swimming up the creek, then took the “Married Man’s Trail” to historic Creek Street.

Creek Street was the red light district with the path being the discreet way to access the area. Despite its colourful history, the path was really pretty through trees and along the creek which had significant falls in sections and a fish ladder to help the salmon travel upstream. We were able to see the salmon in the water.

At Creek Street, where the path ended, the old houses have been turned into shops and restaurants and museums.

There is a funicular going up from this level to the Cape Fox Lodge, up the mountain. We took it up and enjoyed a delicious lunch in their dining room overlooking the town. We both had crab and shrimp melts.

Finding out that the funicular was out of order and that we would have to walk down was an unpleasant surprise when we were done eating, though. But, walk we did and finished strolling the length of Creek St. once we got to the bottom.

We weren’t far from the new Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, so popped in there for a look around. This federal interpretive center spotlights the 17 million acre Tongass National Forest.

We had one more unpleasant surprise waiting for the shuttle back to the Walmart which didn’t come. After waiting about 40 minutes, we walked a few blocks over and took the city bus. Should have done that sooner. They seem to have quite running the shuttle early today because the town was pretty quiet. There were only two smaller cruise ships in port today with a little over 1,000 people. Tomorrow will be a much bigger day with five ships and over 10,000 people!

We plan to do some more sightseeing downtown tomorrow so will bus back in again in the morning.

Wrangell to Ketchikan on the Matanuska Ferry

It was hard to leave the lovely Wrangell this morning. This is the view I saw stepping out the motorhome door this morning. It is the pretties and the least 'touristy' place we have visited in Alaska.

Here is our ferry coming in to the dock:

We were supposed to set sail at 12:15 but the ferry was two hours late leaving Wrangell. First, a semi that was trying to get parked in the ferry got wedged sideways and it took a while to get that sorted out. Then, they held a lifeboat launching practice while we drifted around offshore! So, instead of arriving at 6:15, it was closer to 8:00 p.m. This is the lifeboat getting driven around in the ocean after it was launched. They were getting driving practice as well as launching and reloading practice.

Fran was, of course, watching the whole operation with great interest. Afterward, he and several others were invited up to the bridge and given a tour/explanation of the equipment. That was very exciting for him.

It was a very smooth sailing with the ocean like glass. We were fairly close to land on both side and there was no wind. No rain either, for a change. We visited with two couples we met in Wrangell and watched the lovely scenery go by. The occasional sighting of a whale or porpoise was the icing on the cake.

Ketchikan is on a very narrow strip of land between ocean and mountain. There wasn’t room for an airport, so it was built on an island across the strait with a foot ferry running back and forth. This picture shows the airport:

And this picture shows us approaching Ketchikan. The ferry dock is a few miles up island from the downtown. We'll see that tomorrow.

After disembarking and walking and feeding the dogs, we drove to the Walmart for the night. The campgrounds and the one RV park are all quite a few miles out of town so it will be quite convenient to stay at the Walmart. There is even a free shuttle running back and forth between the downtown (where the cruise ships dock) and Walmart every 15 minutes. Works for me!!!

Soggy Sightseeing in Wrangell

It rained off and on all night and was drizzling lightly this morning so we set off on our sightseeing anyway.

I really wanted to go see the petroglyphs which are about 5 miles from our campsite; on the other side of town. So, we put on our rain gear and off we went. They are impossible to date for sure, but are thought to have been made thousands of years ago by the people that pre-dated the Tlingits.

We saw a great blue heron standing in the shallows along the way. Also quite a few slugs and even a few snails. The heron flew away when I stopped and dug out my camera from its waterproof bag. So, I took a picture of a nice log home. There are many nice, modern homes with beautiful views of the strait.

After stopping once to ask directions, we found the stairs down to the beach. Part way down, there are several signboards and petroglyph replicas to view.

We had some trouble finding the real petroglyphs, but Fran finally spotted some. (see the bottom right black rocks). There were several more under the big tree stump.

Quite a few were on fairly small rocks and we were told that lots have been carried off as souvenirs. Can you see the fish on the front of this rock?

Next we went to the library in order to use their internet to upload yesterday’s blog. That took longer than expected (it usually does!) and we were quite late going for lunch at the Diamond C restaurant. (Our waitresses name was Fran.) Fortunately they were still serving and we had a really good lunch, including homemade rhubarb pie, before we pedaled back to camp. It was raining quite hard by then and I got pretty well soaked. Fran’s raingear, that he bought in Homer, kept him dry.

I cooked some of our halibut for supper and we settled in for the evening. We’ve been selecting pictures to make a ‘hard copy’ album and this was a good evening to work on that project. We also watched “The Shawshank Redemption” – an oldie but goodie.

Juneau to Wrangell, Alaska

Yesterday we got a reprieve from the drizzle we’ve been having which made packing up much nicer than it would have been in the rain. I took Gino and Reba for bike runs, did a little housecleaning and we pulled out of our site at noon. A stop for groceries and fuel as well as a run to Walmart to pick up the prints I had ordered on-line took care of most of the afternoon. So, next we went to the ferry staging area and got in line.

This is a picture of our ferry – the Taku. It is an older one, built in 1967.

While waiting to board, and on the ferry, we visited with a couple from Quebec. They have a unique little teardrop trailer and we’ve been running into them periodically ever since Anchorage.

We loaded about 5:00 p.m. Once again, there were very few vehicles and people on board. Our cabin was small and spartan, but adequate.

As we pulled away from the ferry dock, we noticed the “Time Bandit” wastied up at the wharf! It is well known by fans of the TV docu-drama “Deadliest Catch”. Fran really likes this show so he was excited to see it.

We also got a good view of the Mendenhall Glacier as we left the harbour.

It was a beautiful evening with the ocean as calm as glass.

As we went past Tracy Arm, we spotted a cruise ship coming out of this fjord which is famous for its glaciers. There were quite a few icebergs floating at the entrance and a few were out in our channel. We saw whales a few times and Fran took some beautiful pictures as the light faded.

We went to bed a little after 10:00 p.m. with me in the top bunk. At 1:00 a.m. we stopped at the island/town of Kake. This was our chance to take the dogs out for a potty break. It was very dark (the first darkness I’ve seen). Then, back to bed. We stopped at Petersburg about 6:30 a.m. and since we’d been told the scenery gets particularly nice after then, Fran got up. This is the early morning look at Petersburg. It is a very tidy and prosperous town whose residents are mainly of Norwegian descent.

We passed through the Wrangell Narrows, an area that is too shallow and narrow for the cruise ships to pass. The shore on both sides was really close!

I got up and watched through the window of our room. Then, we had an excellent breakfast at the cafeteria and prepared to depart the Taku at Wrangell.

We had to do a little maneuvering around to get the motorhome off the ferry without scraping bottom since the tide was out. Once ashore , we stopped in the parking lot to turn on the propane and refrigerator and take the dogs out. I noticed three young girls with a table set up across the street. They were selling garnets harvested from ‘Garnet Ledge’ at the mouth of the Stikine River. Garnet Ledge was willed to the Boy Scouts for the benefit of the children of Wrangell. No one else is allowed to harvest garnets from this property and only the children may sell them.

We stopped at the Wrangell Visitor Center which is in a very nice building (it also houses their museum), and picked up some maps, etc..

The main things to do here are fishing, taking jet boat rides up the Stikine River and boating to the AnAn nature preserve to watch the bears catching salmon. We aren’t really interested in taking any more boat trips, other than the ferry trips already booked, so will find other ways to amuse ourselves while in this pretty spot.

We went to the city-owned RV park which is four miles down the island at Shoemaker Bay. There we were able to have our pick of sites and found one that was large, level and has a fantastic view out over the Zemovia Strait. We can watch all the fishing boats go in and out of the marina next door and keep an eye out for marine life.

After a bit of a rest and lunch we biked the four miles into town. It was a fairly easy ride without too many hills. Our fist stop was Chief Shakes Island where there are several totem poles and a tribal house. The house and totem poles were built in 1940 for the last large potlatch (gathering) of the Tlingit native peoples.

Some Tlingit dancers and a storyteller were putting on a performance for a group from the small cruise ship in town.

This small cruise ship only has 70 passengers on it and they stay away from ‘touristy’ places. In fact, a passenger we were talking to said that in the one week cruise, this is the only town they stop at. They have fishing gear, kayaks and paddleboards onboard and they can use them as they cruise places like Glacier Bay National Park. Very neat idea!

Wrangell is known for its totem poles and there are several in this little park.

The main street downtown has buildings dating as far back as 1898 on it. They are well maintained and brightly painted.

We sat on a park bench and watched the activity in the city harbor for a while before pedaling back to our campsite.

Wrangell is primarily a fishing town. We were told ‘everyone has a boat’. There are several fish processing plants which are going full tilt processing salmon these days. The homes are, for the most part, very nicely kept, with lots of flowers.

A really nice person Fran tried to buy firewood from in the marina next door delivered a bunch of firewood right to our site so we could have a fire tonight. He wouldn't take any money for it, either! It was so lovely sitting out with our campfire and looking out at the ocean.