May 1, 2017 - Auke Bay AK

We’re situate in a lovely NFS campground ten miles from Juneau Alaska.  Arrived by ferry at 4:45 a.m. this morning.  Our literature said the campground opened today, but we found the gate locked.  We called the office to remind them of the opening.  A ranger knocked on our door at Noon to tell us it was open.  He remarked on our A.T. sticker and said he had through-hiked the trail in 1984.

The morning was sunny and a balmy 47 degrees.  Some 60 or so school children arrived for a field trip just as we began walking the lovely trail to Point Louisa.  We were charmed to see them.  They scarcely bothered the birds.  Their picnic lunch ended up in the shelters when the showers arrived.  Now it is cold and rainy.  A storm is forecast for tomorrow.  We will grin and bear it.  We need a day in town anyway.

The ferry ride through the Inside Passage was marvelous.  The campers were loaded first, so I had the ship to myself for a while.  Poor Anne was nearly the last auto to be loaded.  Both of us chatted with other passengers while waiting for a reunion.  Perhaps we made friends of all 147 of them during the voyage.  The group included a few tourists but mostly Alaskans and people going to work in Alaska.  There were a few of the subsistence folks.  They are easy to spot.  Alaska is the last frontier, or so they say.

We started picking up new year-birds almost immediately and did reach the 300 mark before leaving Washington waters.  The last three were Common Murre, Ancient Murrelet, and Tufted Puffin.  Yeehaw!

Watched Bellingham recede behind us and then in the evening saw the robust and prosperous City of Vancouver emerge in front.  The skyscrapers rose behind an enormous pile of coal ready for transport to China.  We had taken our dinner at Noon in camp on the first day of our voyage and enjoyed a supper of our own sandwich that evening on the ship.  We found the little cabin comfortable.  The night seemed dark, but when I turned off the lights and looked out the cabin window I saw that the sky gray and not black.  We may not see a black night again until July when we return to Washington state.

The ship passed Prince Ruppert as we slept and we we in wilderness all of the second day of the voyage.  We passed many white frosted green mountains on either side and crossed two sections of open water.  In the second we encountered substantial seas that sent waves of spray across the windows of the observation deck.  A young fool disregarded the captain’s advice and stood for a time on the open deck.  He became drenched, no worse.  The ship groaned a bit each time the bow fell and made spray after crossing a big swell.

Someone yelled whale and I raised my binoculars to observe a humpback whale dive with raised tail.  Pods of Risso Dolphin scooted past looking like miniature killer whales.  We prepared a second supper on board from canned chicken and Thai sides in the microwave in the cafeteria and watched the recent Star Wars movie in the theater before retiring.

Yesterday, the ship made three stops.  We set alarms because we were told we would have to move the car during the first stop at Ketchikan.  That was great because we could use it to drive around the town.  There we found a great omelet in a local breakfast shop.  Yum, yum.  All worked out well, but one of the two wake-up alarms failed.  The ship operates on Alaska time.  In a sense one never leaves the United States on the Alaska Marine Highway.  Upon boarding you are on Alaska time.  But the telephone persisted in being an hour ahead.  We got used to that and so set the alarm an hour ahead (on Pacific Time).  The clock alarm we set to Alaska time.  Of course, on the second morning we entered Alaska waters and the phone reset itself, but it did not adjust the alarm time.  So, it rang an hour late after we were already up and off the ship.  No problem.  My silly old alarm clock worked just fine without complications. 

On the third day we passed through various narrows (fiords) between hills and mountains.  Narrow water falls gave spray from a thousand feet.  On this day we bought the ship’s supper, Anne salmon and I pot roast, as the ship entered the truly narrow Wrangell Narrows.  The 407 foot long vessel passed within twenty feet of the channel markers as it moved slowly snaking between rocks and flats. 

We went ashore briefly at Wrangell and walked downtown to see it.  With only 45 minutes for the visit we walked quickly.  These towns share a common history.  First came the seekers of fur and gold.  For some that led to a brief boom.  Then came fishing leading to another boom that went bust upon the arrival of statehood when the residents outlawed fish trapping and the like that were ruining the fishing.  Meanwhile logging arrived and cleared much of the forests.  Today the economy is a blend of mining, logging, fishing, and tourism.  The economy is doing well for the folks who enjoy a harsh climate.

By evening snow was in the hills as well as in the mountains.  The land and trees no longer look like Vermont.  This is a different sort of place already.  The cold clear water rushes with the big tides along rocky shores.  Big trees float in the water and line many of the banks.  The forest trees, except the alders, are cone shaped to shed snow.  The alders are just breaking their buds.  The land, the vegetation, the buildings, the boats, and the people all seem rugged.

We reached our point of landing this morning very early and so were up at four o’clock.  There was plenty of light.  We unloaded the vehicles separately, hooked up, and drove to a 24 hour grocery in Juneau.  The fridge had to be turned off on the ship, so we needed new perishables.  I wanted to go to the washroom and went in ahead of Anne.  She noticed the rig shaking.  I walked right through our first earthquake in Alaska without noticing it.  It was only a small one.  Seems to be the talk of the town. 

All set we went to find our campground.  We’re the only campers.  It is lovely.  We’ve reserved three nights.  Will probably move to an RV park in town at the end of the week for more niceties but can decide later.  The agent said that this site is now open until the 26th.  I don’t think we will be kicked out.  The rate here is $10.  The rate in the commercial park is $40 and it has no view.  But can we tolerate the cold wet weather for more than three days?