Dear family and friends,
We sit cozy in our camper with the rain coming down in spurts. Petersburg, AK gets 107 inches of rain per year and it is certain that some high percentage of those inches have fallen since we have been here. Still, we had the pleasure of arriving in sunshine and have an appreciation of how beautiful it can be when those special sunny days occur. This combination of glacier capped mountains, endless water and rainforest is most dramatic and appealing. Here are a few more highlights since we arrived in Alaska.
• The Alaskan Marine Highway: What a wonderful way to travel. Think of it as a bus on the water. It takes all of us … from 40 foot bus motor homes, to cars that need to be towed , to walk-ons (one couple brought their little guy’s mini trike and he amused himself riding around the deck). Perhaps the most spectacular route on the entire ‘highway’ is the stretch between Wrangell and Petersburg called the “Wrangell Narrows”. From the photo you can see that this is no small ferry and yet at times the Narrows lives up to its name with the two shores only being about 2 football fields apart. The pilot had 70 navigational beacons and made 40 navigational corrections in the space of less than an hour!
• The land of the 10:30 PM sun: I suspect as we travel toward June 21, it will truly be the land of the midnight sun, but for now, it is not quite. Right now, it is 9:00 P.M. and it feels like a very long dusk. Lovely shadows!
• The most beautiful campsite in the universe: In Wrangell (our first AK stop in this very authentic feeling town (not much dressing up for company) we headed north for a National Forest campsite about 8 miles out of town. Our site, perched high on a cliff looking miles up and down the Straight of Zamovia, was surrounded by snow capped peaks. It was breathtaking. To add to it all, there was a pair of Bald Eagles nesting in a large fir tree about 50 yards in front of us. I called it the total “Bald Eagle Experience”
• Making new friends: Waiting in lines for the ferry can create new friendships. One fellow, an engineering professor, is building a cabin that is either 45 minutes by boat or a.6 mile hike in through the muskeg (AK’s sponge …. very wet, very mushy, very intriguing). He was bringing the fixings for a bathroom so his wife would visit. He had enlisted a young engineering professor friend of his to help. I cannot guess how many trips they made over the rocky beach or up the sloughly path before they invited us for dinner (we did the hike piece). What a memory we have of steaks from the fry pan, wine in acrylic glasses (his wife sent them in the truck) and looking out of this barely finished beautiful cabin toward the icebergs of the La Conte Glacier. Wonderful conversation, too!
• Death by Kayak: No doubt as the years pass the embellishments to this adventure might include a rescue by a Coast Guard helicopter or the necessity for a ½ mile swim. No embellishments really needed as the actually truth is pretty good. It was rainy and a bit choppy when we went out on a guided adventure up a tidal creek (more like a tidal river if you ask me). While it was pouring rain, it was still very beautiful and I quite liked the kayak. While breaking for lunch, the storm that was expected later arrived with gusto. Trying to round a point in high winds against the tide was hard enough, but watching our young guide paddling her heart out and being swept into the reeds made it very real. Then she became quite serious and told us we must paddle as hard as we could as she had called for a boat to come for us. Since the tide was going out, the boat might not be able to make it to us. We had to beach the kayaks, wade through two feet of water and somehow (I am still not sure how) hoist ourselves into a high-prowed boat. I am calling it “the Kayak Adventure that Shall Not be Named”.
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• Camping at the end of the road: I had not planned any more entries as I certainly do not want to become annoying … but tonight we are camping at the end of the road – literally there is no more road on the island! As we were eating dinner watching the tide go out and watching the sand bars appear, there appeared two beautiful wolves wandering back to the woods via the sand flats! I am afraid that no one will believe us except that we have witnesses as we saw them with another couple also camping at the end of the road.
Love to all with special shout outs to 355 and Truckee!
Sitka next.
jp and Tom
