Date (day): July, 13 (Day 14) Source: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA) Destination: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA) Travel Miles: tbd Resources:Papa's Pizza; Dreamcatcher Bed & Breakfast;
In the morning we ate breakfast, enjoyed some JetBoil energized coffee, and then collapsed our camp. As part of our teardown, we once again we made it look like no one had camped here overnight.
Today's plans included driving south past Sandy Beach (with some built in play time), past Thorne Bay, Klawok, and back to Craig where we would be staying at the Dreamcatcher B&B one last time.
This time before checking in at our B&B, we ordered a 'papa size' 20" pizza to go from Papa's Pizza. Papa's Pizza is also owned and operated by Ken, our B&B host. We did have leftovers... but probably not as much leftovers as we should have had. We must have all been hungry.
Back to Sandy Beach one last time before heading to Thorne Bay and Craig (to stay once again at the Dreamcatcher B&B), and then on to points south the following day.
Date (day): July, 14 (Day 15) Source: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA) Destination: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA) Travel Miles: tbd Resources:Hydaburg; Dog Salmon Fishpass ;
After our self serve breakfast, we checked-out of the Dreamcatcher B&B.
We then visited the Klawok Totem Park. This park has some nice totems for sure, but the setting is no where near as nice/idyllic as the totem park in Kasaan.
Next we drove south toward Hydaburg.
Before going to Hydaburg, we wanted to spend some time exploring the FS road system out Twelvemile Creek (NF-21). This included boondocking overnight. Upon our arrival at the Mainline Polk Road - 2100000, we found that it still looked to be closed. This FS road goes out to Dog Salmon Fish Pass and points beyond. The road closure announcements posted on the ferry indicated that this road was to be closed up until yesterday and it was supposed to be open today - but there was to still be some heavy equipment operation until the 24th. There were still road closed signs on the road as well as one active truck and excavator. We spoke with the excavator operator to see if we could get through and he indicated that as long as we followed the lone hauling truck we should be able to safely navigate through this four mile work area. That is exactly what we did.
Turns out that we were at least two weeks too early to see any bears at Dog Salmon Fish Pass. As per the excavator operator, the ranger that was supposed to be stationed out there to manage the primitive viewpoint was not due to show up for another couple weeks. No fish = no bears.
Even with no bears, we gave ourselves the self-guided tour. By the number of eagles perched in the trees, they surely believed that the fish would be arriving soon. Still-in-all, we did not see any bears.
We jumped back in the van and kept following Dog Salmon Creek until it exited into Polk Inlet. The exit of Dog Salmon Creek was near a large flat dirt area and primitive boat ramp. Not far away was a nice float plane dock and some sort of cabin.
We wanted to see if we could get into some elevation so that we could get a better view of the landscape so we headed out on NF-2150. Sure enough, this took us around the base of Polk Inlet and we ended up high on the opposing ridgeline. We almost made it up into the snowline, but we were blocked by a slide that had brought down a clump of dirt, rock, and trees in one consolidated root ball that was more than we could have realistically tackled in one night.
While out exploring, we found a number of nice places to boondock. Now we had to settle on one. We chose the 641 spur off of NF-2150 to setup camp. This spur had an ok view of Polk Inlet and a provided a great place to watch the sun go down.
Turned out that this was a great day of exploring. So glad we took the opportunity to ask the excavator operator if/how we could get through earlier in the day... rather than just calling it quits and going elsewhere.
Klawok Totem Park.
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Klawok totem detail.
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Next, off to Dog Salmon Fish Pass to possibly see black bears feeding on pink salmon.
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We are the only ones there. No bears either. Two weeks too early.
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Small elevated viewing area over Dog Salmon Creek.
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Dog Salmon Creek's exit into Polk Inlet at a remote marine access point.
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Floatplane dock in Polk Inlet
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More FS road exploring east of Polk Inlet
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Polk Inlet view from FS road.
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Camp for the night; end of a FS road spur overlooking Polk Inlet.
In the morning, we collapsed our campsite and started moving early. We still had places to explore, had planned a trip into Hydaburg, and then we needed to find some place to camp that would not be too far away from the ferry terminal in Hollis (as our boat back to Ketchikan would depart by 9:00am the next morning).
In our travels on FS-2150, we encountered some downfall. I took care of it with a small Stihl chainsaw I had brought along just for this occasion.
Next we found twelvemile cabin. Oh my. Everything about twelvemile cabin was amazing. My wife wanted to stay for a week. Yep, sorry... not an option on this trip. We have a boat to catch in the morning. This may be one of those places to come back to and spend a few days on a future trip.
After some good off-road travel, we found ourselves back on the uneven pavement of the Hydaburg Highway and headed toward Hydaburg.
Once in Hydaburg, we stopped by the Hydaburg Totem Pole Park. This park was in an urban setting (just like Klawok). Many of the totems here were also newer then any we had seen up to this point.
Running out of day, we still needed to find a place to camp overnight. After some discussion, we decided to drive back to Klawok for more fuel and ice. We then investigated getting a campsite at a place called Harris River Campground (located only 10 miles from the Hollis Ferry Terminal). When my wife called to inquire about availability, the person on the other end of the phone laughingly asked if we had seen Sara Palin yet and then without skipping a beat told my wife the campground was all booked up. Upon further 'physical' investigation of this campground we found that there were only two of fourteen spots that were reserved/occupied by a construction crew that were never there. Regardless, we paid $8.00 at the self-pay station and stayed at this campground overnight. Once again, we had the place to ourselves.
Encountered downfall over the road while out exploring today.
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Nothing a little Stihl could not handle.
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One of POW best kept secrets... Twelvemile FS cabin.
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Further on down the road to another marine access point.
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On to Hydaburg
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We stopped by the Hydaburg Totem Park
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Mix of old and new totems.
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Camped at Harris River Campground overnight.
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I discovered an incomplete cut on a large dead tree in the back of our campsite (#14). Based on the notch, the tree would not likely have fallen in the direction of our van. However, this tree would have likely pinballed a smaller tree into our van. I was not going to touch this pre-modified tree for a number of reasons. There was no campground host scheduled to show up for another couple of weeks... so I left a note for the FS to deal with this one.
Up by 5:00am, collapsed our campsite, and made it to the Hollis ferry terminal by 6:30am. Had our JetBoil coffee in the parking lot while waiting to load. Loaded onto ferry by 7:15am.
As it was the day before... the sun was out in full force.
We boarded the ferry and went straight to the dining area. Even though it was only 10:00am, we purchased an ice cream sundae to share amongst all of us. After seeing a few of these get consumed on the ferry ride to POW, this was something that our daughter really wanted (and truthfully, so did I). I negotiated with her that if our stay on POW was a success... then we would get one of these creamy mountains of joy on the way back to Ketchikan. She had been a great kid this entire trip (not just POW) and I paid up in full.
Once we reached Ketchikan, we pulled into the local laundrymat to do our laundry.
Once done with our laundry, we checked back into the Best Western Plus; Landing Hotel to get properly cleaned up.
Ordering room service that evening was the last thing that I remembered.
Up early to catch our ferry back to Ketchikan - departing at 9:00am out of Hollis.
I woke up before everyone else (5:30am) and decided to drive into Ketchikan town center before all of the tour boats unleashed their hoards. Driving around in the heart of the city this early in the morning really helped me understand the road layout - while under zero pressure.
When I returned to the room to check on the other two, our daughter was up but was having some digestion issues. My wife called our pediatrician back in Washington to get some advice. After some discussion, the pediatricians advice was to contact a local urgent care if one was available. If no urgent care, then go to the local Emergency Room. As there was no urgent care facility in Ketchikan, we found ourselves at the ER. The ER staff was great and we had a diagnosis in a matter of a couple of hours (after all of the lab test came back). Everything checked out ok.
Our original plan was to camp in the van tonight and then return to the Best Western for our last evening in Alaska. Because I did not know if our daughter was going to be ok or not, I asked my wife to inquire about staying in the hotel tonight as well... just in case this was serious. My wife called the front desk and told the Best Westen staff of our predicament. The Best Western was conveniently located only a couple of blocks from the ER whereas the campground was miles outside of town. The Best Western staff indicated that the hotel was pretty much full, but they would see what they could do. Ten minutes later, we got a call indicating that we could stay the additional night and that our room for the next two nights was the same room that we were in now (in order to minimize disruption). Thank you Best Western!!!!
Now that we were given the OK by the ER staff, we decided to go out and explore a little. First we stopped off at the Forrest Service office to see about getting a MVUM map of the area. I inquired about gain access to any of the FS road that I had seen high above Ketchikan during our ferry ride(s), but the FS staff member told me that those roads were not FS owned and operated roads, they were privately held Indian resources. There was one FS road that she recommended to me and that was gavel non-4x4 road called Brown Mountain Road. She also indicated that if I had access to a boat, there were plenty of FS roads on the neighboring islands. Once back in the van... we decided to go find Brown Mountain Road.
Turns out the Brown Mountain Road was in full bloom. It was an easy but beautiful drive that I would highly recommend.
On the way back we also stopped at Signal Creek Campground and checked out our now forfeited campsite. Signal Creek cost $10.00 per night and the campground was mostly empty (something like three of nineteen sites occupied). I dont think that I had seen so many Salmon Berries in one place in all of my life as lined the small Signal Creek. Obviously the bears liked it because the campground host was in full bear warning mode. The bugs were also pretty thick.
Other places we explored today were Last Chance Campground, Whipple Creek (which looked like some promising ORV turf, but as it turned out it was private land for 'adventure karts'), Settlers Cove Campground, and the D-1 loop and associated gravel spur road (which also looked promising to gain access to high elevation logging roads... but looked to also be marked as private).
We stopped at Stone Deck pizza on the way back to our hotel. Expensive, yes; Awesome, yes.
Back in Ketchikan and up and out before the tour boats unloaded.
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Took our daughter to the emergency room based on pediatrician guidance. After some investigation, everything turned out just fine.
Today, we decided to do a little exploring on the main road south of the city of Ketchikan. We followed the paved road out to the power station near the end of the road. Not much out there other than a small waterfall.
We also discovered Rotary Park and that was a big win for us. It had restrooms, a play set, a man-made tide pool, and plenty of interesting beach to explore. Cruise ship after cruise ship would pass just off of the beach.
We went back into Ketchikan for lunch and found an amazing private yacht that had been moored for a while, leaving. It was called the Vibrant Curiosity. Quite an amazing craft.
We ended up having lunch in a vacant lot high above the 'newtown' part of the city.
We also drove around in the 'park district' (which was very scenic) and we managed to find our way up a very steep and winding hill to the solid waste plant.
I dont recall why, but we decided to drive south out to the fish hatchery. Here, I was able to snap a few quick images of some of the many eagles feeding on returning salmon.
While we were out at this part of the island, we also found a perfect house right on the water for us (for sale). I certainly dont have the $450K it would take to purchase this place... but it is still fun to dream a little.
The day was coming to and end and it was time to retire back to the Best Western for some R&R.
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Public parks saved us as they allowed our daughter to burn off LOTS of energy.
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Playset at Rotary Beach, 20 minutes south of Ketchikan.
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Viewing cruise ships from Rotary Beach.
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Size and scale still just amaze me.
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This is what Ketchikan looks like when it is empty (only of of five cruise ships at the dock).
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100 million might get you this, the Vibrant Curiosity (the 60th largest private yacht in the world).
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Having lunch in the van with a view of Ketchikan below.
July, 19; Ketchikan, AK (USA) to Prince Rupert, BC (CAN)
Date (day): July, 19 (Day 20) Source: Ketchikan, Alaska (USA) Destination: Prince Rupert, British Columbia (CAN) Travel Miles: Travel by ferry Resources:
I woke up before everyone else (5:30am) and decided to drive south and out to the Whitman Lake Fish Hatchery at Herring Cove to see if I could photograph a few eagles and/or bears like we had seen the night before.
Near the hatchery, there was not really any 'open' parking available. Nobody was around, there was just no place to park. It looked like parking at any of the official observation points was not allowed for the general public (i.e. those not affiliated with a tour operator or business). As such, the best I could do was park on the narrow shoulder of the main road.
After parking, I got out and setup my long range camera gear and tripod just behind a guard rail and next to an electrical pole. After spending a motionless quiet hour, I was able to pick up on some of the dynamics that were going on in the animal kingdom. I spotted an active eagles nest with two young fledglings managed by a pair of attentive adults. I also watched a black bear scout-out fishing opportunities as well as do its best to avoid any humans. The four fishermen that were just walking back to their vehicle did not even know the bear was less than 30 feet away from them, carefully watching them. Even a tour operator showed up with a dozen clients who were all gawking at the salmon in the creek from the high on the bridge and listening to the tour operators spiel about the lifecycle of salmon. Amazingly enough, no one spotted the black bear that was in the shadows only ten feet below where they were standing. At some point the bear decided to move-on and its exit strategy took it right by where I was setup. I was the one motionless object that the bear did not account for. As it started for me, I disconnected my camera from the tripod and stepped back about twenty feet into the middle of the road. I waited for the bear to successfully make its exit before going back to my perch. There were wet footprints on the rocks just in front of my tripod. Once the tour operators started to regularly show up (every five minutes)... I decided to call it a morning. Amazing what you can see when you just slow down a little and look around. I am sure that the tourist traveled a very long way and spent top dollar just to see a few small salmon swimming in the creek below. The reality was that they could have seen so much more. It was all sitting right there... looking back at them.
I retreated back to the hotel to pick up my two adventure buddies. After getting all cleaned up and properly storing our gear for the next leg of our trip, we decided that there were two things left to do. 1) Go back to Rotary Park and burn off some of our three year old daughters energy. 2) Get another pizza from Stone Deck Pizza (so that we had ample food for the ferry ride south).
We boarded the ferry (MV Matanuska) at 8:50pm local time and were underway by 9:15pm. Because our arrival time in Prince Rupert was to be at 2:00am, I decided to splurge for a cabin on this leg so that we could all get a better night sleep before our next 520 mile push.
I think that I was asleep in our stateroom before Ketchikan disappeared over the aft deck.
Golden Eagle.
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Bald Eagle chick (one of two in this nest).
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Feeding time.
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Fuzz ball.
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The whole family. Two chicks, one parent in the nest and the other parent delivering more moss.
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Wild black bear looking for a good fishing spot.
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In line at Alaska Marine ferry dock... waiting for our ride south.
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Boarding the MV Matanuska.
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Picking up the keys to our cabin for this leg of the trip.
July, 20; Prince Rupert, BC (CAN) to Quesnel, BC (CAN)
Date (day): July, 20 (Day 21) Source: Prince Rupert, British Columbia (CAN) Destination: Quesnel, British Columbia (CAN) Travel Miles: 520 Resources:Best Western Tower Inn
Ferry arrived at Prince Rupert on schedule @ around 2:00am.
It was all we could do to get our daughter down to the car deck and into our van.
While driving off of the ferry, I noticed that one of the workers that was guiding traffic into the appropriate customs lines was the same guy I had been talking to when we were headed north at the beginning of our trip. I said "hello again". The worker said, "hello, I remember you! How was your trip?" He then guided us to line #3. Line #1 already had a number of passenger cars and motorcycles waiting in line. Line #4 had a dozen RVs waiting in line and the customs agent was deep inside the first RV. Line #3 was empty, and then it merged with line #4. We drove all of the way to the front of the line... and merged. After a lengthy investigation of the first RV, we then pull up to the border guard. He asks us a couple of quick questions as he stares at the van. With kind of a puzzled look, he just said "oh, go ahead" and waved us through. We even beat the first few motorcyclists out of customs.
The first couple of hours of driving were in pitch black darkness.
Our destination on this leg of the trip was the Best Western; Tower Inn in Quesnel.
We wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible, so we were up and out of our hotel by 4:45am.
Stopped at Tim Horton's for some coffee. Tim's was not open yet. We waited in the parking lot until 5:00am when they opened.
We ordered two coffees each.
The drive was uneventful, except when we got hit by a very large deer only 200 miles from home. Wouldn't you know it, the biggest most beautiful looking deer we had seen on our whole trip and this was the one that decided that its flight path had to intersect with ours. I think it happened somewhere around 100 Mile House. We were climbing a long hill at about 90KM/HR. I saw the deer in plenty of time. It was standing near the tree line and pointed away from the road. For some reason, it got startled. It spun 180 degrees and bolted straight for the road. I just remember thinking how big, beautiful, and brown/orange it looked and how muscular it was as it launched in our same direction. I had a nearly empty four lane road to work with (there was one oncoming vehicle half mile down the road). I steered the van slightly to the left (center of the road) in order to stay in front of the deer. The last thing I wanted was to have the deer hit the front of the van and go underneath one of the tires. Because the deer was so big, my fear was that the van would have leaped up off of the ground had I driven over it. Well, I successfully got the nose of the van in front of the deer which I recall as being a huge relief. Next, was the feeling of the deer impacting one of the side passenger doors - at full speed. It was like getting hit by a meteor. Luckily, both my wife and daughter were sleeping at the time. They wouldn't be sleeping any longer. Upon impact, I applied the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. I looked back into the side view mirrors and the deer was on its back, legs up in the air, flopping around like a grounded halibut. Oh great, now I have to go figure out what to do about the injured deer in the middle of a highway. Just as I was about to get out, the deer righted itself, stood up on all four legs, and slowly walked off of the road and back into the tree-line with no visible signs of injury. Whew! I then pulled the van over to a safer location off of the road and go out to examine the damage. The impact to the door was so great that whatever infrastructure was interior to the door had stopped the door from being dented even further... to the point of nearly ripping the sheet metal. Of course there was hair and blood at the impact site as well. All in all, it could have been much worse for all involved. Fortunately, it was only 20 seconds of disbelief and surprise followed by ten minutes of down time. Hopefully, the deer just ended up with one mother of a migraine headache. I, for one, did not require any more coffee the rest of the way home.
The last obstacle of the day was going through US customs and getting back into the US. It was 20+ minute wait at the border.
We arrived back home, safe and sound, around 5:00pm.
All in all , it was another amazing trip in the books for us!!!
Up early. Waiting for Tim's to open at 4:55am so we can get some coffee before the last 500 mile push home.
Thanks again everyone. I personally could not recommend exploring southeast Alaska enough. My wife enjoyed it so much that she is basically ready to move there, today. My daughter keeps asking me “when we can go back?” Sure, mainland Alaska has larger animals walking around (Brown Bear, Muskox, Caribou...) but SE Alaska hands-down beats mainland Alaska with respect to its amazing network of accessible gravel roads.
If you are curious to find out what is at the end of 'that' road... then Prince of Wales Island is the place to go. If you want to camp in isolation high above active fishing grounds... then there are at least three amazing spots on Wrangell Island that are ready for you. Wrangell is also the closest to the Anan Bear & Wildlife Observatory if world class bear viewing is on your bucket list. If you want to explore with views of Frederick Sound, Dry Strait, and watch icebergs exit La Conte Glacier then Petersburg may be your best option. Even Ketchikan with its thousands upon thousands of tourists still has a few secrets (like driving up Brown Mountain or whale watching along the Tongass Narrows).
Because all of these locations are islands, the price of entry is higher than most locations in the lower 48 (access, fuel, food, parts, etc…. Also, outside of Ketchikan, tourism has not been perfected (aka… not so contrived). Expect (and enjoy) an experience that is more genuine... and less polished throughout those parts of SE Alaska not directly connected with the cruise lines.
If you seek adventure travel (with an eye toward the primitive side) then your expectations may be realized here. Example(s); The Alaskan Travel Bible (aka the Milepost) was of no use in many of the places we visited as there was no reference to the FS roads we were on; Our Garmin 376C GPS loaded with United States Topo software also rarely showed the roads we were on and often gave the message “no roads near destination” when we tried to plot a course; During those times when we could connect to the Internet, Bing Maps was wrong more than it was right (it even shows the Alaska Marine Ferry traveling on the wrong side of Mitkof Island). Same was true for our local copy of MapPoint 2013. Cell phone connectivity was very limited and could not be relied on. By design, for most of the nights we spent on Prince of Wales Island we had no idea where we were even going to spend the night. Everyone's definition of ‘adventure travel' may be different… but for me, our SE Alaska trip came pretty close to nailing mine.
. Also, outside of Ketchikan, tourism has not been perfected (aka… not so contrived). Expect (and enjoy) an experience that is more genuine... and less polished throughout those parts of SE Alaska not directly connected with the cruise lines.