Prince of Wales Island. AK

 Prince of Wales Island July 2nd to July 7^th        

  

Only July 2^nd    we returned to the ferry dock in Ketchikan two hours ahead of boarding to get our tickets, get in line, and wait for boarding ferry to Prince of Wales Island. This Island, as well as nearby islands, were first settled by the Tlingit people. From the literature, we learned that they were the most wide-ranging of the Southeast Alaskan tribes and were “adept at trade with inland Natives and with Haidas and Tsimshian.” It is thought that the Haidas established settlements on Prince of Wales sometime in the 1700s. They came from Haida Gwaii, previously known as Queen Charlotte Island of BC’s northern coast. Archaeologists have found artifacts that they believe date back to as much as 10,300 years ago. There are petroglyphs on several coastal rocks but they do not divulge the location to the public to protect them from vandalism.  There are Totem Pole parks, fishing villages, and native Alaskan cultures thriving on this island and we hoped to visit some of the Totem Pole parks such as the one in Klawock, pronounced (kloo-wah).

Totem Pole in Klawock

While we were waiting in the ferry line, Tim struck up a conversation with two couples already in line and began talking fishing. It seems that one of the couples, Bill and Lee, has been going to the Island for years to fish. They had a pickup camper and were towing a boat. The other couple, Frank and Linda, had been there before and knew Bill and Lee. They had a pickup with their tenting supplies. Each couple had also brought a large freezer to take home their catch! During our 3 hour ferry ride, we spoke to them some more and got the lay of the land on the Island. They were headed to Coffman Cove on the northeast shore and suggested we follow them there to Oceanview RV Park.

Meanwhile, the ferry ride through this section of the Inner Passage was a little rough but the scenery was worth getting our sea legs back. No whales on this passage, but the islands, the fishing boats, shoreline villages and lighthouse views made for perfect backdrops for the cruise ship passing by.

I was told upon exiting my car on the car deck that I would have to be the first one off the ship so they could clear the way for the walk on passengers. Fifteen minutes before landing in Hollis, I had to go down and get ready to drive off. As we came nearer the dock, they opened the door and I was looking out directly at the pilings as we swept past them. I’m glad they had the wheels blocked so I wouldn’t go rolling off! Then came the dropping of the ramp for exiting. Sitting there I swore it was going to land on the hood of the car.

All my worries were for naught, they landed, I drove off and met Tim a little ways up the road to hook up the car to the RV.

Originally, we were going to get off the ferry in Hollis, park the RV in the closest campground and then tour the island in the car. We weren’t sure of road conditions on the island and didn’t want to get into rough gravel roads with the RV. As it turns out, Prince of Wales Island has some of the best road conditions in Alaska and they are improving them every year. So, we decided to do the 80 miles to Coffman Cove. And we are very glad we did!

We arrived at the campground and were thankful that at 9:50pm we still had daylight get situated and help Frank and Linda unload and get their tent set up. The campground is right on the water and the little town is a ten minute walk.

The first day, Tim and I walked to town while the others were busy setting up for their longer stay here. (Bill and Lee stay a month while Frank and Linda will be there 2 weeks.) There is one store, a health clinic (new last year), a post office, an elementary school, a city hall, a library that doubles as a “take and bake” pizza parlor, a take- out restaurant, a bar, a lodge and a large marina with many fishing boats. We met some folks who told us the population in winter is 100 and swells to 200 during the summer with a few folks drifting in and out (like us). We were impressed with the maintenance of the buildings and some new construction with what looks to be in floor heating going in. The locals told us that the winter isn’t too bad..16 being their lowest temperatures and only 4 -6 inches of snow at a time, but a lot of the residents are only here in the summer.  The weather now is in the 50s with winds off the water making it pretty chilly. I brought out my wool crew hat and gloves and warmer jacket!

View from Campsite

Bill and Lee seem to know just about everyone in town and have fished with them all for many years. When we strolled down the docks again in the afternoon, we watched three teenagers filleting huge silvers (salmon) so skillfully. Lee explained that the young lady had been doing it since she was 9 years old!

On the second day, July 4^th, Tim was invited to go fishing with all of the others in Bill’s boat while I stayed back in the warmth of the RV.  The weather turned nasty on them and it took an hour an a half to get back from their 20 minute jaunt out to Whale Pass. Thanks to the good job that Captain Bill did it wasn't any longer.

Coming In from Fishing

Most of of the town folk were in the parade, so it left very few people on the sideline.  We enjoyed our stay here, but decided we needed to see the rest of the island as well, so we hooked up the car and headed back to the Harris River campground in Hollis. This campground was completely empty when we arrived and only 2 more groups of tent campers came in the next 3 nights.

In the next two days, we toured through Hollis, Craig, Klawock and Thorne Bay. Craig is the largest of these with a population of over 1000, Klawok has about 850, Thorne Bay has 495 and Hollis has 163. The two main industries on the island are fishing and logging. In the past, mining was also done in Hollis. All of the towns have docks, schools, and libraries,and some have float plane capability, medical services, and grocery stores. Island living here is quiet and relaxing..except for the 4th of July and its fireworks that is. 

Lots of Deer along the road

Klawock

Craig

Thorne Bay

Tim Fishing

Klawock Library

View from Island Road

There are not many visiting RVers on the island. In fact, we were the only RV on the ferry both to and from Prince of Wales.  Exploring the out of the way places is what we came up here to do, so I guess we're on the right track!  

Tim in RV boarding Ferry

Patch of Blue on Grey Day

Our ferry ride back to Ketchikan was uneventful and once again we stayed at Walmart awaiting a ferry tomorrow night to take us to Wrangell.

Alaska Marine Highway-Prince Rupert, BC to Ketchikan, AK, USA

Alaska Marine Highway to Ketchikan  July 1st

Finally, the day has arrived when we board the Alaska Marine Highway! We’ve talking about this for so long now that we didn’t think it would ever get here. Our excitement was no less than a toddler waiting for Santa Claus to come. Our entire Marine Highway experience will be 21 days from Prince Rupert, BC to the final destination of Haines, AK.

We needed to be at the ferry boarding area 3 hours ahead to finalize our tickets, get in our assigned car lines and wait to go through the USA Customs area.  Since there are 6 stops on the ferry, they would have to arrange the cars, trucks and RVs so that they wouldn’t have to rearrange them on the ship to get them off at the right stop. Quite a logistical nightmare that they handled quite efficiently.

When we arrived there, a young man measured each of the vehicles separately. Tim would be driving the RV on board and I would be driving the car on board which would be less expensive than staying hooked up with a wasted 4 feet between the vehicles. That done, we walked down to the terminal office to get the many tickets we needed for the entire trip up the Inland Waterway. We will be getting off at each of the 6 stops and spending time at each location and thus needed two sets of 6 tickets which took a while for them to do.

At the counter there was a brochure about what you could not take across the border to the USA. We had read earlier about the restrictions, but this brochure was more detailed and forbade the transportation of any citrus at all as well some vegetables.   So, Tim put the oranges, apples and potatoes into a bag and asked where there was a trash can where he could dispose of them before crossing. He was told to just give them to someone down at the terminal and they would bring it to the homeless shelter. Sounded like a good idea, so he got back in the RV, waited his turn in line to go through customs. He had filled out his declaration form that he had no fruit with him. Being the good citizen that he is, when he drove up to the customs official’s window, he handed him his passport card, his declaration page and the bag of fruit et al. The officer said that he was trying to smuggle in the fruit and lied on his declaration page! Imagine Tim’s surprise! Tim explained what he was told and the Officer stated that he was now on American soil and should have gotten rid of it before hand. He told him he could conceivably fine him up to $300 but instead wrote him up that the fruit and vegetables were confiscated!

While Tim was doing that, I was sitting in another lane waiting for it to move. The woman in charge of organizing everyone there was getting a little perturbed that the folks on motorcycles kept coming down and parking where they shouldn’t as well as a couple of cars the fellow in the upper lot sent down too early it seemed. She said loud enough for folks to hear but to no one in particular, with an eye roll, “I need coffee!” and off she went into the terminal. By now we had been waiting almost 2 hours and people were out of their cars, talking, walking around and getting friendly. When she returned, there was yet another car that came down that shouldn’t have. She put her coffee down  in the middle of the parking lot and said to me, “Watch my coffee!” in a very authoritative manner as she went to speak to the folks in the newly arrived vehicle. So I watched the coffee and just before a walk on passenger headed ran over it with her roll on bag, I quickly ran to it and yelled, “Don’t spill her coffee. She’ll kill me.”  I saved the coffee and everyone just started to laugh and the woman seemed appreciative with a little grin. It lightened her spirit anyway and ours as well.

After boarding, we realized that we had lost an hour’s time. We were then on Alaska time which is 4 hours behind the east coast time instead of the Pacific time of 3 hours behind which we had been on for a while.

The weather went from cold in the morning to hot in the sun by the time we boarded.  We were able to change out of heavy clothes but keep our windbreakers before the ferry departed the shore. The scenery was as we imagined with verdant islands everywhere you looked. We saw a few whales blowing and a few tails as they dove, but none were close enough for a good photo op. We met a couple from Salem, Oregon, Nancy and Dave, on board and spent a fun 6 hours on the trip to Ketchican. 

On the upper deck of  the ferry,  folks are allowed to put up their tents instead of renting a cabin when they are on the ship for a longer passage than we had (6 hours to Ketchikan.) Or, some just put an extra padding on the lounge chairs and slept there. From Prince Rupert to Haines, it's about a day and a half.  

View of Ketchikan

View from Ferry on Inner Passage

Once we left the ship, we drove straight to the Walmart parking lot for the night. In the morning we will be heading back down to the Ferry Dock to take an inter- island ferry to Prince of Wales Island.

It feels great being here and anticipating our stops along the way!

Prince Rupert, BC, Canada

 Prince Rupert, BC   June 27^th- June 30th

View from road on way to Prince Rupert

We left Lake Maziadin to go to Prince Rupert on June 27^th.   In retrospect, it probably would have been better to stay in Lake Maziadin or even stop in Terrace or back to Hazelton for a couple of nights before heading down to Prince Rupert. We had 4 days of mostly cold and rain with just a touch of sunshine now and again.   We were able to get into the Prince Rupert Campground without a reservation for the 4 nights which was fortunate because it was coming up to Canada on July 1^st.  It was a good location in as much as it was not even 5 minutes from where we got on the Alaska Marine Highway to Ketchickan. Fishing is absolutely huge up here. We had heard that from many folks, but to see the amount of fishermen with their pickup campers with boats in tow is amazing. The campground was packed with them..and the fish they would take off their boats and put into their  freezers were very large and very many.

Prince Rupert had all the essential stores and was actually bigger than we originally thought it would be. They have a quaint dock area called Cow Bay which was called that because this is where they used to off load the cows for market from the barges coming down the river. No cows now, however, as it is a cruise ship port (about 6 a year, they say)with lots of little shops and a few restaurants and an interesting museum and interpretive center on local history.

We were told by earlier travelers to Alaska that we would see lots of eagles at the dump in Prince Rupert.  So, off we went to the dump to find no eagles. Another hot spot for them was to be the dock area where the multitude of fishermen launch their boats and bring in their catch..right next to the fish packing plant and Bob’s on the Rocks..a tiny outdoor seafood restaurant. We were not disappointed there. We saw many young bald eagles with their white spotted breasts and wings and a few mature bald eagles swooping over looking for leftover fish.

We also found a Seaplane Base and watched them take off right next to the Coast Guard boats. 

We did a lot of reading, played scrabble, did some sightseeing and, of course, laundry at this stop. We’re getting anxious now to get on the Alaska Marine Highway through the Inner Passage.

From Smithers to Salmon Glacier

From Smithers to Salmon Glacier-June 24th-June 26th

On our drive on Highway 37 and Highway 37a, we saw incredible views of the mountains and waterfalls.

Our first sign that we were getting close to our Alaska destination gave us distances to Stewart and Bear Glacier, which is on the 37a Glacier Highway.

 From Stewart, BC it is a mere 2 miles across the USA border into Hyder, Alaska. On the way down, we stopped to see Lake Maziadin that a young lady in Prince George told me about. It's a Provincial Campground right on a lake with mountain views behind it. We decided to go on to Stewart to see about another site that we were told about and while there we visited the Visitor Centre as it would be closer to Hyder for the next day. The young man there gave us a driving tour guide from Stewart through Hyder and up to the Salmon Glacier Summit viewpoint. Seeing the area there, we drove back up to Lake Maziadin where we camped for 3 nights. We had a really nice spot right on the lake. The only problem we are starting to have is with mosquitoes. We were warned that they could be pretty thick in Alaska, so we brought along nets to go over our heads and we had sprayed some of our clothing with premethrin to keep them off of us. We had to get the head nets out at the campsite and Tim actually went to the camp store and bought 2 mosquito netting jackets for us! While typing this blog, I must have killed at least 3 dozen with my bug zapper and that is in the RV! I don't know how they are getting, but in they get, but I digress.

Lake Maziadin Evening

Lake Maziadin Morning

We took our time the following day and meandered back down the Glacier Highway through Stewart and into Hyder. We stopped many times to take in the many waterfalls, Bear Glacier and the snow topped mountain views.

Bear Glacier

Highway Waterfall

 We crossed into Hyder, Alaska..first time into Alaska..yeah!! and headed for the first stop on the auto tour route which was the viewing area where the Bears are supposed to come to catch the salmon. We were disappointed as it is a few weeks early for the salmon to be running. We continued on our journey and after a very short distance the paved road ended and the gravel road began. It wasn't too bad for a few miles and then we came across an area that had a slide of mud and rocks recently. We worked our way through that and then pretty much crawled through the potholes and rocks and, towards the top, snow on the side of the road.

Note the Narrow road on the curves

We stopped along the way for the overviews outlined in the pamphlet and at the various abandoned mine sites. The Stewart and Hyder areas were part of the gold rush boon and in the 1910s and 1920s they were thriving communities. Now there are very few people in both of these towns. In fact, Hyder calls itself a Ghost Town. However, there is still some silver mining in the mountains and we saw one active mine..the Premier Mine.We traveled from the USA back into British Columbia and in and out of the Tongass National Forest.  In all it was almost 23 miles and most of it on unpaved roads. I knew we should have bought a jeep! Our little Honda Fit did okay though with Tim's tactical driving.

Rough ride through the mud slide

The Summit views were spectacular and well worth the trip. Salmon Glacier is the 5th largest glacier in North America and the world's largest glacier accessible by auto.

View of Salmon Glacier from Summit -unknown photographer on rock

View from the summit road

Once we got back to the border, the Canadian border patrol asked what we were doing and we told them we were disappointed that we didn't get to see any bears. She told us to go back into Hyder and go to the dump as that is where they hang out. We did that and found a momma black bear and her cub. We stayed far enough away and got a few quick glimpses of her, but the baby bear stayed well hidden most of the time.

A few more photos ops on the way back up to the lake and we had completed yet another long, but very interesting day on our trek through the northwest! On to Prince Rupert and the Marine Highway!

Smithers, BC, Canada

Smithers, BC June 23rd

Campground in Smithers

Smithers is a quiet little town nestled beneath snow capped mountains. Our overnight stop there at another Municipal campground was quite nice. We were there early enough that we sought out the Visitor Centre and got some information on the area. We chose to do the Twin Falls hike and drive by Lake Kathlyn. Wonderful afternoon. Evidently, this is a great ski area in the season as well.

Twin Falls

Merritt, BC, Canada and Prince George, BC, Canada

Merritt and Prince George- June 20th to June 22nd

We traveled only 145 miles on June 20th and stopped in Merritt which is the Canadian Country Music Capital. In fact, they just opened their Country Music Hall of Fame. It's a small town but has all the essential stores upon which there are murals of all the country music legends. They even have a "Walk of Fame" where some of these legends have left their hand prints.

 We stayed one night here and moved on to Prince George on the 21st where we stayed in a Municipal Campground on the outskirts of the city. Here, Tim spent one whole day at Staples trying to get the maps for his hiking GPS. It seems in Vancouver when he changed the battery, he lost the SD card/chip so he had to buy a new one and download North America once again! We met two other couples there one of which had been to Alaska 3 times and the other couple, were on their way to North Hazelton to join an RV tour group. We learned much and promised to keep in touch with our own travels as we went. We may run into them again in Valdez as we should be there around the same time. 

I haven't mentioned before that as we have been heading north, the days are getting longer. As of now, sunset is around 9:20 pm so it is staying lighter later all the time! We bought inserts for our ceiling vents to block the light and our shades, hopefully, will do the rest. Alaska has about 20 hours of daylight during the summer, so if we don't darken the RV, it might be harder to sleep.

Our first night in Prince George, this huge RV tour bus pulled into the site next to ours. It is a tour conducted by Germans for Germans. The RV itself sleeps 24! The passengers flew into Vancouver and are heading into Alaska. The campground manager said that they come through every year. An extraordinary vehicle with sleeping quarters tented on one side and the entire left side of the RV is the kitchen and their supplies. Amazing! 

Bellingham , WA to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Bellingham, WA to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada June 14th-June 19th

We stayed in the Bellingham, WA area for a few days so we could shop in the USA to avoid the high Canadian costs of fuel and food. We caught up on laundry and the last blog entry.

On June 17th, we left the USA and crossed into British Columbia, Canada at Blaine. This was an experience. Tim brought a rifle with him and had all the paperwork that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told him he would need once he declared it at the border. So, he declared the rifle and was asked why he would be bringing a rifle through Canada into Alaska "because", they said, "you know a rifle won't do anything to protect you from bears you know." He answered that he knew that and he would be doing target practice with it!

We had to exit the RV and give them our keys. Two of the border patrol guards went through every nook and cranny of the tow car and the RV including the refrigerator! We had to wait inside the building for about a half an hour while they did  their search.  They took out the firewood we had brought with us and fresh strawberries from the refrigerator which we had to discard into the trash can while they watched us do it. Talk about feeling like some kind of criminal! They were certainly polite enough, but they were serious about their search!

That finished, we traveled about 15 more miles and settled on the river in Surrey, BC outside of Vancouver for a few days. We exchanged money into Canadian dollars (loonies) and two dollars (toonies) and larger denominations. Tim researched the public transportation for the area and we made our plans to visit Vancouver Island to see Victoria, which is the Capital of British Columbia, and Vancouver City.

To get to Vancouver Island, we drove to a park and ride, got on the bus to a transfer station, took another bus out to the ferry. The ferry ride was about an hour and a half each way and we passed through some beautiful islands along the way. On the way home, Tim spotted the USS Nimitz which is the largest aircraft carrier in the world. We're not sure what it was doing in Canadian waters, but there it was!

When we arrived in Victoria, we took the public bus out to Butchart Gardens. I don't think words can really describe how magnificent the flowers and trees are there. It is a National Historic site in Canada and is over 100 years old. It sits on over 55 acres with hundreds of different types of plantings trees, shrubs and flowers. In the rose garden alone, there were 250 varieties of roses and over 2500 individual flowers! Everything was bright, blooming, and beautiful as the pictures try to depict.

  After our garden tour, we again used the public bus system to return to Victoria where we had lunch on the harbor,watched the seaplanes take off and land,  walked the downtown and visited the famous Empress Hotel. We didn't have "high tea" but we did tour the building. The city is lovely and the people very friendly.

We were able to catch the 7 pm ferry back to the mainland and the last bus back to our exchange station to get back to the park and ride. Very easy to get around in BC and much easier than driving in a city you don't know.

The following day it was back on the bus but this time at the exchange we took a train to downtown Vancouver. There we rode the Hop On-Hop Off bus and enjoyed the history and the scenery getting off only at Stanley Park, the Library and had lunch in an Irish Pub in Gastown. From there we walked to the Harbor Center and had drinks in the rotating lounge at the top taking in 360 degrees of the city and the harbor. Highly recommend these two areas and maybe spending a little longer in Vancouver and its surrounds than we did. A long two days of walking.. we're sure we got more than our 10,000 steps in each day!

Totem Pole in Stanley Park

Sidewalk in Gastown

The Steam Clock