How About a Ferry Ride - Part 2

Continuing on with our trip down the Alaska Marine Highway.......

Day 105 – August 14  Not lying. Last night was really long. We were on the Matanuska ferry, which I believe is the oldest in the fleet. So the chairs were a tad bit worn. We exited the ferry and parked in their lot and slept until the sun came up.  We are staying at The Trees RV Park. Very nice!  Has laundry, and a liquor store with a very nice wine selection, and a general store.  We took a ride down the Mitkof Highway. Very pretty. The road travels by Blind Slough. We stopped at Falls Creek. A lot of already spawned king salmon. Then made a stop at Crystal Lake Fish Hatchery.  They produce silver and king salmon for local waters.  Although it’s a cloudy day, we did manage a couple of shots of the Le Conte Glacier.

See the salmon?

What you're seeing is the icebergs from the glacier.

 Found the green moss fascinating!

Typical inside passage scenery

A good fishing hole

Sons of Norway Hall. Check out the wooden street.

Day 106 – August 15 Today is probably typical inside passage weather – very cool and wet.  Never hard raindrops, just a steady wet, gentle mist.  We spent time in town today.  The Clausen Memorial Museum was good. They have a good film explaining how Petersburg “Little Norway” came to be.  All about fishing, salmon and canneries.  The Sons of Norway Hall, built in 1912, is situated on pilings over Hammer Slough.  The window shutters are decorated with rosemaling (Norwegian tole paining).  Early to bed as we catch the ferry in the morning at 4:30 a.m.

Inside the museum. Record size salmon replica.

Such a pretty harbor on this rainy day.

Check out the starfish!

Our seafood feast!

Day 107 – August 16 Our ferry ride is at 5 am which translates to a 3 am wake-up, hard to do when you’re retired!  Another long day…… Arrived in Ketchikan around 3:30. We are staying at Clover Pass RV Resort. Sites are really close – awnings just might overlap.  Folks are very friendly.


Day 108 – August 17 Lazy, rainy morning. How fitting for our last full day in Alaska?  We have been so fortunate to not have bad weather or mosquitoes like most folks encounter.  We did decide to brave the weather – put on our XtraTuf rubber boots and rain gear. Stopped at Totem Bite State Park. In the early 1900s when the natives started abandoning their villages, they left behind totem poles to decay.  In 1938 the USFS developed a program to salvage and reconstruct these large cedar monuments.  Two things happened (1) young artists learned the art of carvinig and (2) left behind totem poles  were either repaired or duplicated. 

Man wearing Bear Hat - every pole tells a story.

The Clanhouse.....believe that's Ron in there!

Can you see the sheets of rain falling?

We then took a tour through town. Walked some of the harbor until the rain chased us back home. Cooked a roast in the InstantPot and made it an early night, as line up for the ferry is at 5 am.

Creek Street

Ketchikan Harbor

Day 109 – August 18  Not sure why they wanted us to line up at 5 am as we didn’t start loading until 6:45. On the Matanuska again.  It was a grey day, but the sights we saw were beautiful. Saw a few lighthouses and a few whales.  Got to Prince Rupert and off the boat around 3:30 but then there’s such a line at customs. Raining.  Staying at Prince Rupert RV Park. Pretty soggy, but when you’re tired it’s not too bad.

Leaving Ketchikan

Ferry scenes

Coming into Prince Rupert

 

Antlers are really red.

Harbor at Prince Rupert.

Next up is Beautiful, British Columbia.

How About a Ferry Ride? Part 1

Day 98 – August 7  It’s a very foggy morning when we leave Valdez. Our destination is a return visit to Tok and the Sourdough Campground. The Tok Cut-off road is the worst ever!  It took over 6 hours to travel 240 miles. And…..it’s hot today! 82 degrees! The drive took us along side of the Wrangell Mountains which are just big and beautiful, full of glaciers.  Unfortunately, our schedule didn’t allow any time to spend here. Thankful we spent time here 13 years ago!

Wrangell Mountains

Day 99 – August 8 is a perfect weather morning, warm enough to start the day in shorts! We are headed for a return trip back to Cottonwood Campground at Destruction Bay in Yukon Territory. Customs was very pleasant.  It was one of those long, hard driving days with road construction and frost heaves and a long line at customs. The campground had the same musicians playing that evening – Canadian country and western! Kluane Lake is still beautiful and this is still a really great campground.

Day 100 – August 9  We are headed to Whitehorse today.  It was an easy and scenic drive. We are staying at the Pioneer Campground. The best thing about this campground is that they have an awesome RV/truck carwash. And we needed it!  Enjoyed the afternoon.  Toured the Yukon Brewing Company. Then we went to the S. S. Klondike National Historical Park. Did you know that this was the largest sternwheeler on the upper Yukon River? Built in 1929 as an ore hauler, she was holed and sank in 1936. Then rebuilt and relaunched in 1937. Carried cargo and passengers until 1955. 

We also visited the largest fishing weir located at the Whitehorse Dam.  That was cool as there were spawning salmon making their way up river. It’s been a great day!

They make things other than just beer!

Our samples!

S. S. Klondike

Greg and Ron checking it out.

Really?? A piano on the fish viewing platform. Glad I dressed for it!

Yep folks!  Hard to eat this camp food!

The line going back through customs!

Day 101 – August 10   Destination today is a return trip back to Skagway where we will be starting our journey down the inside passage on the Alaska Ferry System. 

One stop we made on the way to Skagway was at Turqoise Lake.  Beautiful!

Beautiful lake on our drive! Diatoms are algae. They form calcium carbonate and give us such a pretty view.

What has changed since June on this trip is the snow melt and the amount of tourists on the many cruise ships! So – to avoid those crowds it was laundry, defrosting the fridge and working at getting rid of all the dust in the RV.  We went back for a great dinner at the Skagway Fish House.

Day 102 – August 11  Today we are waiting to board the ferry at 3:30 for Juneau.  So people watching in town, we ran into Sweeny friends Sammy (high school classmate) and Sharon Brooks. What a small world! We got into Juneau at 10 pm and WOW!  We haven’t experienced darkness in a very long time. So, it’s dark and it’s misting rain. A strange place. But we found our campground ok. A long day…… 

 

Greg, Mary, Sammy, Sharon and Ron in Skagway!

Sharon and Sammy waving good-bye to us from their cruise ship as we leave on the ferry.

Sights on the way.

A view of Haines from the ferry.

Getting passed up by a cruise ship!

Greg backing his RV onto the ferry.

Day 103 – August 12  We open the door this morning and it’s the WOW Factor!  Beautiful camp here at the Mendenhall Glacier Campground.  (NSFS) Everything around you is green with lichen and fir trees. Expecting the weather to get bad, we strapped on our hiking boots and headed out to Mendenhall Glacier. Another really great USFS visitor center.  The Juneau Icefield is about 1500 square miles. Thirty something glaciers.  We enjoyed the Nugget Falls Trail.  There are viewing platforms around the streams for the salmon (and possibly bears). We found it pretty foul smelling from the decaying spawned salmon.

Nugget Falls. Unfortunately I lost my other pictures of Mendenhall.

In town, watching how they move the fish off the boat to the cannery.

The view at our campsite. Lots of blueberries to pick too!

Next stop was in town at the Mount Roberts Tramway. Gave us some great views looking down at Juneau.

Day 104 – August 13  Beautiful, lazy morning. Ate one of the best hamburgers ever then drove down the road to The Shrine of St. Therese. Absolutely beautiful! The stone chapel was built in the 1930’s.  You walk across a causeway to get to the chapel.  There are gardens all around.  It’s a beautiful, peaceful jewel here in southeast Alaska.  We get to work “graveyards” tonight, catching the ferry for Peterburg at 6 pm and arrive there at 3:30 am. 

The Matanuska - our ferry ride for the evening.

Blessed with a rainbow as we left harbor.

TO BE CONTINUED..........