This summer’s
cruise to the Canadian border took a temporary delay starting August 4 and
going through August 25 while we joined good friends, Jim and Robin, on their
forty-nine foot Defever trawler, Adventures, in Southeast Alaska. We spent several days in their hometown of
Petersburg, AK and then cruised with them to Ketchikan, AK. The route we followed is displayed on the
following map section. Our time with
them surpassed any thoughts we had of what it would be like to live and/or
cruise in Alaskan waters. They have
recently declared Petersburg as their permanent residence since they plan on
many more cruises along the coast of Alaska and British Columbia and many
interior trips by car, bus, train, and/or plane. Being with them is always enjoyable and their
love of nature and its beauty shows in all their adventures.
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| The red line indicates the course we followed in Southeast Alaska |
The scenery
along the southeast coast of Alaska is absolutely breath-taking. We believe in the saying “A picture is worth
a thousand words”. With this in mind, we
will write little, but share many interesting pictures with you. In fact we took so many pictures and saw so
many interesting things that our Alaska posting will fill two separate
postings.
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| Adventures, a 49 foot Defever trawler |
Pull out
your chair, lean back, and enjoy the beauty of our forty-ninth state. One which is not always cold as some think,
but one in which we spent two weeks of temperatures ranging from the high
fifties during the nights to the seventies during the days. Yes, there was rain, but only a few times did
it rain when we wanted to explore the countryside.
Petersburg:
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| Scenery along the coast line road |
Petersburg,
AK is a small town of 2,920 residents in 2013. In 2012 it was named the “Best Town in Alaska
for Young Families”. Typically most of the children join their parents for
the summer on the family’s fishing boat.
The benefit of this is not only that a strong family relationship is formed, but that most children can pay for their own college
using money they earned working with their family. Many years the older children make in the
neighborhood of $30,000 over the summer.
Seafood
harvesting and processing are the dominant industries. For a while during a peak period of
commercial fishing it was rumored that Petersburg had the highest per capita
income of any working-town in the United States. Several of the main fish processing plants
harvest more than a million dollars worth of seafood each and every year. The most common sea foods processed are
salmon, halibut, black cod, Dungeness crab, tanner crab, and herring.
Petersburg is nicknamed “Little Norway”. One of the town’s largest celebrations occurs
in mid-May and it is for Norwegian Constitution Day. The celebration typically lasts for several
days. The town’s enthusiasm for this
event has made their celebration more elaborate and longer than the same
holiday in Norway. One of the most
popular organizations is the Sons of Norway and it is housed in a typical
Norwegian style Building.
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| Sons of Norway House, observe the Viking boat, statue, and Viking's head post |
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| Devil's Thumb near Petersburg, it is named for its projected thumb-like appearance |
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| Roadside park on road along the coast |
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| Petersburg harbor |
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| Petersburg fish processing plants and fishing boats |
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| Bull kelp |
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| Petersburg harbor view |
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| Fishing boat |
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| Petersburg, a busy harbor |
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| Near high tide |
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| Nearer low tide. The tide swing is about 24 feet |
Following the road out of town to a salmon hatchery:
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| A fawn just after crossing the road with his mother |
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| Baby salmon contained in a salmon hatchery |
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| Baby salmon trying to jump over the barrier |
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| Stellar jay joins us for a picnic |
A rainy day hike on one of the temperate rain forest trails in Tongass National Forest:
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| How big is this tree? |
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| A rainy day hike |
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| Devil's Club |
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| Bunch Berries |
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| The beauty of a rainy day in Alaska |
Exploring the town:
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| Some homes across the harbor |
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| A flower garden in front of one shop |
Clausen Memorial Museum:
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| Inventory of following display case | | | |
This is an intriguing museum, filled
with articles of importance to the life of Petersburg and its surrounding
area. A whole afternoon could be spent
here exploring the displays.
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| One of several similar wildlife displays |
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| Small totem poles |
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| Norwegian Clothing |
In Petersburg, we went to one of the
most
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| Katherina was kayaking over 700 miles with her partner |
remarkable concerts we have ever heard.
A traveling violinist, kayaking to many small towns along the coast of
British Columbia and southeast Alaska, performed in a small church on request
from locals who had been advised that her music was spectacular. Her concert lasted for about an hour and the
audience was speechless after the performance.
With her eyes closed and a smile on her face everyone knew she loved
music and that it moved her. Combine
that with her outstanding talent, it was enough to bring tears to the eyes. The standing ovation she got was well
deserved and her graciousness was greatly appreciated. The spontaneity of a small community is amazing; we enjoyed hearing about how quickly the concert was
arranged, advertising posted, and a facility obtained by a small group of Petersburg
music lovers in just a few hours before Katrina’s performance. What an accomplishment!
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| A home in the fog |
Cruising from Petersburg to Wrangell:
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| A foggy morning |
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| A working fishing boat |
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| The first Japanese boat we saw |
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| Our very capable Captain |
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| Channel markers in front of us |
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| View from the flying bridge |
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| Fog can add lots of interest to an amazingly beautiful scene |
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| Bald eagle greeting us at entrance marker to Wrangell |
Wrangell is a small town with 2400
residents in 2013.
Wrangell Museum has
many interesting displays from the area and it has an excellent photography
display.
Wrangell also has several
interesting hikes, one to Rainbow Falls and one to Petroglyph Beach Historic
Site. It is believed that the
petroglyphs were created by the Native American Tlingit tribe. There are supposed to be about forty, but we
were only able to locate about twenty.
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| Wrangell Harbor |
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| One of several totem poles in Totem Park |
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| Fire bush |
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| Trail head to Rainbow Falls |
There are many different types of
mushrooms in a temperate rain forest.
Here are three very different ones.
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| Rainbow Falls |
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| The trail to and from Rainbow Falls |
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| View of the channel from the trail to Rainbow Falls |
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| Petroglyph Beach historic site |
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| Cruise ship passing the petroglyph site |
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| Are these eyes? |
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| Another one |
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The most dramatic petroglyph we found
Moving on to Berg Bay, it’s seals and
a cabin operated by Tongass National Forests:
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| Island in Berg Bay with a cabin for visitors use |
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| Cabin's interior |
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| Boy at play |
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| View from cabin |
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| Cloudy day reflections |
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| Moving on to Fool's Inlet |
Anan Creek:
We spent a quiet night in Fool’s
Inlet, an anchorage near Anan Creek.
The next morning we cruised to Anan Creek Bear Observatory as early as
the tide would allow. Anan Creek is a
perfect place to watch black bears catching salmon at the river’s edge in the fall
when salmon swim upstream to lay their eggs.
Tongass National Forest rangers issue sixty permits a day to allow visitors
to watch the bears from an observatory and a platform which they have
built. It is believed that permitting
only this small number of visitors will not disturb the bears, or the
salmon. We spent six hours photographing,
watching, and enjoying the bears interacting with nature. This was one very special day which would not
have occurred if our friends had not obtained permits months before the actual happening.
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| Rangers station and small cabin in back for visitors |
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| Eagles are all over. Can you find the six eagles that are in the leftmost part of the previous picture? (zoomed in here to make it easier) |
Visitors to Anan Creek come by many
different means:
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| By dinghy from an anchored boat |
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| By tour boat |
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| By small boat |
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| By float plane |
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| View while walking to the observatory and platform |
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| Our first encounter, he walked to the platform, then under it, |
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| and finally past it to the water |
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| Caught one |
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| Now it is time to eat it |
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| Yes, he really caught one. Click on the arrow in the next picture to see him eat it |
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| Great dinner! |
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| Looking down river |
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| There is a bear down river |
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| He is getting closer |
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| A bear walking on a rock |
Bears are interesting animals. This one is walking across a tree as if it
were a balance beam. The next two seem to
have some priority of who belongs where.
When one comes out of the cave, the other climbs up on the rock. This activity kept up for quite a while.
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| One out |
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| Two are out |
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| It's your turn to go back in |
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| How about a swim? |
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| I'm in, now watch me swim. Click arrow below |
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| A tired bear after entertaining the crowds |
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| Over the bridge |
When
we finally headed back to the boat a (friendly) bear was walking towards us on
the path. We all stopped and he
proceeded across the bridge that we were hoping to cross. He was about thirty feet from us so our arms waved wildly, our voices got louder,
and the cans of bear spray were removed from pockets. Luckily he backed off and proceeded down a
side path.
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| Then quickly off the path |
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| A view along the Anan Creek path, after our bear encounter |
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| A view from the flying bridge and an end to our first week in Alaska |
