Down The Inland Passage

The Inland Passage - out of Haines

The Inland Passage

Wednesday, Sept 8th - Haines to Juneau

Today we started our journey down the Inland Passage. We left Haines at 4:30 pm on one of the Alaska Marine Highways’ smaller ferries. Small enough that I had to reverse on! This is akin to pulling out on to a football field at the 50 yd line, backing straight down through the goal posts and then executing a quick right turn so as not to leave the end zone. We did it without a ding but an hour later I had a headache.

At Tracy's Crab Shack

The trip itself was grey and misty, the water, a hammered sheet of pewter. We arrived in the dark with heavy rain but managed to find the campsite and had some help backing in to our spot. The next day Juneau is a madhouse with four monster cruise ships parked at the bottom of the main street: tourists everywhere, doddering around, filling their shopping bags with cheap t-shirts and knock-off art work. (Yes, yes, I know. I’m a tourist too. But talk to these people! Many barely know where they are, often they’re not sure where they’re going next, some have forgotten what their last port was.) Fortunately the State Museum is a haven of peace and beauty and we try again to get our heads around the different moietes, clans and languages. Terrific exhibits and I fall in love again with Yupic masks. We have lunch that day at Tracy’s Crab Shack - an outdoor trailer selling wonderful king crab and share our picnic table with a couple of overseas Chinese from Indonesia currently living in Australia - their accents, to our ears, a wild mixture of all three countries.
No trip to Juneau is complete without a visit to the Mendenhall Glacier and on the second day it is dry, sunny and uncrowded - the ships sailed in the night. Dar and I are getting a bit blazé about glaciers - they have a tendency to just sit there - but their structure is fascinating and today a recent calving from the face reveals a deep, deep cyan blue that will gradually fade as exposure to oxygen bleaches the colour.

Saturday, Sept 11th - Juneau to Sitka

Big ferry - I get to drive on going forwards. The Fairweather is a large modern boat: carpet on the floors, reclinable armchairs, study carrels and big windows. A downside is that passengers are not allowed on the front deck. This boat is driven by water jets, moves at 35 knots/hr and sends up a fair bit of spray at the bow.
Dar and I spend almost the whole 5 hr trip on the back deck. The passage between the islands is almost mystical: forested hills, snow-capped peaks, sunshine sparkling on clear water while a pod of orcas pass by and then some humpbacks.

The Inland Passage - on to Sitka

We arrive in brilliant sunshine, drive into Sitka and Dar - in her quest for authenticity -  manages to find the oldest, narrowest road as we head towards the municipal campsite. (We are both impressed at how the oncoming trucks calmly pull up on to the sidewalk to let us pass - and we both know what they’re probably thinking.)
We both agree that Sitka is the most beautiful town we’ve seen so far. Although it is also on the cruise itinerary it is a thriving town in its own right and has not developed one of those dreadful strips of knick-knack shops and t-shirt ghettos.
Sitka is the homesite of the Tlingits; it was here that they first slaughtered the intruding Russians and only barely succumbed to a six-day retaliation siege a year later. Their culture is still strong here and there are numerous commercial ventures as well as a thriving artistic base. Our first visit is to the Sitka National Totem Park,  a conservation and reclamation park that houses numerous totem poles gathered from many of the islands around here.

Gotta love Humpbacks!

The following day we hire Paul Davis to take us whale-watching in his small cruiser. Just the two of us, Paul and a buddy.  At first, we seem to have struck out. We see plenty of “blows” but when we arrive at that spot there are no whales. Paul is a great guy and explains his reasoning as we move from place to place. As we cruise around he shows us a huge sea-lion “haul-out” and rafts of sea otters as well as a number of Grey Whales - great gnarly beasts that cruise the rock faces in search of plankton and krill.

And then, on the route back we run into dozens of humpbacks and Darlene and I burn through our memory cards shooting. ( and NO! I did not photoshop that photo! There was the cloud, the whale and the volcano.)

Tuesday, September 14th - Sitka to Petersburg

The ferry arrives in Petersburg at 3:30 am and the harbour master kindly lets us park in a loading lane until morning. (Actually, what he says is: “ We don’t want you driving that thing down our streets in the dark.”) The next day we find a lovely turnout by the Wrangell Narrows where we can watch the boats sail by and we’re back to “dry camping”. This is where our generators come in really useful.
The ferry ride was another day of serene beauty punctuated with sightings of whales and porpoise chasing salmon. Steve, a local fisherman explains the passage through which we’re moving. He’s a little weird, immensely garrulous, and incredibly knowledgeable about all things related to fishing, crabbing, shrimping ...... the man’s a fountainhead, so we learn a lot.
The day is spent exploring the small town of Petersburg. This is a serious fishing community - there are several canneries - as well they have seasons for shrimp and Dungeness crab. Lunch is at Coastal Cold Storage and I determine to learn how to cook “Halibeer Bits”. (Halibut is still more than 2x expensive than salmon. And the scallops are from Nova Scotia!)

Sea lion looking for dropped fish

There are three harbours and we roam around them all, talking to fishermen about their boats - gill netting season ended at noon - and following a couple of sea lions that are cruising around looking for hand-outs.
Big Bonus! I find a store that sells my size in Haflinger’s and I buy a pair of slippers. (The rig is cold on the tootsies in the morning.) At night, I grill some halibut, Dar makes a great salad and we get ready to sail early in the morning.

Friday, September 17th, Petersburg to Ketchikan

Oh my God, they want me to back the rig down that loading dock! Now we’re talking (1)reverse the whole football field, (2) negotiate a curve in the middle, (3) through the goal posts and then (4) another right turn in the end zone - all backwards.
 We start out poorly, my deckhand guide getting us too far to one side and then spend some time getting straightened out. Enter the stressed out loading chief who tells me “We gotta hurry, we’re running late.” and I respond ( a bit loudly) with “I’ve been sitting here for two hours, waiting!”
Eventually I shelve my ego, embrace common sense and let a young trucker back it down for me. I’m a little soothed as he does exactly as I would - except he’s 2x faster with 1/2 as many corrections. ( Later, on the ferry I am called to the Purser’s desk. It seems the young guy didn’t park the rig perfectly. Could I help straighten it out?  Now the loading chief is all smiles and actually apologizes for his earlier attitude. I do, and everyone’s happy.)
It’s a ten hour ride on the ferry. The first half is wonderful - through Wrangell Narrows and other tight passages. Then the water opens out into a broad expanse, the hills retreat into the distance and the view becomes your basic water, water everywhere.
We arrive about 7 pm. The state campgrounds are closed so we spend the first night at ............... Walmart. We’re happy to be somewhere but it’s noisy all night long. Ketchikan seems to be carved out of rock at the foot of the surrounding hills - space is precious. And so Walmart stores its stock in dozens of shipping containers at the back of their parking lot. Right about where we’re parked. At 2 am the forklifts are busy shunting pallets of goods from the containers to the store.
In the morning we look for another site and wind up in a state recreation area. Strictly speaking there’s no camping allowed -day use only - but our options are limited - either the campgrounds are closed for the season or the sites are way too small. (As I write this I’m waiting for the trooper’s knock on the door.)

At Totem Bight

This morning we drove north to the end of the road and then turned in at Totem Bight - a state totem park. Four cruise buses convinced us to continue on so we braved the masses in downtown Ketckikan. The highlight was talking to Marvin Oliver, a Coast Salish artist who works in everything from bronze to serigraphy to glass. (Oh, and checking out the Ray Troll shop - “Spawn ‘Till You Die”)
We return to Totem Bight in the late afternoon; the western sun is warm upon the totems, the water laps at the shore and seagulls cry in the distance. There is almost no one else here and we are enveloped in one of those timeless moments.

On Sunday we head the other way out of town - “out the road” to its southern end. At Herring Cove we stop to watch some seals chase salmon and spend some time at Saxman Village, walking through more totems. We’re slowly understanding more about these majestic carvings, separating them into different types and recognizing the individual features. I talk to carvers and locals whenever I can and find them willing and eager to chat with someone who cares. (Although I don’t think I was quite able to convince Woody that, in a previous life, I was a member of the Ravens.)

Dar, Marvin and our print

In the afternoon we return to Martin Oliver’s shop and decide to buy ourselves an anniversary gift - one of his prints. We have a lot of fun choosing and finally settle on a Raven image that combines a traditional story and graphic structure with modern colour and whimsy.

Monday is oil-change day. It starts auspiciously - I drop off Darlene at the laundromat and take then truck in to get it serviced. On return, we discover that she left her journal in a pile of stuff on the tonneau cover when I drove off. Heading back down the road I find everything except the journal. We walk the road several times but no luck, it is gone. In the afternoon she is frustrated in her search for a hairdresser. ( This maybe because I have been suggesting she might be a member of the Woodpecker clan.) And, to finish the day, as we drive down the highway, I watch in the rearview mirror as someone’s tonneau cover comes loose and sails into traffic behind me.
It took about a 1/2 second to realize that it was ours. Fortunately it didn’t hit anyone but the car behind us couldn’t stop in time and did some damage rolling over it. It has now acquired a bent personality and will need some serious repair. We return to the rig to find a note on the door telling us that this area is DAY USE ONLY! ( I don’t think this is official - it’s scrawled on a yellow sticky, but the question is moot; we’re spending the night at the ferry terminal. Tomorrow we sail for Prince Rupert.)

Tuesday, Sept. 21, Ketchikan to Prince Rupert.

It’s not peaceful on a ferry dock. There’s always someone moving something with a large piece of equipment that beeps in reverse. In the morning it’s a lovely trip down to Prince Rupert but it’s also a bit bland - which tells me that I’ve been spoiled by a rich diet of too much beautiful scenery.
In the morning, Dar gets her hair done and I repair the tonneau cover - and then we head up the 37 to the ghost town of Hyder, Alaska to see more bears.
There are no bears to be seen. That is because there are no salmon to be seen in spite of many assurances that they were still running. Hyder would be a phenomenal bear-viewing site if the fish were running. A long raised boardwalk follows the stream’s course allowing terrific viewing.
We’re a little disappointed but not heartbroken - we knew it was a gamble.
On to Prince George - where I hope to finally catch up with my new glasses at the Bee Lazee RV Park.