Had some breakfast and went fishing in the creek that runs through the campground.
Fly fishing can be confusing.
I am confused about it.
However I am confused at a more senior level -- about more significant things -- so I am not embarrassing myself too much.
Just sayin
Five trout released in two hours or so.
Mepps #2
They are everywhere up here.
I decided to take a run over to Thorne Bay (C on the map) to do some laundry and have a look around.
Ran into a couple of inquisitive Sitka deer on the road.
Those are full grown Sitkas.
Dog sized.
And very curious as you can see.
The lens makes the deer look further away than they really were.
Gunned the engine to get them off the road lest a fast car comes.
When I got back to the campground I had a conversation with Jo, the campground host.
She is from, of all places, Fresno! (my citiy of residence at one time)
Well that led to some great conversation for sure.
It seems her son went to Fresno State for a forestry degree.
He works (I think I mentioned) at a Tongas NF ranger and I assume he got her a summer spot here as host.
Very nice lady introduced me to wild blueberries.
The kind the bears eat.
They are smaller and more tart than cultivated blueberries but tasty anyway.
I had already harvested some wild raspberries for my cereal... yummers.
Jo told me about a beaver lodge on the lake where I could get some pictures.
I BBQed a steak for dinner... with grilled pieces of potato and onion and some wine.
07-07 Prince of Wales island
Went charter fishing at Coffman Cove (D on the map) and had an exhausting blast!
Out for the day and we did well!
Caught a nice variety of fish: Halibut, salmon, ling cod, red snapper, and other rock fish.
For me it was a long and very tiring day.
Not used to 12 plus hours of fishing.
I advise that before going halibut fishing go to the gym!
We fish in deep water and with a five pound + rig so when the captain calls out, “reel ‘em in, we’ll try a different spot” then you have 300 feet of five pound weight to crank up.
My shoulder aches!!!
We got an added treat this day.
The herring were in and the humpbacks were after them in twos… bubbling.
That is where the whales take in lots of air and dive below the herring then chase circles around them releasing a curtain of air bubbles that serves to keep the herring pined in... since the wont swim through the cylindrical curtain of bubbles.
The wales then swim up through the center of the cylinder and scoop a gillion herring into their gullet…. BURP! Here's a picture of them breaking the center of the cylinder.
07-08 Prince of Wales island to Ketchikan
Drove out to the Clover Pass Resort for an RV space.
It was nearly a ghost town.
One coupe in a Winnebago said that most in most years every space is taken every day from june15 to September 15.
There were only three of us for 30 spaces.
The boat docks were full of yellow Clover Pass Resort charter boats as there was nobody to take out.
The economy etc... bad year.
Not much to do...it was boring.
I met retired Sam and his wife who had a little scamp hooked up to a Dakota doing what I am doing: ferrying the inland waterway of Southeast Alaska.
They don't boon-dock at all electing to stay at RV parks instead.
I've noticed quite a few small RVs doing this.
I suspect water, electricity, laundry, and a close by restroom has something to do with that.
Stunning photo, no? LOL!
Everyone and their mother got shots like these for the next couple of days.
There were forest fires burning in BC which play smokey tunes on the color spectrum at sundown.
This one off the dock at Clover Pass.
07-09 Kethikan to Wrangell
Got to the Ferry dock early and had lunch at the hotel-restaurant across the street.
I remembered the name just now.
Jeremiah's
http://www.landinghotel.com/restaurant.aspx
Map of Ketchikan area showing the camps, RV park, ferry terminal, and the famous "Bridge to Nowhere"
The Ferry was the Taku again.
Cost
Passenger $37USD
34 ft rig $207USD
Did phil honk? LOL
It was a late departure... 3:00 PM arriving in Wrangell at 9:00 PM
but there will be lots of light for finding a campground.
I walked around the ferry with the little Canon Powershot.
It takes low res video and I took it to different parts of the Taku and filmed them so that you could get a feeling what its like to cruise on one.
The following videos are hand held walking and jiggly.
Most of them I have sped up for brevity.
00:17
deck forward to outside rail
00:15
Under sail..laptop hacking...
Warm and light.
The taku sails steady at a guessing 20 knots
Smooth seas
This ship reminds me of old movies
People crossing the Atlantic and sitting outside in the sun.
Oceanliner-likeRails and walkways extend completely around two or three decks
Couples stroll by talking and taking pictures
Photography promenadeLawn chairs are there to pull up and breathe in the ocean
I look at the horizon with long large islands 40 miles or so distant and I line up the top rail with the shoreline and sit squinting with one eye closed… waiting for an up or a down motion.
None
Perfectly smooth sailing
The engine hums... with the radiance of the sun and the sea breeze
Thought-fixed… while thought-less
Like one would expect in an old black and white movie
The lady laying back in a lounge chair... eyes closed.
She could be an actress
In this old film
Ingret-like
My kersif is terrible anymore
Even my once perfect draftsman’s lettering sucks.
This keyboard is all I have to think with and I never learned to touch type.
It cannot capture what I am thinking.. at least my fingers cant
But it is the best I have
Sweet sweet trip this
Just sayin
07-10 Wrangell
The pottys are pit toilets that are painted and scrubbed and smell of air freshener and potpourri.
You can tell the difference between volunteer maintained and paid camp host maintained facility.
Amazing
Directions
On forest road number 6270 which is typical of the nice gravel roads shown on the map.
This video is on the 50040 road to High Brush Lake.
Aptly named lake since the alder hinders your entrance.
A great place to give your rig some very custom Wrangell pin striping.
High Brush Lake
One of many overlooks for self contained boondocking.
Still smokey from BC fires.
The green moist interior along the road
I have decided that most people want to glomp on to their memories and never ever let them go.
They want reality to be today what it was yesterday... or any time before yesterday.
For example I have had people who have gone to Alaska warn me about the outback.
The danger
The ALCAN.
They drove it 30 years ago!
And even down in Utah people who post their experiences on Utah or Arizona Strip highways can make misleading statements.
The most often used (abused) statement is a warning about "wash board roads".
If someone had driven Cottonwood Canyon out near Kanab and it was washboardy then they will be convinced that it will remain washboardy forever... thus warning all, "I wouldn't go there because the road is washboard all the way"... and of course that cant be true.
Not in an absolute sense at least.
The road could have been graded recently.
It could have rained thus plowing the soften ridges down flat.
It simply wont be a washboard road forever and always.
That's why I need to say something about the roads here on Wrangell Island.
You will never know what shape the road is in unless you ask a local.
The camp host nicely warned me about the road to High Brush Lake saying, "the alder is closing in. You should be ok in your rig (Ranger) but it is still likely to get a bit scratched"
You can see what it looked like in the video above.
But is it going to be that way next year?
I have no idea.
Have they sent one of those lawnmower tractors in to clear it recently?
Ask the camp host or someone else knowledgeable about the current shape of any back road you are thinking of taking.
Just sayin
07-11 Wrangell
Coffeed up and drove into town for Gas, Breakfast, Laundry, and shower.
Good breakfast at the Diamond Circle Cafe.
Did Laundry etc and then went down to the docks to wait for the Anan Creek bear watching boat.
Saw this sign.
Now I am no English genius or anything but it is pretty obvious that the sign painter put the apostrophe in the wrong place.
I wondered why they let that stay up there?
Solution I think...
Maybe there were two "bobs" who partnered up.
Like in "the two Bobs"
Then if there were two Bobs and they owned the store the possessive case would be Bobs'
Is that right?
I was afraid to ask.
Took an hour long jet boat ride to Anan Creek
After depositing us on the shore and after getting the "talk" from the Tongass ranger our guide escorted us half a mile up the trail.
12 ga and all.
It is a viewing platform set high above the creek where the salmon congregate in smooth water before attempting to do their woosh up a rapid.
Its hard to photograph fish underwater but there were hundreds gathered down stream like above.
The bears just go up to the water and nab them with their mouth.
Here is a bear coming in from the woods.
There were dozens of bears by the way and dozens of photo shots too.
The bear looks over his pickings.
You can see a couple of nice size pink salmon just above his head.
Splashing in with jaws open.
A catch!!
My favorite bear shot from Anan.
If you click on the "Eagle Bathing" it show a series of 40 frames I took while an eagle was bathing up stream of us.
An animation there knits then all together
Fly fishing can be confusing.
I am confused about it.
However I am confused at a more senior level -- about more significant things -- so I am not embarrassing myself too much.
Just sayin
Five trout released in two hours or so.
Mepps #2
They are everywhere up here.
I decided to take a run over to Thorne Bay (C on the map) to do some laundry and have a look around.
Ran into a couple of inquisitive Sitka deer on the road.
Those are full grown Sitkas.
Dog sized.
And very curious as you can see.
The lens makes the deer look further away than they really were.
Gunned the engine to get them off the road lest a fast car comes.
When I got back to the campground I had a conversation with Jo, the campground host.
She is from, of all places, Fresno! (my citiy of residence at one time)
Well that led to some great conversation for sure.
It seems her son went to Fresno State for a forestry degree.
He works (I think I mentioned) at a Tongas NF ranger and I assume he got her a summer spot here as host.
Very nice lady introduced me to wild blueberries.
The kind the bears eat.
They are smaller and more tart than cultivated blueberries but tasty anyway.
I had already harvested some wild raspberries for my cereal... yummers.
Jo told me about a beaver lodge on the lake where I could get some pictures.
I BBQed a steak for dinner... with grilled pieces of potato and onion and some wine.
Alone in the woods
Deprived?
Lost?
A vole (I think it is because it is a dark furry little critter smaller than a mouse) trots out of the ferns to my feet.
Oblivious of any danger
I am a thousand times larger.
He snatches up a dropped piece of grilled onion off the ground and waddle-runs back into the bush.
His actor’s script is to eat and mate
Quickly
I am not even a prop
Alone in this place?
On this stage?
I am sitting now on a ledge overlooking a beaver lodge on a lake
I’ve been here with the laptop and camera and beer for two hours
Solitude?
The beaver comes up and looks at me finally.
I capture his studied eye ball at 30 yards.
Alone?
“To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest's shady scene,
Where things that own not man's dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean;
This is not solitude, 'tis but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled.”
Lord Byron
Solitude in nature is not being alone
It is being an appreciative audience of things otherwise unwitnessed
Applause
Curtain call
Applause
Just be quiet
Just Sayin
Deprived?
Lost?
A vole (I think it is because it is a dark furry little critter smaller than a mouse) trots out of the ferns to my feet.
Oblivious of any danger
I am a thousand times larger.
He snatches up a dropped piece of grilled onion off the ground and waddle-runs back into the bush.
His actor’s script is to eat and mate
Quickly
I am not even a prop
Alone in this place?
On this stage?
I am sitting now on a ledge overlooking a beaver lodge on a lake
I’ve been here with the laptop and camera and beer for two hours
Solitude?
The beaver comes up and looks at me finally.
I capture his studied eye ball at 30 yards.
Alone?
“To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell,
To slowly trace the forest's shady scene,
Where things that own not man's dominion dwell,
And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been;
To climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
With the wild flock that never needs a fold;
Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean;
This is not solitude, 'tis but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled.”
Lord Byron
Solitude in nature is not being alone
It is being an appreciative audience of things otherwise unwitnessed
Applause
Curtain call
Applause
Just be quiet
Just Sayin
07-07 Prince of Wales island
Went charter fishing at Coffman Cove (D on the map) and had an exhausting blast!
Out for the day and we did well!
Caught a nice variety of fish: Halibut, salmon, ling cod, red snapper, and other rock fish.
For me it was a long and very tiring day.
Not used to 12 plus hours of fishing.
I advise that before going halibut fishing go to the gym!
We fish in deep water and with a five pound + rig so when the captain calls out, “reel ‘em in, we’ll try a different spot” then you have 300 feet of five pound weight to crank up.
My shoulder aches!!!
We got an added treat this day.
The herring were in and the humpbacks were after them in twos… bubbling.
That is where the whales take in lots of air and dive below the herring then chase circles around them releasing a curtain of air bubbles that serves to keep the herring pined in... since the wont swim through the cylindrical curtain of bubbles.
The wales then swim up through the center of the cylinder and scoop a gillion herring into their gullet…. BURP! Here's a picture of them breaking the center of the cylinder.
07-08 Prince of Wales island to Ketchikan
Foggy morning and had to drive slow but made it to Hollis in plenty of time.
Same ship, and same cost as it was getting here.
There was Phil in the Ketchikan ferry parking lot waiting for a customer.
Wave, Hi Phil!
Cost
Passenger $37USD
36 ft rig $221USD
Same ship, and same cost as it was getting here.
There was Phil in the Ketchikan ferry parking lot waiting for a customer.
Wave, Hi Phil!
Cost
Passenger $37USD
36 ft rig $221USD
Drove out to the Clover Pass Resort for an RV space.
It was nearly a ghost town.
One coupe in a Winnebago said that most in most years every space is taken every day from june15 to September 15.
There were only three of us for 30 spaces.
The boat docks were full of yellow Clover Pass Resort charter boats as there was nobody to take out.
The economy etc... bad year.
Not much to do...it was boring.
I met retired Sam and his wife who had a little scamp hooked up to a Dakota doing what I am doing: ferrying the inland waterway of Southeast Alaska.
They don't boon-dock at all electing to stay at RV parks instead.
I've noticed quite a few small RVs doing this.
I suspect water, electricity, laundry, and a close by restroom has something to do with that.
Everyone and their mother got shots like these for the next couple of days.
There were forest fires burning in BC which play smokey tunes on the color spectrum at sundown.
This one off the dock at Clover Pass.
07-09 Kethikan to Wrangell
Got to the Ferry dock early and had lunch at the hotel-restaurant across the street.
I remembered the name just now.
Jeremiah's
http://www.landinghotel.com/restaurant.aspx
The Ferry was the Taku again.
Cost
Passenger $37USD
34 ft rig $207USD
Did phil honk? LOL
It was a late departure... 3:00 PM arriving in Wrangell at 9:00 PM
but there will be lots of light for finding a campground.
I walked around the ferry with the little Canon Powershot.
It takes low res video and I took it to different parts of the Taku and filmed them so that you could get a feeling what its like to cruise on one.
The following videos are hand held walking and jiggly.
Most of them I have sped up for brevity.
00:17
deck forward to outside rail
00:15
forward observation lounge, purser's office, bow
00:50
theater, forward kids lounge, recliner lounge, cabins, auto deck roped off
00:53
recliner lounge, computer/reading booth-desks, solarium deck
00:22
The grill: two or three entrees, breakfast, lunch, and dinner
pre-wrapped sandwiches etc
00:50
theater, forward kids lounge, recliner lounge, cabins, auto deck roped off
00:53
recliner lounge, computer/reading booth-desks, solarium deck
00:22
The grill: two or three entrees, breakfast, lunch, and dinner
pre-wrapped sandwiches etc
Under sail..laptop hacking...
Warm and light.
The taku sails steady at a guessing 20 knots
Smooth seas
This ship reminds me of old movies
People crossing the Atlantic and sitting outside in the sun.
Oceanliner-likeRails and walkways extend completely around two or three decks
Couples stroll by talking and taking pictures
Photography promenadeLawn chairs are there to pull up and breathe in the ocean
I look at the horizon with long large islands 40 miles or so distant and I line up the top rail with the shoreline and sit squinting with one eye closed… waiting for an up or a down motion.
None
Perfectly smooth sailing
The engine hums... with the radiance of the sun and the sea breeze
Thought-fixed… while thought-less
Like one would expect in an old black and white movie
The lady laying back in a lounge chair... eyes closed.
She could be an actress
In this old film
Ingret-like
My kersif is terrible anymore
Even my once perfect draftsman’s lettering sucks.
This keyboard is all I have to think with and I never learned to touch type.
It cannot capture what I am thinking.. at least my fingers cant
But it is the best I have
Sweet sweet trip this
Just sayin
Stayed at Elmo Point Campground.
Almost dark before I got set up... picture below.
Almost dark before I got set up... picture below.
07-10 Wrangell
These Wrangell camps are so well taken care of!
All sites are graveled and FLAT
Here is a picture of my egg camped 500 ft above Zimovia Straight at Elmo Point campground.
It does not begin to show the majesty
The view was spectacular!
All sites are graveled and FLAT
Here is a picture of my egg camped 500 ft above Zimovia Straight at Elmo Point campground.
It does not begin to show the majesty
The view was spectacular!
All campgrounds have covered wood sheds with split logs and kindling
You can tell the difference between volunteer maintained and paid camp host maintained facility.
Amazing
Directions
To get to these campgrounds drive about 15 miles south of Wrangell to Elmo Point road (forest service road 6267).
Turn right onto a good gravel road.
If you keep going straight and the road turns to gravel you have gone past 6267 and are then on 6265.
Most campgrounds are small.
Some having only one campsite.
They are scattered over five or six miles and the road gets really rough the further you go.
It may not be good for your overhung motor homes because of the clearances needed on the dips.
If you stay on it, I guess after ten miles, you will hook back up with 6265
I spent the day driving over 70 miles of roads and saw lots of wildlife like bears, deer, and what I think was a marmot.
Here are some videos showing the good roads and the not-so-good roads.
Turn right onto a good gravel road.
If you keep going straight and the road turns to gravel you have gone past 6267 and are then on 6265.
Most campgrounds are small.
Some having only one campsite.
They are scattered over five or six miles and the road gets really rough the further you go.
It may not be good for your overhung motor homes because of the clearances needed on the dips.
If you stay on it, I guess after ten miles, you will hook back up with 6265
Going out for an Island cruise
I spent the day driving over 70 miles of roads and saw lots of wildlife like bears, deer, and what I think was a marmot.
Here are some videos showing the good roads and the not-so-good roads.
On forest road number 6270 which is typical of the nice gravel roads shown on the map.
This video is on the 50040 road to High Brush Lake.
Aptly named lake since the alder hinders your entrance.
A great place to give your rig some very custom Wrangell pin striping.
This is the first time I have seen boardwalks instead of trails.
It must be more economical than to have to keep spading and filling ground trails every spring.
I was told by the camp host that they had a little john-boat at the bottom if I wanted to use it.
I was skeptical.
Leave a boat there to be stolen?
Umm... it really is there.
I didn't use it.
It must be more economical than to have to keep spading and filling ground trails every spring.
I was told by the camp host that they had a little john-boat at the bottom if I wanted to use it.
I was skeptical.
Leave a boat there to be stolen?
Umm... it really is there.
I didn't use it.
Still smokey from BC fires.
Got back to camp at 8:00 PM... that's still early!
I have decided that most people want to glomp on to their memories and never ever let them go.
They want reality to be today what it was yesterday... or any time before yesterday.
For example I have had people who have gone to Alaska warn me about the outback.
The danger
The ALCAN.
They drove it 30 years ago!
And even down in Utah people who post their experiences on Utah or Arizona Strip highways can make misleading statements.
The most often used (abused) statement is a warning about "wash board roads".
If someone had driven Cottonwood Canyon out near Kanab and it was washboardy then they will be convinced that it will remain washboardy forever... thus warning all, "I wouldn't go there because the road is washboard all the way"... and of course that cant be true.
Not in an absolute sense at least.
The road could have been graded recently.
It could have rained thus plowing the soften ridges down flat.
It simply wont be a washboard road forever and always.
That's why I need to say something about the roads here on Wrangell Island.
You will never know what shape the road is in unless you ask a local.
The camp host nicely warned me about the road to High Brush Lake saying, "the alder is closing in. You should be ok in your rig (Ranger) but it is still likely to get a bit scratched"
You can see what it looked like in the video above.
But is it going to be that way next year?
I have no idea.
Have they sent one of those lawnmower tractors in to clear it recently?
Ask the camp host or someone else knowledgeable about the current shape of any back road you are thinking of taking.
Just sayin
07-11 Wrangell
Coffeed up and drove into town for Gas, Breakfast, Laundry, and shower.
Good breakfast at the Diamond Circle Cafe.
Did Laundry etc and then went down to the docks to wait for the Anan Creek bear watching boat.
Saw this sign.
Now I am no English genius or anything but it is pretty obvious that the sign painter put the apostrophe in the wrong place.
I wondered why they let that stay up there?
Solution I think...
Maybe there were two "bobs" who partnered up.
Like in "the two Bobs"
Then if there were two Bobs and they owned the store the possessive case would be Bobs'
Is that right?
I was afraid to ask.
Took an hour long jet boat ride to Anan Creek
After depositing us on the shore and after getting the "talk" from the Tongass ranger our guide escorted us half a mile up the trail.
12 ga and all.
It is a viewing platform set high above the creek where the salmon congregate in smooth water before attempting to do their woosh up a rapid.
Here is a bear coming in from the woods.
There were dozens of bears by the way and dozens of photo shots too.
You can see a couple of nice size pink salmon just above his head.
Eagles always congregate near wherever the bears eat.
Bears are prone to leaving offall on the ground which the eagles fight over.
I can spot a bear fishing a creek a mile away by watching for eagles searching and arguing high above him.
But later in the season when the bears are trying to store fat for the winter they leave dang near the whole fish on the ground eating only the brains and roe.
This gives the eagle much more than they can eat and creeks like Anan end up stinking of rotting fish in late autumn.
Since I have these shots up on a different site I'll just post links about the eagles
This series of seven shots shows a junior bald eagle (immatures do not have a white head) looking over a bear eating a fish.
Waiting for the scraps.
Eagles on Pbase
Bears are prone to leaving offall on the ground which the eagles fight over.
I can spot a bear fishing a creek a mile away by watching for eagles searching and arguing high above him.
But later in the season when the bears are trying to store fat for the winter they leave dang near the whole fish on the ground eating only the brains and roe.
This gives the eagle much more than they can eat and creeks like Anan end up stinking of rotting fish in late autumn.
This series of seven shots shows a junior bald eagle (immatures do not have a white head) looking over a bear eating a fish.
Waiting for the scraps.
Eagles on Pbase
An animation there knits then all together
Hi Ron,
ReplyDeleteWow, it looks like you're seeing wildlife—up close and personal! How fantastic! And I agree: your choice to stay at the Ward Lake campground seems like the best one all around.
I'll be travelling up to the Yukon in August and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the Far North again. Your adventures have me champing at the bit to go!
"There were forest fires burning in BC which play smokey tunes on the color spectrum at sundown."
ReplyDeleteRon I love this!
Eileen