This morning I broke camp, hooked up, and went into Wrangell for breakfast at the Diamond C.
The ferry doesn't leave for Petersburg until 4:30 this afternoon so I have time to look around.
Dismounted my bike from the trailer, packed it full of camera, lenses, and a bottle of water and took off to tour the harbor.
Like all of Southeast Alaska flowers are beautiful and everywhere in the summer
They have a short growing season but very long days and I think this gives flower lovers the urge to decorate.
Could not resist wasting some clicks on apartment wall displays like this one.
I was parked and having some coffee and using the wifi when one tourist couple from the cruise ship came up to be and asked, "Is that a 17 foot Casita?"
I said yes and they said they live in Kansas and have one too and asked me how I got there and when I said by ferry I think the light went on.
Perhaps they'll try this trip themselves some day where they can spend days on the island instead of just hours.
I guess when I park my rig in front of a cruise ship I'm saying three things:
1-I will be here for days exploring everything for miles around and you will be gone by nightfall.
2-I am not impressed with lots of food and organized activities.
3-I can sleep with my windows open!
So yeah, what can I say?
Vested interest leads to vested logic :)
Just sayin
1-I will be here for days exploring everything for miles around and you will be gone by nightfall.
2-I am not impressed with lots of food and organized activities.
3-I can sleep with my windows open!
So yeah, what can I say?
Vested interest leads to vested logic :)
Just sayin
This leg of the ferry journey is aboard the biggest boat of them all, The Columbia
418 ft long with two vehicle decks.
Runs from Bellingham to Skagway and back on a regular schedule
Cost
Passenger $33USD
34 ft rig $139USD
34 ft rig $139USD
01.12
This will be a first, heading into the bow which means I'll have to back out at Petersburg... Argh!
Yup... backed out at Petersberg with zero help from the crew handling it.
There was this guy standing "in front" of me and "guiding" me out.
This was the craziest experience I have ever had.
How can someone stand in front and tell you which way to go?
If he points left does the mean to turn the steering wheel left?
But maybe it means turn it right because he is in front which mirrors me but wait wait wait ! we're going backward not forward and pointing left means....
Not only that this guy is yelling "left left left"!
The car or the trailer?
After getting cockeyed once and having to pull forward to straighten out I got out of the truck and walked back to see where I had to go.
I picked up the clearances in my head and got back in my truck and backed out without even looking at the pointer fella in front of me.
Just in case you are not picking up on this when you "help" someone back up you must be behind them not in front.
You must be in view of the side view mirror that is in play at the time.
You should point in the direction the "trailer" should go and you should throw up a stop or halt if need be.
I am still shaking my head over this.
Just sayin
Found a another beautiful empty campground near Blind Slough.
I've included a short video just for the sound of the birds in this secluded spot in the forest.
Yup... backed out at Petersberg with zero help from the crew handling it.
There was this guy standing "in front" of me and "guiding" me out.
This was the craziest experience I have ever had.
How can someone stand in front and tell you which way to go?
If he points left does the mean to turn the steering wheel left?
But maybe it means turn it right because he is in front which mirrors me but wait wait wait ! we're going backward not forward and pointing left means....
Not only that this guy is yelling "left left left"!
The car or the trailer?
After getting cockeyed once and having to pull forward to straighten out I got out of the truck and walked back to see where I had to go.
I picked up the clearances in my head and got back in my truck and backed out without even looking at the pointer fella in front of me.
Just in case you are not picking up on this when you "help" someone back up you must be behind them not in front.
You must be in view of the side view mirror that is in play at the time.
You should point in the direction the "trailer" should go and you should throw up a stop or halt if need be.
I am still shaking my head over this.
Just sayin
Found a another beautiful empty campground near Blind Slough.
I've included a short video just for the sound of the birds in this secluded spot in the forest.
07-13 Petersburg
Took a gravel road loop from near my campground way up and around and back down to the main highway towards Petersburg.
I have often seen this kind of wild "chicken" up here.
They move across the road on foot, can fly a little bit, and blend into the forest.
I got a shot of this one "hiding" from me by being still.
Anyone know what this is?
I have often seen this kind of wild "chicken" up here.
They move across the road on foot, can fly a little bit, and blend into the forest.
I got a shot of this one "hiding" from me by being still.
Anyone know what this is?
At the top of the loop road there is a wonderful view of the LeConte ice field that feeds the glacier of the same name (partially visible).
You can see the icebergs that have broken off.
Still carrying Wrangell with me but now there is probably a thin layer of Mitkoff island (Petersburg) too.
I took the rest of the day wondering around Petersburg shooting pictures.
I love the colors of SE Alaska.
07-14 Petersburg to Juneau
Sitting here in the Petersburg AK ferry terminal with time to sum up the trip so far.
Two major things will probably influence my opinions though.
First the recession has pretty much emptied the ferries of RVs
Some pickups with campers, maybe a motor home or two, maybe a few travel/camping trailers.
The Tongass National Forest campgrounds have been anywhere between empty and a third full.
The same holds true for the RV parks.
I had planned to boondock (meaning pulling off a forest road and setting up camp in the woods) but since the campgrounds gave me nearly as much solitude as boondocking I chose a few of those.
The second thing that will bias my opinion is that it has been sunny and warm since I left Washington State.
Totally irregular and not so well received by the fishermen since rain is what keeps the streams running full and a good portion of the early salmon, like Pinks, will not make it to spawn and this effects the fishery cycle some years out.
Today, July 14 looks like rain.
The cities I have visited since Prince Rupert BC are
Ketchikan
Hollis Prince of Wales (POW)
Craig POW
Klawock POW
Thorne Bay POW
Coffman Cove POW
Ketchikan again
Wrangell
Petersburg
So far I like the town of Petersburg the best.
I probably look for different things than a cruise host or passenger (no interest in a lumberjack show for example).
This town has been the most photogenic so far and the ride around Mitkof Island gave me a mountain top view of LeConte Glacier across Fredrick sound… it was just awesome.
The campground had more bird sounds than any so far including a cuckoo.
Note: on further review and after hearing the lecture aboard the Columbia I am pretty convinced the cuckoo was a raven who are very practiced in mimicking sounds... also there are no cuckoos in Alaska! LOL
They begin the tweet-caw-cluck-sing-screech at 3 AM and continue non stop until about 11:00 PM
Wrangell Island had the most 4x4 roads so far and really great campgrounds.
These are campgrounds run by volunteers, not hired hosts.
At the ferry I caught up with my friend Sam from Califonia.
Saw him last at Clover Pass in Kethcikan.
Talked a bit about RVing small.
Here's his rig.
This ferry is going to be quite different.
It is the MC Fairweather... Jet boat!
A catamaran jet boat ferry! incredible.
Cost
Passenger $66USD
34 ft rig $401USD
34 ft rig $401USD
00:14
A scan of the horizon from aboard the Fairweather.
00:29
So how fast is 40 mph?
Arriving in Auke Bay.
Perhaps the best view of Mendenhall glacier you can get.
00:29
So how fast is 40 mph?
Perhaps the best view of Mendenhall glacier you can get.
07-15 Juneau
Nice little place near Auke Bay has coffee waffles internet laundry and SHOWER!!
Southeastern Alaska Waffle Factory is the name at corner of Glacier Highway and west mendenhall loop road.
Great coffee too!
I camped last night at Auke Village Tongass NF campground and tonight at mendenhall campground.
Time to go look around... no plans
A note to myself I forgot to write.
Getting supplies on Prince of Wales Island (and I assume landlocked ports like Petersburg and Wrangell) is a major task so all of the fishing families, twice per year, fly to Seattle, rent a van, and head to COSTCO, Walmart, and Home Depot.
They make as many trips as they need to fill a Lynden -AML barge container (or their share of one) and then fly back home.
They get their stuff about a month later when the barge pulls into Craig or Thorne bay.
Fresh eggs are not recommended.
Look at the very end and there is half of a modular home.
I camped last night at the Auke Village campground.
Tongas National Forest golden discount $6
But very short.
They put in boulders to restrict vehicle length and when I backed in and got aligned I was blocking half the road with my truck.
Definitely not a campground for motorhomes.
(one more point for RVing small)
My idea that I would hit an RV Park once per week for laundry was thoughtful but unnecessary.
This is a fishing coast
and fishermen need laundry
and showers
Most coin laundry have coin showers.
So that aspect of RV parks holds no sway anymore.
Other RV park attributes include
Shore power, city water, on site dump pipe, cable TV, and wifi
Well I have not watched TV since Washington somewhere... I heard Micheal Jackson died.
You can get wifi anywhere these days
at a bar a bakery a coffee shop whatever... and FREE!
Just ask a local in a store on any street
Dump sites can be hard to find but the National Forest can usually direct you to a site
Must have city water too, to at least fill my freshwater tank
Shore power to charge my batteries as otherwise have to run the Honda 2000eu for about 15 mins for each battery.
But check this out:
Mendenhall Campground has shore power, and city water, and ON-SITE dump for $26 minus a 50% old gold discount!
all this plus seclusion and no RV park needed!
Also no trailer trash monthly RVers in the NF camp grounds.
Just sayin
Gads!
Ronnie needs some RV diversity training.
Shame on me.
Ronnie needs some RV diversity training.
Shame on me.
So I moved over to Mendenahll Campground today.
Another one that is 90% vacant.
Water and shore power.
