September '05 Newsletter - Trip #2

British Columbia Exploratory (8/3/05-8/12/05):

On a burn run to Alaska, we left Black Canyon City at 8:30 AM on August 3rd. North of Kanab, a half hour long pelting rainstorm hit us. Other than that we had clear weather and ultimately had to get some shuteye near Great Falls, MT. In 18+ hours we had covered close to 1200 miles and were within easy striking distance of the border. Our destination was Prince Rupert, where we would catch the Alaska Marine Ferry to Juneau to meet our friends.

After some discussion about why we were not carrying our passports, the crossing into Canada went fairly quickly. The lesson being: don't believe everything you read on the Internet! The time was well spent though, as Bob learned he is eligible for a Canadian Passport, which can make travel in some countries a lot easier. Along the way we played tourist in the Canadian Rockies, camping and hiking in both Banff and Jasper. Grizzlies and black bear were out berry picking to bulk up for winter hibernation. One of our campsites was surrounded by red ribbons; Parks Canada used them to mark the berry bushes slated for removal to insure fewer bear problems. Needless to say, we were glad to be sleeping in the back of the truck. Driving along the Icefields Parkway, we came upon our first black bear. We slowed to watch him scramble across the road, rolling up the windows of course. Walking to the ice of the Athabaska Glacier, we passed by plaques marking the glacier's retreat. Whether it is man caused or cyclical global warming, it was interesting to compare the leading edge of the glacier with where it had been when we first visited 17 years ago. We ventured up onto the ice a short ways but the thought of going back down tempered our enthusiasm. We'd both like to return and take an outfitted tour further up onto the ice.

Within a couple of days we realized we still had 600 miles to cover to reach Prince Rupert and there were things we wanted to see there before we boarded the ferry. We quickly noticed the coastal regions are rain forest country. It seems that anyone living here would need to be into fishing and have a boat to get around on the various inlets and the Skeena River. It is nearly impossible to proceed away from the roads because the lush green forest is so very dense, moss envelopes everything.

We paused for a while at the spectacular falls of Moricetown Gorge to watch native fishermen. The Bulkley, a 100' wide river, is throttled down to 20' or so at this drop, creating a frothy maelstrom where they fish for salmon using large poles with a hooped net affixed to the end. For safety, each of them is tied in with a rope around their waist. The salmon they keep are probably 36" or longer and must weigh at 20-30 pounds. It is amazing how time flies when one is traveling. To visit almost anything insures an hour will go by. The drive down the Skeena River Valley to Prince Rupert was scenic. For folks who consider the Colorado a big river, the Skeena is downright intimidating. Heavily braided channels isolated major islands and the river was a quarter mile or more across by the time we reached the tidal zone. As we approached the ocean low hanging fog appeared, cloudlike in the valleys, partially obscuring the mountain peaks. A dismal overcast developed when we reached the remote Prince Rupert area.

Prince Rupert itself was not all that interesting. After a fine evening of sleep in front of the ferry terminal, we awoke in complete fog and moved our car into the Alaska Ferry lanes. We were at a category two alert, whatever that means, but the immigration and customs agent asked only to see our drivers licenses for photo ID and then waved us on through. He jokingly asked for our discarded banana peel on the dash to avoid any damage to the Alaska banana crops. The 1760' long SS Matanuska was lightly loaded with well under half the vehicles it could carry. It carries 745 passengers but the purser's roster showed 179. The fog lifted a bit after noon and we enjoyed another clear, blue-sky day. We walked the deck a number of times, photographing things going on aboard and around the ship. Due to the higher level alert, as we approached Ketchikan we were overflown by a Coast Guard seaplane and escorted by two high-speed cutters. When anything suspicious was observed onshore or close by a cutter would rush off to check. A local couple pulled up on a beach looked a bit spooked when as we passed and the Coast Guard charged into shore to check them out for shoulder-held missiles or whatever.

Continuing on, our only sleep disturbances were the 1:00 AM stop in Wrangell and the 5:00 AM stop in Petersburg. It is pretty tough to sleep through the PA system announcing arrival and disembarking instructions or the ship horn signifying leaving port. Shortly after waking up Bob glanced out the window and noticed a pod of whales near the ship. For the next hour or so there was constant activity with many great displays of tail fin as they dove. A pod of three approached the ship within 300' or so but we were not expecting that and did not have our camera ready when they playfully arched their backs and dove. We took turns going to breakfast and by the time we finished we were passing the Tracy Arm. At first we thought we were seeing more whales or possibly boats in the water but with the binoculars we determined the objects were various sized icebergs.

In Juneau we spent the remaining portion of the day running errands preparing for the group trip. We reached the Mendenhall campground around sunset and discovered the excellent weather had brought out many more campers than the last time we stayed. The weather forecast was for record warm temperatures and blue skies through the weekend with afternoon showers arriving Monday. Driving around Juneau one morning Susan and I were talking simultaneously, about different things. She was telling me about her book while I was talking about the difficulty I was having reading John Muir's Alaska book because of all the colorful/grandiose language. When she said Faye Kellerman wrote her book I agreed my book was full of "fake eloquence". One can get a bit weird after spending 24/7 in a truck for a week of so, traveling 2600 miles by roads and another 800 or so by ferry to reach southeast Alaska.

Participants: Susan Groth & Bob Marley

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