Off To Wrangell

Left camp and drove to Wal-Mart to use their parking lot for a staging area as it’s just up the street from the ferry. We left the coach and went to return the video. On the way back The Landing, it was time for breakfast so The Landing, right across from the ferry terminal, was our stop. Once we were fed and happy we went back to Wal-Mart and checked our e-mail. About 11am it was time to leave for the ferry. We’ll be sailing on the TAKU today for our 6 hour ride to Wrangell.

It was sunny and warm this morning, but now it’s partly cloudy. I was the first car on today and now just have to wait for Ken who will be the last one on. At least he’ll be first off. The crew is very careful to help him so we don’t scrape the back end of the coach too much. We aren’t sure if they are worried more about their ferry floor than our coach.

We find a great spot on deck and say goodbye to Ketchikan. About 2:30pm our ship sails out through the Tongass Narrows with Revillagigedo Island on our right and Prince of Wales Island on our left. Ketchikan sits on a tip of Revillagigedo Island and soon disappears as we turn out of the harbor. This trip is more beautiful than the last . Majestic mountains laiden with snow hide behind green forested hills. The expanse is unbelievable. We caught site of a couple porpoise and saw a quick nose of a whale as he dived half way between the ship and shore. We are in the middle of nowhere! There are so many views we don’t know what to take pictures of - so we took everything!

After a while we went inside and sat in the Observation Deck. Ken started a conversation with a man sitting across from us. Ken spent most of the trip listening to his stories. He said they call him ‘Bob The Builder’ and he has worked all over Alaska. He is a large equipment operator and was on his way to Juneau for his next assignment. Bob and his wife live in a cabin on Prince of Wales Island. He showed us pictures of the road work and construction that he has work on up here over the past years. Ken really enjoyed listening and didn’t mind my hopping in and out of our seats to take more pictures.

It's 8pm and we're about a half hour out of Wrangell. We started to see a group of Porpoise off to our right. They weren’t close but we could see a fin come up out of the water every now and then. Suddenly there was a larger black nose that came up and disappeared and then the tail followed - it was our first whale sighting! We think it was a Humpback.

Wrangell is nestled on an island at the mouth of the beautiful Stikine River. It’s a small place and is not a main cruise ship port. The focus is fishing and the economy here has taken a real hit due to cut backs in the timber industry and fishing. The Russians erected Fort Dionysius (say that 5 times fast!) in 1834 to stop the Hudson Bay Company from fur trading up the Stikine River. Finally the Russians agreed to lease Southeast Alaska to the Hudson Bay Company in 1840 and the name was changed to Fort Stikine. After Alaska became a U.S. territory in 1897 the name was changed to Fort Wrangell. Prospectors in 1874 and 1897 surged through Wrangell during two gold rushes. The town has a wild and unruly past, which is celebrated each year during 'Tent City Days", but it has a wonderful reputation for being the "friendliest small town in Southeast Alaska."

Leaving the ferry and with Ken behind me in the coach I headed out. My role is to find the place we are staying…so we followed the directions and somehow missed a turn. As I got ready to pull over and turn around there was the sign - Alaskan Waters RV Park (whew). The “park” is a small gravel parking lot with hookups. It’s run by Jim Leslie who runs the Alaskan Waters Tour Company and is the only RV park in Wrangell. There are a few recreation areas with sites, but the sites were small and there were no hookups. We are the only ones here and it will be comfy.

We got set up and then took a ride around town and the harbor. It’s 9pm and everything is closed except the bars… Back at camp its quiet and we went to bed so we would be ready for our next adventure.

Pictures: (left to right) Leaving Ketchikan, Through the Tongass Narrows (2), Along Prince of Wales Island, On way to Wrangell, Between the Islands, Sailing to Wrangell, Sunset on the water, Arrive in Wrangell