Lost 9.8.10

Dave let us loose down the slough to the hot tubs since his boat wouldn't be able to make it down since it was so shallow. He gave different ones directions of where we would find the entrance to the hot tubs. Something about tall trees or something. I didn't hear the directions, so I'm not sure. Quent and I were first down the slough since we didn't have to stop to get stuff out of Dave's boat. Britta came next and eventually passed us. Shortly afterwards Steve and Dan passed us. And then Paula, Kim, and Sarah came up behind us. There was a slough that looked familiar and we wondered if that was it. We decided it wasn't so we went ahead. But then we saw that Paula, Kim, and Sarah turned down the slough. We called out to Britta, Steve and Dan that the slough was 'back there', but they didn't hear us. We figured they would figure it out. We turned around and came to the beginning of the slough. Paula and Sarah had went on ahead. Kim was stopped. He said he wasn't sure if that was the slough we were looking for. He had a map. The three of us paddled down the slough anyway. After awhile we realized that it indeed was not the slough we needed. Quent and I turned our canoe around to paddle out. Kim went on to find Paula and Sarah to let them know they were headed in the wrong direction. I was frustrated. I was picturing Britta, Steve and Dan splashing around in the hot tubs while we were lost and getting warmer in the September sun. We were not far from where we initially turned around when we saw a black bear on the side of the bank ahead of us. It didn't seem to notice us. We stopped and watched it until it ran into the woods. We continued on, spotting a red kayak on shore. Then we saw Britta walking on the shore. They hadn't found the hot tubs? Then we spotted Steve and Dan in their kayak paddling hard against a current, trying to get back to where we were. Britta looked so relieved to see us. She thought they were lost and felt bad that she got them lost. But it turns out we were ALL lost! I couldn't believe it! How hard is it to find the hot tubs? Pretty soon Paula, Kim and Sarah made their way around the slough bend. We all chatted. Pretty soon Kim pulls out a GPS, which makes me laugh to this day. Where was that GPS a long time ago? Like an hour ago? Ha! He figured out where we needed to go, so we shoved off again and lo and behold, we found it! I figured we were lost for about 3 hours! Dave was probably expecting us any time now, but we hadn't even started our tub time.

The sloughs were so shallow, but we managed to maneuver our way through the sloughs to find the trailhead of the tubs. We changed in the changing room (or whatever it's called). Like my sexy brown Xtratufs?

Here we are enjoying the hot tubs. Everyone was in good spirits...some more than others.

It was a great place to wash hair. It felt nice!

Shakes cabins 9.9.10

It was interesting paddling in the dark. There were a few who turned their headlamps on for us from shore so we could see them. We were so thankful for them! I know I wouldn't have been able to see the cabins without those lights, but Quent may have been able to find them since he's familiar with the cabins. We reached shore, unpacked our gear and headed to the smaller cabin, which we shared that night with Britta and Sarah. We all headed to the bigger cabin to enjoy a late dinner of rice and beans. It was a spicy meal! Afterwards we all went to bed. I slept with earplugs in because there was a lovely rodent visiting our cabin in the middle of the night. Britta had an exciting story to share with us the next morning. She said that she was pretty sure she heard a bear walking around our cabin in the middle of the night. She said she called out to us asking if we heard it too, but we didn't hear her because we were asleep (or couldn't because of earplugs). Eeek!

The bigger cabin.

Onward 9.9.10

I was excited...the weather looked gorgeous! It was our last day on the river! After a breakfast of leftover rice and beans (I had cereal), we packed up and were ready to race down the river to Wrangell.

Against the wind 9.9.10

Little did we know that almost as soon as we took the turn from the cabin that we would hit the wind. It wasn't very helpful. But at least there were no bugs! I had to remind myself of that since the wind had a negative effect. It rained off and on during this jaunt of the river. It wasn't as exciting as other parts of the river. Maybe it was because I've seen this part of the river many times before? But I think it was really because of the weather and going against the wind. It seemed like no matter how hard we pushed, everyone else was like a half mile ahead of us.

And then the clouds began to part. The sun began to shine. And there was this gorgeous rainbow!!!!! Yes, Quent 'photoshopped' this photo, but really, that's how bright and magnificent the rainbow was!!

Garnet Ledge 9.9.10

We stopped at Garnet Ledge for lunch and to wait for the tide to come up. We tied up our boats and lingered near shore for a bit. There were a couple of kayak guides from Ketchikan staying at the cabin. They were about to go for a spin in their kayaks when they spotted an eagle floating in the water. They went out and rescued the eagle. While they did that a group of us walked on the "trail" to the garnets to check it out and see what we could find. The trail wasn't much of a trail because of all of the trees blown down on it. You had to watch your every step so you wouldn't slip, grab onto devil's club, or hit your head on a log. We saw our only mosquito of the trip. And the no-see-ums were back. Ugh! I stuck with Sarah while she searched for garnets. She found a few...

Meanwhile, back at the cabin the guys were warming the eagle. I'm an animal lover and it really hurt my heart to see this eagle in distress. Eagles are like the king bird of the animal kingdom, so it was really weird to see this eagle weak and basically dying. I'm not sure if it survived (and I don't really want to know). I thought it was really incredible that these guys went out of their way to rescue the eagle.

Wrangell 9.9.10

It was time to leave Garnet Ledge and paddle to Wrangell. The tide was low when we got to Garnet Ledge, but during the hour or two that we spent there, the tide came up. You can see the log in the middle of the picture and that's the log we sat on to eat our lunch. Now it was half-covered with water. Good thing we tied up our canoe.



I believe Wrangell is 6 miles from Garnet Ledge. We were told it would take us 2-3 hours to paddle that distance (it took us just under 3 hours I believe). We wouldn't have the river's current pushing us, but we did have the high tide in our favor. Because we were in the middle of ocean, far enough away from land where you couldn't use the land to gauge progress (unlike how it was on the river), it felt like we were getting nowhere fast...which was probably true. *chuckle* I decided I would play a little game with myself so I wouldn't go crazy crossing the ocean. I started counting 50 strokes each side. 1..2..3...27...49..50! And then I would go to the other side and do the same. I didn't tell Quent what I was doing, but he figured it out after awhile. He asked what I was doing, but I wouldn't tell him. "Are you counting strokes?" So he began to count. He figured it out and then we began to count 50 strokes together. We never stopped, unless we took a quick sip of water. The water was calm for the most part. We were finally together with the group, instead of way behind. Steve and Dan were far ahead of us. Dave and Paula stuck close to keep a watch on the paddlers (Paula rode with Dave because she wasn't feeling well). Britta and Sarah were close by us, too. There were some other canoes up ahead from a different group. We could see them in their red canoes. At one point a jet boat stopped to pick up a set of the canoes. At first I thought they were picking up Steve and Dan. I was like, "What!? Cheaters!!" But then I realized that it wasn't Steve and Dad. Those other paddlers are still cheaters though. I couldn't believe they would paddle all the way down the Stikine and not paddle all the way to Wrangell when they were that close.

The closer we got to Wrangell, the more the waves picked up. We could see a wall of rain coming toward us. I didn't want to put my rain jacket on until I absolutely had to because I was warm from paddling. When the waves became more choppy I stopped counting because it was hard to keep track, plus it was something to distract me. We were pretty close to Wrangell by that time. We were just paddling along the shore. We paddled toward the summer dock where we started our journey, but the dock was gone, so we decided to keep on paddling to the float dock. The waves were so choppy that I had to get down on my knees. There were some waves that really tossed up the front of the canoe. Britta caught a glimpse of that and she laughed. Yeehaw! I loved riding the waves!

Once we were on the float dock, the border control customs officer (Todd Smith) met us to check our passports since we just came from Canada. Aye?

The End 9.9.10

Britta, Paula, and Dave standing on the float dock.

Steve, Dan, and Sarah coming down to greet us. They 'docked' near the ferry terminal since Steve and Dan would be leaving on the ferry the next day, and Sarah lives near the ferry terminal.

Quent spread out some of our gear to dry on the Molinek's lawn the day after our trip. Bob was curious and came to check out our gear.

It was bittersweet to see our trip come to an end. After we arrived in Wrangell on the 9th we all had dinner together at the Stikine Inn. First we headed to Bob and Helen's to take a shower. It felt wonderful! I told Quent that I even felt like putting a dress on just to feel feminine again (and I don't even like dressing up, so that's saying something). The trip was AMAZING! I was in Wrangell for a few days last week (I'm writing this November 29th) and when I was leaving on the ferry I looked out over the water where we had paddled in and I felt this yearning to touch that water with a paddle once again. I think the Stikine has made it's mark on my heart. Quent, now I understand.

High Bush Cranberries 8.30.2010

Quent and I went for a practice paddle in the rain at Harriet Hunt Lake, in secret hopes that the high bush cranberries we spotted weeks earlier would be ripe enough to pick. And our hopes came true! The berries were plump and ready for picking! I LOVE putting the berries in my mouth, popping them with my teeth and tasting the juicy goodness. We picked about a gallon.

Luke's Visit August 2010

In mid-August, Quent's friend and roommate from college, Luke, came to visit us. He brought some warm weather with him. He probably thought we were such wimps with temps in the upper 70s, since he was coming from the heat and humidity from Michigan. We showed him the sites of Ketchikan:


We think it's fun to show our visitors what it's like to live among cruise ships. So we take them down to the docks so they can weave in and out of the crowds of tourists. This was our first time seeing this new statue/memorial by the cruise ship dock.

We really enjoyed our visit with Luke! He can come visit us any time! (I promise I'll make more blueberry buckle!)

Gone Fishing 8.17.2010

Luke really enjoys fishing, so Quent took him out fishing a few times. There were two people who offered to take them out fishing, but both boats weren't working, so they had to settle for fishing out of our canoe. They had a nice time! On Luke's last day with us our friend Will took them out fishing and they caught several halibut and coho salmon. I was so glad Luke had a chance to do some 'real' Alaskan fishing!


Luke taking a picture of the cruise ship in the background.

Red door 8.22.2010

Our big summer project was painting the exterior of our house. It was a light, ugly blue color. I wanted to paint it a medium gray, which is what we have now, except it has more of a bluish hue. And then came the idea for a red front door. A bright red door. We really like it! And you can see the gray paint on the side with the white trim. Painting the exterior of a house in Southeast Alaska is tricky. Especially in Ketchikan. Any guesses why? R-A-I-N. And lots of it. I am posting this on November 11, 2010, and our house isn't completely painted...yet. Maybe next spring.

Blueberry Festival 1 8.7.2010

The first Saturday of August Ketchikan celebrates a Blueberry Festival. There's live entertainment from the 'battle of the bands' (some of them sounded awful). There's food. There's lots of crafts to purchase. In the morning we ran the 5K fun-run.


Here we are in the midst of it all.

Some of the booths set up selling crafts.

We were walking down the street and I asked Quent to take a quick shot of these two boys sitting on a fence. So this is the picture. Random photos of perfect strangers are kind of fun!

Afterwards we found a quiet place to take pictures of flowers...