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Old 07-26-2013, 11:16 PM   #31
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July, 15; Prince of Wales Island (USA)


Date (day): July, 15 (Day 16)
Source: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA)
Destination: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA)
Travel Miles: tbd
Resources: Twelvemile Cabin; Hydaburg Totem Park; Harris River Campground

Daily Note(s):
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  • In the morning, we collapsed our campsite and started moving early. We still had places to explore, had planned a trip into Hydaburg, and then we needed to find some place to camp that would not be too far away from the ferry terminal in Hollis (as our boat back to Ketchikan would depart by 9:00am the next morning).[/*:m:1knj14ws]
  • In our travels on FS-2150, we encountered some downfall. I took care of it with a small Stihl chainsaw I had brought along just for this occasion. [/*:m:1knj14ws]
  • Next we found twelvemile cabin. Oh my. Everything about twelvemile cabin was amazing. My wife wanted to stay for a week. Yep, sorry... not an option on this trip. We have a boat to catch in the morning. This may be one of those places to come back to and spend a few days on a future trip.[/*:m:1knj14ws]
  • After some good off-road travel, we found ourselves back on the uneven pavement of the Hydaburg Highway and headed toward Hydaburg.[/*:m:1knj14ws]
  • Once in Hydaburg, we stopped by the Hydaburg Totem Pole Park. This park was in an urban setting (just like Klawok). Many of the totems here were also newer then any we had seen up to this point.[/*:m:1knj14ws]
  • Running out of day, we still needed to find a place to camp overnight. After some discussion, we decided to drive back to Klawok for more fuel and ice. We then investigated getting a campsite at a place called Harris River Campground (located only 10 miles from the Hollis Ferry Terminal). When my wife called to inquire about availability, the person on the other end of the phone laughingly asked if we had seen Sara Palin yet and then without skipping a beat told my wife the campground was all booked up. Upon further 'physical' investigation of this campground we found that there were only two of fourteen spots that were reserved/occupied by a construction crew that were never there. Regardless, we paid $8.00 at the self-pay station and stayed at this campground overnight. Once again, we had the place to ourselves.[/*:m:1knj14ws]



Encountered downfall over the road while out exploring today.

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Nothing a little Stihl could not handle.

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One of POW best kept secrets... Twelvemile FS cabin.

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Further on down the road to another marine access point.

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On to Hydaburg

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We stopped by the Hydaburg Totem Park

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Mix of old and new totems.

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Camped at Harris River Campground overnight.

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I discovered an incomplete cut on a large dead tree in the back of our campsite (#14). Based on the notch, the tree would not likely have fallen in the direction of our van. However, this tree would have likely pinballed a smaller tree into our van. I was not going to touch this pre-modified tree for a number of reasons. There was no campground host scheduled to show up for another couple of weeks... so I left a note for the FS to deal with this one.

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Old 07-26-2013, 11:23 PM   #32
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July, 16; Prince of Wales Island (USA) to Ketchikan, AK (USA


Date (day): July, 16 (Day 17)
Source: Undetermined, Prince of Wales Island (USA)
Destination: Ketchikan, Alaska (USA)
Travel Miles: Traveled mostly by ferry
Resources: Inter-Island Ferry Authority; Best Western Plus Landing Hotel

Daily Note(s):
-------------------------------------------------
  • Up by 5:00am, collapsed our campsite, and made it to the Hollis ferry terminal by 6:30am. Had our JetBoil coffee in the parking lot while waiting to load. Loaded onto ferry by 7:15am.[/*:m:9bcslxs8]
  • As it was the day before... the sun was out in full force.[/*:m:9bcslxs8]
  • We boarded the ferry and went straight to the dining area. Even though it was only 10:00am, we purchased an ice cream sundae to share amongst all of us. After seeing a few of these get consumed on the ferry ride to POW, this was something that our daughter really wanted (and truthfully, so did I). I negotiated with her that if our stay on POW was a success... then we would get one of these creamy mountains of joy on the way back to Ketchikan. She had been a great kid this entire trip (not just POW) and I paid up in full.[/*:m:9bcslxs8]
  • Once we reached Ketchikan, we pulled into the local laundrymat to do our laundry.[/*:m:9bcslxs8]
  • Once done with our laundry, we checked back into the Best Western Plus; Landing Hotel to get properly cleaned up.[/*:m:9bcslxs8]
  • Ordering room service that evening was the last thing that I remembered.[/*:m:9bcslxs8]




Up early to catch our ferry back to Ketchikan - departing at 9:00am out of Hollis.

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Old 07-26-2013, 11:56 PM   #33
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July, 17; Ketchikan, AK (USA)


Date (day): July, 17 (Day 18)
Source: Ketchikan, Alaska (USA)
Destination: Same
Travel Miles: tbd
Resources: Brown Mountain Road; Ketchikan Map (*.pdf); Signal Creek Campground

Daily Note(s):
-------------------------------------------------
  • I woke up before everyone else (5:30am) and decided to drive into Ketchikan town center before all of the tour boats unleashed their hoards. Driving around in the heart of the city this early in the morning really helped me understand the road layout - while under zero pressure.[/*:m:323kasz3]
  • When I returned to the room to check on the other two, our daughter was up but was having some digestion issues. My wife called our pediatrician back in Washington to get some advice. After some discussion, the pediatricians advice was to contact a local urgent care if one was available. If no urgent care, then go to the local Emergency Room. As there was no urgent care facility in Ketchikan, we found ourselves at the ER. The ER staff was great and we had a diagnosis in a matter of a couple of hours (after all of the lab test came back). Everything checked out ok.[/*:m:323kasz3]
  • Our original plan was to camp in the van tonight and then return to the Best Western for our last evening in Alaska. Because I did not know if our daughter was going to be ok or not, I asked my wife to inquire about staying in the hotel tonight as well... just in case this was serious. My wife called the front desk and told the Best Westen staff of our predicament. The Best Western was conveniently located only a couple of blocks from the ER whereas the campground was miles outside of town. The Best Western staff indicated that the hotel was pretty much full, but they would see what they could do. Ten minutes later, we got a call indicating that we could stay the additional night and that our room for the next two nights was the same room that we were in now (in order to minimize disruption). Thank you Best Western!!!! [/*:m:323kasz3]
  • Now that we were given the OK by the ER staff, we decided to go out and explore a little. First we stopped off at the Forrest Service office to see about getting a MVUM map of the area. I inquired about gain access to any of the FS road that I had seen high above Ketchikan during our ferry ride(s), but the FS staff member told me that those roads were not FS owned and operated roads, they were privately held Indian resources. There was one FS road that she recommended to me and that was gavel non-4x4 road called Brown Mountain Road. She also indicated that if I had access to a boat, there were plenty of FS roads on the neighboring islands. Once back in the van... we decided to go find Brown Mountain Road.[/*:m:323kasz3]
  • Turns out the Brown Mountain Road was in full bloom. It was an easy but beautiful drive that I would highly recommend.[/*:m:323kasz3]
  • On the way back we also stopped at Signal Creek Campground and checked out our now forfeited campsite. Signal Creek cost $10.00 per night and the campground was mostly empty (something like three of nineteen sites occupied). I dont think that I had seen so many Salmon Berries in one place in all of my life as lined the small Signal Creek. Obviously the bears liked it because the campground host was in full bear warning mode. The bugs were also pretty thick.[/*:m:323kasz3]
  • Other places we explored today were Last Chance Campground, Whipple Creek (which looked like some promising ORV turf, but as it turned out it was private land for 'adventure karts'), Settlers Cove Campground, and the D-1 loop and associated gravel spur road (which also looked promising to gain access to high elevation logging roads... but looked to also be marked as private).[/*:m:323kasz3]
  • We stopped at Stone Deck pizza on the way back to our hotel. Expensive, yes; Awesome, yes.[/*:m:323kasz3]



Back in Ketchikan and up and out before the tour boats unloaded.

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Took our daughter to the emergency room based on pediatrician guidance. After some investigation, everything turned out just fine.

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Signal Creek Campground.

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Bears were out.

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Old 07-27-2013, 06:29 AM   #34
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

sent you a pm looking for feedback on carrying the tw

looks like a great trip!
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Old 07-27-2013, 06:38 AM   #35
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

great picture of your driver side tire off the ground!
do you have front sway bar disconnected?
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Old 07-27-2013, 07:52 AM   #36
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

Great pics as always, but I especially love the pics of the totems. Something about totems and Kachinas has always intrigued me.

Glad everything turned out OK with your daughter.


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Old 07-27-2013, 05:42 PM   #37
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

Thanks for sharing all the great photos. I spent a couple of weeks working in SE 20 years ago, mostly on the water, and have always wanted to go back and explore by land. You've gotten me thinking about a trip again. We've been looking into a small motorcycle for our travels. How is your bike mounted? Is it a hitch mount? Does it have a lift of some kind?
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Old 07-27-2013, 07:30 PM   #38
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

Thanks for this thread... more please
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Old 07-27-2013, 10:07 PM   #39
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

Quote:
Originally Posted by twogone
Thanks for this thread... more please
+1
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Old 07-27-2013, 11:30 PM   #40
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Re: TWOLOST: Southeast Alaska; July, 2013 - (in progress)

WOW.....just WOW......again
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