Onward From Ketchikan

June 14-21

After spending a few days with Harriet both in Ketchikan and across the water in Thorne Bay, David and Alex are now on Part 2 of the voyage, heading north to Juneau and then Glacier Bay.

Prince of Wales Island is the longest island in the U.S. Thorne Bay, where David spent a summer logging in 1963, was the island’s major population center and the world’s largest logging camp at the time. Now the logging camp is gone and Thorne Bay is a “city”— the place with a dock where barges can unload containers of goods. Besides the marina, the city includes a library, a bait and tackle shop, café, post office, town office, and a wonderful B&B where we spent one night. David, Alex and Harriet enjoyed walking around, finding one building David recognized, the large machine shop, and a variety of large and really large logging equipment. David enjoyed the library with its great collections of books and pictures of his time there, and he had fun talking to several old-timers who remembered the logging camp.

On Friday morning, June 18, Harriet got a float plane back to Ketchikan to begin her trip home. (Float planes are a way of life out there, bringing mail and tons of stuff from Amazon, in addition to passengers.) The guys left around midday, heading across Clarence Strait.

After crossing Clarence Strait and then Ernest Sound, they anchored that night in Zimovia Cove at the south end of Zimovia Strait. Skies cleared at the end of the day for a beautiful evening. Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day from beginning to end, which they thoroughly appreciated! It was the first (and hopefully not the only) one on the trip. The scenery was beautiful as they passed Wrangell before anchoring at Deception Point on Woewodski Island at the south end of Wrangell Narrows. On Sunday they left in the drizzle again, traveled through Petersburg narrows, and docked around midday at the Petersburg Marina where they spent a little time on land. On Monday morning David explored the town while Alex hiked up the Raven Trail, just outside town.

Exploring Thorne Bay

Leaving on a float plane

Thorne Bay from the air

Passing Wrangell

Barge on Petersburg Narrows

View from Raven Trail, outside of Petersburg

Looking down on Petersburg

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NOTE: To see posts describing the first part of this voyage, starting from Bellingham, select the menu bars at top right of the screen and click on “The Journey”.