One of my favorite parts of any trip is meeting new people.
And today, our first full day of the trip, we met a lot of them. There is just something very special about
meeting like-minded travelers who are also in the middle of their journey to
share tips and stories and to spend some time slowing down and talking with the
people who live in a place.
Despite the fact we were dead to the world last night, we
both woke up at 6 a.m., eyes wide open, ready to go for the day. It had rained
overnight and the clouds had lowered into town. Ketchikan gets 14-15 feet of
rain every year – and so a day like today with a few patches of blue is
considered a very good day. While I was getting ready, Dave wandered out into town
to get some photos before the three cruise ships parked across the street
started letting people loose. Everything was quiet and still in the morning
drizzle.
At 7:45 we headed downstairs to the café to have breakfast.
We were the only people there so the guy manning the bar, West, befriended us.
He liked the fact that we weren’t off one of the cruise ships and that we were
kicking off a three-week journey across the state. West is 20 years old and was
born and raised in Ketchikan. He’s traveled to most every state in the country,
but hasn’t made it any further North in Alaska.
Pretty soon a few more people wandered in. They were off a
boat, but not one of the cruise ships. The early morning Alaska Maritime Ferry
had arrived in town and these guys had a short stop before taking off again at
11 a.m. We all started chatting. Matt just retired after nine years in the
coast guard based in Seattle. He was on day one of a two month adventure
through all of Alaska – a retirement gift to himself. He was traveling with his
truck – in which he built a bed – and was planning on kayaking, backpacking and
living out of his car the whole time. As he ran through his itinerary, Dave and
I were definitely jealous. And then we met Penelope. She was heading up to
spend the next few years living in the Talkeetna mountains working on building
float planes while going to a medical school. She had been living in the French
Alps flying planes and also recently bought a house right outside of Vail,
Colorado – a house she barely uses and said we could use sometime if we wanted.
Within in a few minutes we were all pulled up in chairs next to each other,
deep in conversation, sharing notes about adventures we’ve had. Penelope told
us how she learned to love flying as a little girl growing up on a farm near an
airfield, Matt talked about his dream of being a rock climbing and white water
rafting guide and Dave and I shared stories about our love of travel and
hiking. When the time came for us to go, we all shared contact information and
promised to look for each other in Juneau in a few days to see if we could meet
up again.
Then it was time for today’s adventure. A little after 9
a.m., Laura from Carlin Air arrived to pick us up to take us to meet our float
plane. We were headed up for a two-hour flightseeing tour of the Misty Fjords
National Wilderness area. The cloud ceiling had lifted, it was only drizzling a
little and, according to our pilot, it was one of the nicest days they had in
awhile. We wandered down on the floating dock and watched our plane getting
fueled up for our trip. The pilot, Luke, saw Dave with his camera and told him
to take the backseat, because it had windows on each side for the best views.
There were six of us on the tour that piled into the tiny plane. We buckled up
and started gliding forward with water flying up on either side of us – and
with a smooth lift, we were airborne!
We left Ketchikan beneath us and very quickly rose up into
the miles of rolling green mountains and waterways Southeast of town. It was
absolutely incredible. Wilderness as far as they eyes could reach. The entire
region is a designated wilderness area and untouched by humans. There’s no way
in except by boat or floatplane. Our tiny plane felt out of place in the
massive landscape. We crossed large saltwater channels as we worked our way
back into the mountains. Larger snow-capped peaks loomed on either side of us
and the plane dipped down and lifted up between valleys, lakes, waterfalls and
sheer rock walls. The clouds were breaking and sun streamed through hitting the
wet rock faces of the cliffs, and the Misty Fjords sparkled all around us. It
was breathtaking.
About halfway through the tour, our pilot landed us gently
down onto a lake in the middle of the wilderness area. We climbed out onto the
pontoons and hopped onto a little island to take in the fresh air and wonderful
quiet. Then after about 10 minutes we took off again and spent another 45
minutes flying and dipping into beautiful spaces. The pilot would take us low
along the water and then up high and over and down rock walls. It was a
rollercoaster ride in the remote wilds of nature.
By the time we landed back in town, the rain had picked up.
But the fresh air felt good, so we walked back to the city center and back to
the hotel. We had about two hours to burn before we needed to leave to the
airport, so we found a spot for some lunch and wandered around the little town
for awhile. What was once a quiet place was now swimming with thousands of
people with rain coats and cameras.
We ended up back at the bar where we had breakfast to hang
out with West some more. He treated Dave to a latte and we sat and chatted for
a bit. We exchanged contact information and thanked him for all the Ketchikan
insight.
To tell you the truth, Ketchikan is not much of a town. It’s
tailored to fit the needs of cruise ship tourists – jewelry and knick knack
shops and a few cheesy restaurants. The little New York Café at our Inn and the
new friends we met there was the best part. It was fun to explore briefly, but
it really just acts as a gateway to the
extreme beauty of the almost inaccessible Misty Fjords to the Southeast. One
day in town was definitely enough. We were
already anxious to escape the cruise crowds and get on our plane to
Sitka for our next adventure.
(And just as I finished typing that and shut down the
computer at the airport to board the plane, someone came running into the bar
saying – “a school of Orca are headed this way!” We all (and by all, I mean the
five of us) ran to the windows – and sure enough the dorsal fins broke through
the surface of the water and there were six huge killer whales making their way
down the channel and out of town. It was a beautiful sight. And despite the
tacky stores and tiny town, I now realized that we were definitely in another
world up here and that Alaska was going to be something special.)
Off to Sitka!
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