SATURDAY, JUNE 15

SATURDAY, JUNE 15:

     God gifted us with a beautiful day today, our last full day here.  Perfect for kayaking.  Went in the opposite direction of where we headed last time – towards town.  Figured we’d just deliver the check for the Chief Shakes program we saw yesterday by water taxi, instead of driving in either today or tomorrow, hauling the RV.   By road it’s about 4.5 miles, not sure how much is lopped off that by water.

      A beautiful morning for paddling, even though we were paddling against the current all the way going into town.  By the time we reached the harbor which shelters Chief Shakes Island, we were ready to rest! 

 

 

 

 And, we were hungry – even though we’d had a late and substantial breakfast (Egg McCaryn), the paddling ate it all up!  We beached our kayaks and walked over to the City Market and picked up a ribeye steak for tonight, and a couple of ice cream drumsticks to enjoy right then.   When we got back, the incoming tide had quickly risen.  Good thing we’d drug our kayaks way up on shore!  The tides here change every 6 hours, and can vary as much as 20 feet.

 

     Fortified, we headed back.  

 

 While the current wasn’t always going exactly in our direction, we weren’t constantly fighting it as we were going out.  So made it back in about 2 hours, as opposed to the 2 ½ it took to get out.  We saw several ducks on this trip, as well as bald eagles – one soared low right in front of me.

     And when Bill got to the dock ahead of me and was waiting, an otter popped up out of the rocks and surveyed Bill for several moments, standing on his hind legs to do so. 

     Rested for a while when we got back, and then started a fire for dinner.  We ate outside tonight – I think the first dinner we’ve had outside here.  Today was the warmest it’s been since we’ve been here.  In fact, I was actually a little too warm on the trip back, but I wasn’t about to go ashore to strip off a layer of clothing.   But as soon as the sun starts going down – about 8:30 or 9:00, it becomes chilly and you need a sweater or jacket.  Very much like Southern Calif – the ocean air.

     Another lovely velvety end to the day here.  We’ve loved our time her.  The campsite was just wonderful, as perfect a place as we’ve had on all our travels, with the water just outside our front door, the mountains across the strait, and the tall spruces behind and around us. 

 For most of the time, we had the entire campground to ourselves.  Although tonight, 3 new units pulled in . . . the Sat night ferry from Ketchikan, just as we did a week ago.  Only they were on time, and didn’t have to set up in the dark!     

     And of course we loved the town.   But it’s time to move on.  Looking forward to being on the ferry again, even if it’s only for 3 hours  (time from Wrangell to Petersburg, our next stop).   

     One additional  serendipitous benefit we’re taking away from here:  we discovered here that we could semi dry-camp for quite a while. We of course had all the electricity we wanted, which means we can use the microwave, but found that by being careful with water (and using the public bathroom up the road), we could go nearly a week.  That’s valuable to know, if we’re in another similar situation.