Nomad's Notes from somewhere on the road: Exploring Revillegigedo Island

My first two months in Ketchikan centered on the marine aspects and a bit of local history afforded by trips as far as the bus runs north and south, and by the tours by Allen Marine. But In July, during Chris's visit, we rented a car and drove the full length of the Tongass Highway. First we went south to where the pavement ends--12 miles), then continued the few miles of dirt road to the locked gate that goes to the George Inlet Cannery. This is the same cannery that I go to once a week on a tour from the water side. (see previous entry). The facility is only accessible on guided tours but I hoped to catch the employee, one of my fellow crew members, to allow Chris to take a peak. He missed out on that tour because he was going as a "comp" and there was no space available.

We missed Kaile, and a chance toget in, but were rewarded with some berry picking, a great waterfall, and a black bear. We got photos of the waterfall, the fireweed that is now blooming, but missed the bear as we were in the car as the bear headed across the dirt road. We did find lots of eagles at Herring Cove and watched some King Salmon begin their migration up-stream. The numbers were small, but are increasing rapidly now that there has been some rain and the season is well underway. We had hoped for black bears fishiing for the salmon but were not that fortunate. I hope to get back out there before long and try again.

Chris getting close to the waterfall

Then we drove to the turnaround that ends of Tongass Highway about 20 miles north of downtown. A co-worker\resident in my same building told me about a great waterfall there. We spent a couple of hours walking through the lush rainforest, viewing and photographing the waterfall, and going down to the beach. My knees were screaming by the time we finished. Steep downhill trails and steps are hard. But we had a great time.

The lush rainforest is similar to the Redwoods in Humboldt County on the northcoast of California where I used to live. But here it is even more damp

My knees, particularly after a good bit of downhill walking
were ready to relax in the car as we drove inland.

Lunch Creek Falls

Beach below Lunch Creek Falls

Then we headed to Ward Cove and took the only inland road for a look at the higher country and a bit of Revilligigedo Island's interior. We went to Ward, Connell and Talbot Lakes and then took the road to Brown Mountain, an old logging road. It deadends with some beautiful vistas. By then it was getting well after dinner time and we passed on hiking along the trail.