Home at last, home,home.

The Rover

Oh, how good it is to be
Foot-loose and heart-free!
Just my dog and pipe and I, underneath the vast sky;
Trail to try and goal to win, white road and cool inn;
Fields to lure a lad afar, clear spring and still star;
Lilting feet that never tire, green dingle, fagot fire;
None to hurry, none to hold, heather hill and hushed fold;
Nature like a picture book, laughing leaf and bright brook;
Every day a jewel bright, set serenely in the night;
Every night a holy shrine, radiant for a day divine.

Weathered cheek and kindly eye, let the wanderer go by.
Woman-love and wistful heart, let the gipsy one depart.
For the farness and the road are his glory and his goad.
Oh, the lilt of youth and Spring! Eyes laugh and lips sing.

Yea, but it is good to be
Foot-loose and heart-free!

II

Yet how good it is to come
Home at last, home, home!
On the clover swings the bee, overhead's the hale tree;
Sky of turquoise gleams through, yonder glints the lake's blue.
In a hammock let's swing, weary of wandering;
Tired of wild, uncertain lands, strange faces, faint hands.
Has the wondrous world gone cold? Am I growing old, old?
Grey and weary . . . let me dream, glide on the tranquil stream.
Oh, what joyous days I've had, full, fervid, gay, glad!
Yet there comes a subtile change, let the stripling rove, range.
From sweet roving comes sweet rest, after all, home's best.
And if there's a little bit of woman-love with it,
I will count my life content, God-blest and well spent. . . .

Oh but it is good to be
Foot-loose and heart-free!
Yet how good it is to come
Home at last, home, home!

              -Robert Service

Wow- it is hard to believe that we have wrapped up our trip! It has been an amazing adventure and now it is time to return home and back to our 'normal' lives.

The final week of this trip has been filled with many sights, lots of hiking, and ended with some great time with family.

First we'll tell you about Petersburg. This is a lovely little village of about 3,000 people on Mitkof Island, most of whom are commerical fishermen and their families. This town lives and breathes fishing, even more so than Homer, Seward or Juneau. It has a strong Norwegian heritage as the original founder of the town was from Norway. It is evidenced by beautiful rosemaling around town, and many tall blond locals.  


Working fishing boat

 
We had a perfect day hiking in Petersburg. It started with a beautiful hour long drive along a dirt road through the rain forest. Then the hike itself was entirely on wooden planks (all 4 miles of it) as it was all over muskeg. The planks all had old fishing net over them for better traction when wet, which is most of the time.  This worked well, but it still didn't prevent Tim, Colton and Ethan from falling off or on the boardwalk at least once each.  Anna had her hiking poles and was able to stay upright.




Serene Petersburg


The hike brought us through a beautiful forest and all the way over to the far side of the island where we were able to come out onto the beach and enjoy watching a seine fishing boat hard at work. We then dipped back into the forest and hiked over to a beautiful lake. The US Forest Service had placed a dock, equiped with a rowboat and lifejackets at the lake. As the day ended up being sunny with a blue sky, we were able to collect enough dry wood to start a small fire and cook our hot dog lunch. We then were able to enjoy the lake. The kids loved rowing by themselves while the adults fished from the dock. Tim was able to bring in one small rainbow, but otherwise the fishing was pretty slow, but it really didn't matter as the setting was perfect!


Rowing in Petersburg

  

Tim casting on our hike




We were also able to add a new species of wildlife to our list as we saw many of the Sitka Black Tailed Deer in and around Petersburg.



Sitka Black Tailed Deer




Leaving Peterburg- early morning ferry

Our next stop was Ketchikan. After a day long ferry ride we pulled into this 'cruise ship' town of about 12,000 people.  On any given day during the summer up to five of the nearly 40 different cruise ships which stop here can deposit 5,000 to 8,000 people.  After getting off our ferry late in the day and then doing a bit of "urban hiking" through the historic downtown, we watched the cruise ships leave, saw the many, many gift shops close-up, and then called it a day.

The next day was a typical day in Ketchikan with rain (they get about 110 inches annually) so we decided to go to Totem Bight Park to see the historic totem poles and a re-built Tlingit clan house.  

After touring the totem poles, we headed to the opposite side of the island to Herring Cove where we had heard there might be good salmon fishing and the possibility of seeing some bears.  Unfortunately, neither panned out too well.  After getting thoroughly soaked through in the rain and catching only a small sculpin and a flounder, Tim and Ethan ran out of time for fishing, and we were too early in the day to see the bears.

After dinner though, Tim decided to give it one last try one the salmon and headed out to another spot.  His trip got interupted though when he saw cars parked and a group of people on the side of the road looking out into the water.  About 30 yards from the road, two Humpback whlae were feeding and Tim saw them "breach" four or five times , coming head first out of the water with mouths wide open.  He wasn't quick enough with the camera though to get a good shot of it, but did get many of the arched backs as they were diving again.

Arched back of the Humpback whale heading into a dive

After being delayed from fishing for a half hour, he got to his spot and did manage to catch a dog (chum) salmon. Since these are "second -rate" salmon (at least according the the Alaskans) Tim decided to go back to Herring Cove to try one last time for a King Salmon.  Well this time the bears were out in force.  6 black bears were feeding in the Cove and creek where Tim was hoping to fish.  Never one to give up his fishing spot easily, fortunately he relied on his better judgement and let the bears have the spot and conceeded that his days of fishing in Alaska were over, "for now", so he says.

One of the six black bears feeding at Herring Cove

The next day we had another great hike up Deer Mountain.  After the first half mile or so we were able to get away from the 'cruise ship crowds' and had an enjoyable 4 mile or so hike that had about 2,000 feet of elavation gain and had some great views of the city, harbor and surrounding areas.  After a quick clean-up and pack-up, then dinner, it was time to catch the over-night ferry.
Finally it was time to head south once more, this time our destination was Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Hayfields of British Columbia

We arrived after our overnight ferry ride at 4:30 in the morning, and after one and a half hours in the van we finally made it through the Canadian Customs line. We then travelled about 30 miles before being delayed for construction for 45 minutes. So, after being in the van for over 3 hours, we had only travelled 30 miles. We thought this was going ot be a looong day. Luckily things improved dramatically after that and we had a beautiful drive thorugh B.C. to Prince George where we spent the night.

Maligne Canyon

The following morning we were off for Jasper National Park in Alberta where we met up with Anna's family.  It is always so amazing to drive into Jasper.  First we hit the hay fields in lowlands and foothills, and then the magestic Rockies themselves. After all the stunning scenary we have seen this trip, Jasper still rates at the top. It is absolutely gorgeous!

We were able to meet up with Frank and Carole (Anna's brother and sister in law) and Anna's parents in time for lunch. From there it was time to get moving! First we hiked up Maligne Canyon. This is an easy, enjoyable hike along the canyon rim.  We all loved the raging river, the big waterfalls and the interesting rock formations.





Colton on top of the world

 


Hiking at Maligne Canyon

After this is was time to hit some elevation. After gaining some of it on the tram, we ended up hiking up to 2,468 meters, or almost 8,000 feet for all you Americans! The top of this hike afforded a spectacular 360 degree view of the townsite and the area, including the Jasper townsite and 4 different mountain ranges. It was awesome!.



Tim checking out the view



awesome cairn

Frank and Carole

We did get lucky and see some wildlife in Jasper as well. The big horned sheep were everywhere up at Miette, and the boys loved hanging out with them. We also saw a large elk in full velvet coming down from Patricia lake.


baby big horned sheep




Elk



Big horned sheep

The following day, Tim ,Colton, Ethan, Frank and Carole went horse back riding. Frank didn't make it very long before his hip was killing him, so he did the right thing and turned back. But the rest continued and went for a two hour ride. We loved watching Tim and Carole limp away from their horses after being in a saddle for a two hours. Colton and Ethan LOVED it!!


Carole and Colton



Ethan and Tim

After a lovely picnic lunch at the lake we then made our way up to Miette Hot springs, where we were staying for the night. Ethan was fast asleep in the van, but Tim, Anna, Colton and Frank did one last hike up the Sulpher Ridge trail. We didn't have time to make it all the way to the top, but it was wonderful to have one more climb up and one last scenic view before packing up the hiking boots.

The following day we started to head back to Spriuce Grove, but not without a stop at Frank and Carole's new (to them) lake house. It is undergoing huge renovations, but we could see how great it is going to be once it's finished. We're already looking forward to a vacation at the lake with lots of sailing and fishing.

We were also able to squeeze in one more dinner with Anna's other brother Mike and his family before completing the final pack up. Tim did a great job on consolidating all of stuff into 8  pieces of baggage and 8 carry on pieces for the flight home. So after waking up at 3:30AM, we were off for our last leg of the trip. We flew to Montreal where we were picked up by Albie- Thank you Albie!! - and final arrived home a little after 9:00 PM.  Wow - what a day, what a trip!

I bring your attention back to the Robert Service poem we chose for this, our final blog posting.
The first half of the poem talks about living a life of wild adventure, with nothing to tie you down. We were lucky enough to be able to experience this, if even for only a few months.
The second half of the poem speaks to the joy of having a place to come home to. We feel so blessed that this too, we are able to experience. What a feeling to drive through the Green Mountains, to see familiar sights, to see the near-full moon in all her glory, to know that family and friends are anxiously awaiting our arrival, to have numerous notes, messages and food offerings on our table and in our fridge when we arrived. Wow - it's good to be home!



T.A.C.E

 .Oh but it is good to be
Foot-loose and heart-free!
Yet how good it is to come
Home at last, home, home!