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!

Contentment

Contentment

An Ancient gaffer once I knew,
Who puffed a pipe and tossed a tankard;
He claimed a hundred years or two,
And for a dozen more he hankered;
So o'er a pint I asked how he
Had kept his timbers tight together;
He grinned and answered: "It maun be
Because I likes all kinds o' weather.

"Fore every morn when I get up
I lights my clay pipe wi' a cinder,
And as me mug o' tea I sup
I looks from out the cottage winder;
And if it's shade or if it's shine
Or wind or snow befit to freeze me,
I always say: 'Well, now that's fine . . .
It's just the sorto' day to please me.'

"For I have found it wise in life
To take the luck the way it's coming;
A wake, a worry or a wife -
Just carry on and keep a-humming.
And so I lights me pipe o' clay,
And through the morn on blizzard borders,
I chuckle in me guts and say:
'It's just the day the doctor orders.'"

A mighty good philosophy
Thought I, and leads to longer living,
To make the best of things that be,
And take the weather of God's giving;
So though the sky be ashen grey,
And winds be edged and sleet be slanting,
Heap faggots on the fire and say:
"It's just the kind of day I'm wanting."
                       -Robert Service

As you may have guessed from the poem chooses for this week, we have had some less than idea weather as we travel the inside passage of Alaska. We are, however, more than content to deal with it. Since leaving our lovely spot in Homer we have seen a lot more of this wide and varied state.  We will try to recap just the highlights.

Portage Glacier

We started out with a night in Portage where we stayed in a cute little cabin in a campground. We explored the local glacier- Byron Glacier with a hike. Yes, it was raining a bit and so we also spent some time at the beautiful visitors center. Then it was time to travel to Whittier and get on our first of many ferry rides. To get to Whittier you have to travel through a 5 mile one way tunnel. It was originally built during WWII  and helped the USA to have a 'secret port' where they were able to bring in equipment and troops. The town of Whittier has been described to us as "the armpit of Alaska" and after seeing it, we'd have to agree. It has an absolutely stunning surrounding, but is dirty little town of 250 people.

Almost all of them live in a horrible old concrete building. We saw about 5 single family homes, that was it for the entire town. They did have a cute boardwalk and a beautiful harbor, but it is hard to imagine what is like there in the winter when it is just the locals. In sharp contrast, our first stop on the ferrry was Yukatuk. This is a small subsistance villiage of about 600 people. The homes and buildings were all well cared for, the locals were out and about the town and it had an amazingly well stocked store. We had just enough time to do a bit of beachcombing before having to get back on the ferry and head to Juneau. So 36 hours after first getting on the Kennecot in Whittier, we finally arrived in Juneau. It was raining, but that didn't stop us from seeing the town.

Schaals in Juneau!



Reds Running

Fish Carcass left over by bear

Glacier Gardens

Upside down trees in Glacier Garden.

Juneau has a vibrant downtown area which caters to the thousands of cruise ship visitors it gets most days in the summer. We all enjoyed walking the streets on a little urban hike before hitting the trails. We went up to Mendenhall Glacier, where we had a tonne of fun watching a black bear devour a Salmon, only about 15 feet away from the crowds. It was only interested in the fish.  

Black Bear feeding on a Salmon

The rivers up near the glacier were full of Sockeye, making the final leg of their journey. Tim loves the "spawn till you die" slogan that the Salmon live (and die) by. We did get up on a beautful hike, the East Loop trail, which brought us through a stunning rain forest with spectacular views of the glacier.
After this hike, Anna had to take a stop at Glacier Gardens, a beautfiul garden with an hour long tour. It is amazing how well things grow, it is a short season, but a successful one with plenty of daylight of moisture.

Colton waiting for a chum to catch

While Anna did this the boys went fishing for Chum, or Dog Salmon, Now these salmon were on the last run of their lives, and in fact - many of them were already dead in the river. It really is quite disgusting, but you can't help but be impressed by this sight. The boys loved "native fishing" which means they were wading in the river, and were catching these fish with their hands. I guess this tells you how close to death these fish really were. Of course, these are NOT fish you would consider eating- it was definatley a catch and release activity.

Ethan with a native catch

The following day we took "the road" up to Echo Cove. This is where the road in Juneau actually ends. Although Juneau is on the mainland, there is no road access. In Echo cove the Pinks, or Humpies were putting on a great show. They were jumping everywhere. We had a blast catching and releasing these guys as well, although we did require fly rods for this. They put up a great fight!
We had excellent accomodations at the Juneau Hostel. They had a family room and for $30.00 a night, our family had our own room with a private bathroom and shared kitchen and living room. It was our first hostel experience of the trip - so far so good.

Humpy Jumping.

Colton reeeling in a pink

Pinks flying around everywhere!

Anna reeling one in

Tim's got one on!

The next day we were up early and off to Sitka. We were lucky enough to take the fast ferry - the Fairweather, which travelled at 33knots. This is amazingly fast, especially when going thorugh some narrow channels. In fact, it was almost too fast to enjoy all the whales we kept seeing.

Sitka was a fantastic little town. It has a population of about 7000 people. We enjoyed walking around this small town, which also caters to cruise ships. We had an epic kayaking day in Sitka. It was amazing,  but it wasn't raining. It actually felt like summer weather for a few hours. We went kayaking in Sitka sound , which opens up into the gulf of Alaska. We had never paddled in the open water before and the swells freaked us out a bit, especially as we were in double kayaks with the kids, who weren't able to help us paddle as much as would have liked. It was a bit daunting to suddenly loose the horizen as you were paddling because of the swells. This coupled with some wind, chop and other large boat wake made for an intersting first hour.
Luckily our guide was a great guy from VERMONT! That's right - Mitch Wentz - a Thetford boy, was our guide in Sitka. He kept us from crashing on the rocks and eventually brought us into some more protected waters where we could relax and enjoy the beauty of all the small islands in Sitka. Our paddle finished off with us docking on a small island, building a fire, having lunch and then getting picked up for a 20 minute boat ride back. Turns out we paddled over 8 miles in three hours. We were all sore in the morning, but it was a welcome discomfort!

Sitka National Cemetary

We also snuck in a quick hike in Sitka and a walk around the Sitka National Cemetary.  It was like a little Arlington, beautiful and peaceful. We stayed in the Sitka Hostel and loved it. Once again we had a private family room which suited us fine. Colton actually said "I like hostels better than hotels". We met some really intersting travellers and had a good time hanging out on the porch with them, playing guitar and sharing stories.  Ethan made friends playing his version of 'smoke on the water' over and over again on the guitar.

Coming in to Sitka

We left early in the morning (3:30AM) and made our ferry going to Petersburg. We'll tell you all about that on our next post.  For now we are content to enjoy every m inute of the remainder of our trip. If you wait for the weather to be sunny, you'll miss your opportunity for fun. Lucky for us, each day this past week has been 'just the kind of day we're wanting' and has been more than pleasing.



Homer Harbor



Dauntless Quest

Why seek to scale Mount Everest,
             Queen of the air?
Why strive to crown that cruel crest
             And deathward dare?
Said Mallory of dauntless quest:
             "Becaue it's there."

Why yearn with passion and with pain
             To storm the sky?
Why suffer, - sullen goals to gain,
             And fear defy?
"'Tis not for glory or for gain
             We darkly die."

Why join the reckless, roving crew
             Of trail and tent?
Why grimly take the roads of rue,
             To doom hell-bent?
Columbus, Cook and Cabot knew,
             And yet they went."

Why bid the wooly world goodbye
             To follow far,
Adventures under evil sky
             And sullen star?
Let men like Mallory reply:
             "Because they are."

                      - Robert Service

Homer,  “a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem,” and the “cosmic hamlet by the sea.”  We are departing this special place as we begin our travels home. This last week in Homer has been bitter sweet as we do things for the last time, and prepare to see more of this amazing state.

We asked the boys what they would like to the last week in Homer. We told them they could each do one thing that they think is special to Homer.  For Colton this was easy;  he wanted to go Halibut fishing one more time. So he and Tim set out aboard the BORN FREE for a third and final Halibut fish. This was the best trip yet.  They had similar luck as their previous trips, catching many fish before deciding to keep any.  They were fishing in 240 feet of water using a 3lb. lead weight to hold their bait on the bottom, so each time they hauled up a fish or to check their bait, they got a pretty good work-out.  Colton thinks this ought to count as his pre-season upper body regime for football. (He’s already thinking football!).  In the end, they ended up with four nice 15# to 20# halibut that allowed us to ship another 25# of halibut fillets home and one last halibut dinner cooked on the soapstone.

Colton realing one in






Good Catch!

 

Now, since “talent needs a break every now and then” (a phase we heard and thought was a fitting description for Ethan), Ethan decided that instead of halibut fishing he really wanted to go tide-pooling one more time.  Anna thought this was splendid and the two of them had an amazing beach walk at low tide.  They also were able to squeeze in one more treat at their favorite beach bakery, Two Sisters.



Beached Jellyfish





E on the beach

 

E spotting a burrow anemone

 We also had a chance to really experience Alaskan "Combat Fishing". The reds (sockeye) were running on the Kenai river. We had to check it out. We couldn' tbeleive how everyone was really fishing elbow to elbow. Hooks flying everywhere. We had to wait an hour to just even get a spot. The daily limit is three, so once someone caught their limit they would usually leave and open up a spot. I still can't believe we let the boys fish in this environment, with fly rods. They did exceptionally well. No one got a hook or gave a hook which was a miracel in itself.

Combat fishing for Reds on the Kenai, waiting for a spot.

Anna had all the luck. She played 4 fish and finally landed one. With red fishing, you are trying to legally snag them in their mouths. It is easy to foul hook them as there as so many, but to be legal, the hook has to land in their mouth. They are no longer feeding as they come up river to spawn, so it is not at all like the fishing we ar eused to. The best part is, if you are lucky enough to get one, they put up a great fight. One oldtimer on the river said "it's a good things reds are small - if they were the size of kings we'd never land one". Our observations were that for every 5 fish played, one is actually landed. Colton had a chance to play one all the way up to the net, but he got off at the last minute. Tim and Ethan didn't get a red, but Tim did pick up a Dolly!



Anna's Sockeye



Anna also did something crazy; she went bear viewing.  Now for those of you know her  loathing for flights, especially in small aircraft, you may wonder what she was thinking. But she really wanted the experience of seeing the bears.  So, after being lucky enough to win a silent auction bid for flight & viewing, she went down to the hanger and boarded a Cessna 206- a 6 passenger bush plane.

Grizzlies feasting on a whale carcass- Mount Augustine in the background



Curious Bear


 I was lucky enough to ride shotgun (in the co-pilot seat) with awesome pilot and guide, Jack. I learned something about myself.  I actually LOVE flying in a small aircraft. It was an amazing experience. I skipped lunch and I had my ziplock bag ready in anticipation of getting airsickness, but no – not even a rumble!  I LOVED IT! I especially loved the sharp bank turns when the views really opened up.  We flew over to Katmai National Park and landed on a beach ( yes- a beach) where a small whale had recently washed up on shore. A bunch of grizzlies were feasting on this delicacy. Much to my amazement, the guides did not have guns, only bear flares, and they ended up walking us up about 50 yards from all the activity.  

The planes and the beach we landed and took off from



It was unreal how the bears kind of looked at us and were curious, but mostly kept to themselves.  I say ‘mostly’ as at one point one bear did venture up to the grass where we were watching and came running towards the group! But our excellent guide, Jack, shooed him away and that was that.  My pulse rate did go up and my mouth dried up as the ‘flight’ reflex of ‘fight or flight’ was gearing up, but luckily I didn’t have to actually have to engage it.  Whew!!!  Not sure I will ever do something like that again, but I am so glad I did it”.

Big Bear!

Mount Augustine Smoking!



Bears and the whale carcass

“

“As we were walking back to the plane, I found the most amazing beach treasure; a whale vertebrae! It was very smelly, but so cool, I just had to have it. Luckily the pilots allowed it on the plane.  It even has bear teeth marks in it where bears had obviously been chewing on it. It will be on display in my garden this fall!  Truly, an Alaskan souvenir!”

Since it was an absolutely gorgeous day, the pilots decided to give us a glacier flight seeing ride on the way back.  We flew over Douglas Peak and Glacier which was spectacular, especially “riding shotgun” on a small plane! So much untouched wilderness.  I am not sure if anyone actually lives on this incredibly expansive National Park.  It was massive and wild- a truly remarkable and cherished sight. It is hard to say what was better;  the bear viewing or the flight seeing. I felt as though I had spent the day inside a National Geographic center fold. It was an  unforgettable day! 

Flying over Douglas Glacier at Katmai National Park- Amazing



We spent most of the last few days packing up and shipping things home (like the whale vertebrae) and selling our bikes, which we did easily via Craig’s list. By Sunday morning we were ready for the last leg of our trip.  It was hard to say farewell to Tim and Ruby, as they were the best hosts anyone could ever ask for.  If you are ever lucky enough to spend some time in Homer, be sure to check out the Coho House or the Rock Garden Inn, both run and owned by Tim and Ruby Haigh, for accommodations that can’t be beat. Thank-you Tim and Ruby for everything; the nets and swings for the boys, the soapstone, sharing your gardens with us and of course your friendship.  We hope to see you in Vermont next fall!

Now, on to the next leg of our trip. We are heading over to Portage  and Byron Glaciers on our way to Whittier where we will board the Kennecot ( Alaska Marine Highway Ferry) and make our way over to Juneau as we start to discover the Inside Passage and make our way back to Vermont.