New Cabin, Visitors and Hiking!

Today we all drove to Hatchery Creek Trail, about 50 miles east and north.  This is a fun boardwalk trail through the rain forest, to a popular fishing spot.  We had a little trouble finding it, but then had fun walking on the yellow cedar planks, which make up the entire hike.  As we often find, we were the only ones on the trail.  As usual, the weather was cloudy and threatening rain, but this didn't dampen our hike.  

The trail ends at a waterfall and pond.  We scared off a single bald eagle as we arrived, and got to watch it fly regally away.  The various mushrooms, lichens, and mosses that decorate the trees was beautiful.  We also saw a new tree for us, one we had been looking for, to go with the alders, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Alaska Cypress ( aka Alaska Cedar, Yellow Cedar, etc.), and birch tree.  This new one is a pine, the one and only natural pine to the island:  Lodgepole, same as the pine which covers Yellowstone National Park. 


After our walk, we decided we would continue north to the village of Coffman Cove, since we were so close.  Coffman Cover is a nice village, in the north of Prince of Wales Island.  It also sits on a bay, as do all towns and villages on POW.  Each settlement has it's own beauty, though.  


After a quick tour, it was now 6:00 PM, and getting dark.  Then the rain started, and it continued for the entire hour of the trip home.  We saw several deer, and even saw a black bear scrambling up the bank in the headlights.  

Unpacking the two crates of possessions shipped from San Diego and stored for two months!

Sorry about the long period between postings.  We very successfully moved into our log cabin a little over two weeks ago now.  The Internet, as usual, was a challenge, and not settled for several days.  Then we had some issues with Lakota, who we just found out today has a torn ACL.  Great.  


Only five days after we moved in, Kelli and Jared and Henry arrived!  They flew in on Thursday, a day which was mostly sunny, giving them great views of the islands as they flew the half hour flight from Ketchikan to Klawock.  I could not believe it as they stepped off the plane!  

We still had an hour of daylight, and they weren't totally exhausted, so drove the beautiful drive to Craig, and toured Craig a bit.  Now it was time to return to Klawock to pick up Kathy at work.  Henry was as happy to see her as he was me, almost as happy as we were to see him.  :-)  

The next day was mostly sunny too, a real island treat.  It was Friday, which meant Kathy needed the car to visit the Hydaburg Clinic.  She also needed to go to Thorne Bay, so picked us up around one, and we headed east.  This is a very pretty trip, with views of the mountains and glimpses of the Big Salt Lake.  Kelli and Jared were amazed at the verdant surrounding forests.  

On Saturday, Jared and I took Henry and Quinlan to venture up Sunnahae Peak.  I had tried this twice with both dogs, and hadn't made it so far up.  The bottom portion has been greatly renovated, but then stops, and degenerates into a very old, narrow, steeper, root-crossed trail.  Jared is in excellent shape, hiking Cowles Mountain three and four days a week, once or twice with Henry and backpack.  The roughest part of the trail had been slightly improved, so we were able to go much farther up than I'd gone, or expected to go.  We made it to a clearing, which was good for the view of the islands, but not so good because it really started to rain.  

 Sunnahae Peak is 2,520 feet tall, sits right above the city of Craig, and offers a unique view of Craig and the surrounding ocean inlet and islands.  We headed back down the trail, with plans to tackle it again another day, and go even farther.

We are all having a great time.  It's so nice that they are here for a long time, too, instead of the what could have been just four or five days.