Sunday, July 27


The Misty Fjords National Monument, northeast of Ketchikan, consists of over two million acres of wilderness, about the size of the state of Connecticut . We had booked an 8:00 AM boat trip to visit it, and once again luck was with us; it was not raining! After about an hour on a high-speed catamaran we came to its first notable sight: New Eddystone Rock, which arose from a volcanic vent through a fracture in the floor of the Behm Canal, the largest of the "misty" fjords. The ever-present mist became rain at times, but we were well prepared with our foul-weather gear to get out on deck and enjoy the beautiful scenery of these glacial carvings. Waterfalls abounded in Rudyerd Bay, and those bumps on the water are the heads of otters at play.


When we returned to our campsite at beautiful Ward Lake, we ran into two local folks, Debbie and Wade, who were hiking there. We asked them where we could buy fresh fish in Ketchikan -- it is surprisingly difficult to find unfrozen fish in Alaska! -- and they told us to go to Good God Fish. They left, we took a walk around the lake, and shortly after we returned to our campsite Debbie and Wade drove up in their car and gave us a beautiful piece of halibut from Good God Fish that had been caught the night before. Now that's hospitality!