Petersburg, Alaska, United States
Today awoke as we dropped anchor at Petersburg. Deb tried stretch class again today to be ready for our hike on Kupreanof Island. After breakfast about to leave for hike and was told rain was coming so Deb decided to stay on board relaxing reading her book.
Kupreanof Island is a rainforest, land is wet most of the year. Trails through boggy areas require special trail building techniques to protect fragile habitats. Many trails are planks raised over the wet ground to protect both the environment and hikers' feet. Elsewhere, especially in the woods, corduroy (small logs laid side-by-side on the ground to provide footing in the mud) may help you across a boggy patch before you hit the drier forest duff. Wooden steps, some made out of split logs, will help you up steep slopes. As you hike, keep your eyes open for nature's surprises, from tiny bog plants to far-from-tiny bears. We were lucky only a couple of light showers not to site any bears but did find their droppings. It was great before walking onto the dock to get skiff back to Legacy we spotted a porcupine in the bushes.
After lunch we disembarked for a walk around Petersburg (The quaint little town of Petersburg is an Alaska town that still makes its living from the sea and is not a port of call for large cruise ships. Leave the crowds and tourism behind, and travel to this thriving fishing village with a strong Norwegian heritage.) We had a nice walk around town visiting a few shops and had a coffee before heading to the library for wifi access and talking with Jayde. Back on board the S.S.Legacy we left Petersburg via a narrow channel with twist and turns, very scenic.
Dinner that night was unlimited amounts of Dungeness Crab legs, the biggest crab legs we have seen and tasty and pork loin. With tummies full sat and watched a documentary on Salmon Forest Film (presented by Dave).
2025-05-22