Friday 8/10
Early this morning was, as Sergeant Schultz would say, “V..E..R..Y interesting”. For those of you who don’t know Sergeant Schultz, rent some episodes of “Hogan’s Heroes”.
Nancy is awake at 5:30 AM, girding for a chilly trip to Rocky III, when a pickup truck crunches to the end of the road where we are camped. The male driver is alone. We have no idea what has brought him to this desolate spot at this unusual hour, though if he knows the area, it would not be unreasonable to seek solitude here. What is disconcerting is his decision to stay after finding our tent and Jeep at the end of the road. We are (we think) invisibly staring at him from the tent as he sits, motor idling and headlights on, for several minutes. Then he turns the headlights off and sits with just his parking lights on. Actually parking “light” since only one is working. Meanwhile, we are whispering our concern about his intent—“He KNOWS we’re here, why isn’t he leaving?” Minutes pass, he lights a cigarette, we’re nervous, my hand is on the bear gun, his headlights go back on…this time the brights…more minutes, then slowly he crunches backward, his lights flickering in the trees and gradually dimming. The engine noise fades to a distant hum, then stops for several more minutes. “Is he walking back here?” He restarts the engine, we hear him on the road. He is gone. Whew.
Nancy nervously visits Rocky, and we fall back asleep for a half hour or so when we hear BOOOM!, the unmistakable sound of gunfire, somewhere down the beach. Then BOOOM! again! I cautiously climb from the tent and walk to the trail where I can see down the beach…nothing…no one. Whew.
V..E..R..Y interesting morning.
Today is our last day on Kodiak. We will leave late tonight on the ferry. Today, as predicted by Ichabod, the weather has turned gray and rainy. Our goal for the day is to explore the last of Kodiak’s roads, the Pasagshak. This road runs north to south and terminates at a place that’s called “The Kodiak Launch Complex”. We’re thinking a boat launch.
Along the way, the road is under construction, and we’re stopped by a teenage flag-lady. Passing time, we ask what we can expect at the end of the road, she says she doesn’t know what’s at the very end of the road. We determine that she’s a native and find it remarkable that she’s never been to the end of this road. There are only 100 miles of road on Kodiak—how could you NOT explore them all. Even more remarkable, however, is what she tells us we’ll see along the way: buffalo, and the ROCKET launch complex. The buffalo are part of a ranch herd that roams freely in the area—we do not see them. The Rocket Launch Complex is bisected by the road and big as life. A sign at the entrance calls it “the other cape—Narrow Cape Alaska”. My guess is that it’s another Ted Stephen’s boondoggle.
On our way to the “Cape” we see a dirt trail leading to Lupine and Bell Lakes. I’m ready for some more fishing, so we turn in. The trail is very narrow and more like a tunnel through the scrub trees than a road. Elsewhere on our trip we’ve seen occasional and VERY elusive small birds. Here the birds are everywhere…darting back and forth, foraging in the road ahead, and skipping in front of us as we bounce forward. A mile or so along the road we pull over to pass a pickup truck. It stops next to us and the driver says, “You should keep going…very pretty drive…ends at a dramatic bluff.”
We push on. We see no buffalo, but we do come upon a herd of what appear to be wild horses. We reach the end of the road. In front of us the peak of a low mountain vanishes in the cold mist of the heavy clouds that hang above us. To our left is a 180° view of ocean with a sprinkling of rocky islands. We are indeed on a high bluff with a tiny point to which we carefully tiptoe. Now there are steep cliffs on three sides, and we are looking down several hundred feet at waves crashing against the rocks, small islands filled with birds, and a broad expanse of kelp beds undulating in the swells. Vertigo is our companion. I see movement that turns out to be a harbor seal—it seems to be looking up at us inquisitively, though we don’t know if it can really see us. Nancy sees birds. We look more closely. They are Horned Puffins. There are also Glaucous Gulls, Kittiwakes, and Pelagic Cormorants.
On the way back we stop at one of the lakes. I fish while Nancy birds. The lake is overflowing, and it’s impossible for me to get close enough to open water to cast my lure. A wild mare and her foal watch my progress suspiciously. At the waters edge I find wild purple irises, thousands of plants with some in bloom. I pick several and some other wild flowers and make a bouquet for Nancy. When she returns, I have these arranged nicely in a Dr. Pepper can. She has photographed many birds for us to investigate later, but has identified a new bird, the Yellow Warbler. She also points out a Varied Thrush, a bird she’s seen once before at our daughter's but which I have never seen.
Back on the main road, we drive through the Rocket Launch site to the end of the road at Fossil Beach. We see no fossils, but it’s a cool beach with two nearby lakes and some beaver lodges. As we approach the beach there is a beautiful hillside dotted with spruce trees, which we dub “Christmas Tree Hill”.
At 5 we begin the 40-mile trip back to Kodiak. We need to be there by 8 PM to queue up for the ferry. Along the way we cross the Salonie River. During the entire Alaska Adventure, I have been breaking into song whenever a pseudo lyric occurs to me. Those of you, who know me, know also that my singing is the vocal equivalent of a tsunami, but that has never stopped me. Now I sing, “Salonie, Salonie, my dear Salonie…I’d give the world to be, casting out my P-I-X-I-E…” (PIXIE is the name of Alaska’s favorite salmon lure).
On the way back we stop for dinner at the “Rendezvous”. Jim, the contractor, has told us this place is in the middle of nowhere but is a great spot. The joint is packed with local Kodiakans. The owner sits at our table to take our order. He wonders how we found this spot and we say “Jim the Contractor” told us about it. He says, “Jim Peterson?”, and we say we don’t know his last name, but we met him on the ferry. Presto-Chango and Jim-the-contractor-Peterson is standing next to our table with his 86-year old father from Colorado. They join us for drinks, and we have an opportunity to thank Jim for all of his valuable suggestions on getting the most out of our trip to Kodiak. Jim is gracious. His father is a hoot. Spry as a spring chicken(which tastes a little like rattlesnake), very funny, and full of cute jokes and stories. He reminds both of us of Nancy’s dad.
We’re at the ferry in time to be first in line. This is the Kennicot, a different, larger ship than the one on which we arrived. Most of the ferries we’ve been on in the past are loaded from one end or the other, and the cars are driven aboard. On both of these boats the vehicles are loaded by elevator. 4-6 cars or a couple of trucks drive onto an elevator that’s perpendicular to the length of the boat. The elevator lowers them into the hold and then rotates 90° for the vehicles to drive off. It takes a L—O—N—G time to load and unload, and it feels a little bit like Noah’s Ark…a pair of Pontiacs, a pair of Suburbans…
As soon as we’re aboard, we head for our cabin. Yes, we have a CABIN fit for a king with indoor plumbing, and commodious bunk beds. Shortly we are cleansed, snugly abed, and sleeping to the throbbing hum of the engines.
