Dunfey Alaska Journey

We went for 2 beautiful drives, One went the 35 mile length of the island along the shore. Another went inland and up on ridges for about 8 miles. While on the later, we hiked the 3 lakes trail loop – about 4 miles in length. The next day, Kim and Milly paddled across the Sumner Straight to an island right in front of our campsite. It was a tough paddle! The pictures show how scenic Petersburg area really is!

Kayak Paddle pictures on Sumner Straight, includes shot of porpoise that Kim got.

On the morning after our arrival in Ketchikan. we drove inland on gravel roads to Lake Harriet Hunt. We did get lost taking a wrong turn on gravel road intersection. Local hunters straightened us out.  We paddled this “wilderness” mountain lake and found an “adventure” tour location with a rainforest trail.

In the late afternoon, we picked up our daughter Kimberly at the airport. Kim lives in San Fransisco Area. She joins us for 3 weeks on inside passage. Each night, while at Last Chance campground, we gathered wood and lit a campfire. Our neighbors in campground were primarily Alaskans who came out to enjoy the unusually warm and sunny weather. They get 150 inches of rain a year here! Next to us was a family with about 30 people. We met the grandmother. They had 4 tents and many family visitors. It was nice to see so many children enjoying the woods.

The next day, we visited Totem Bight, which was a nicely set up rendering of a Tribal Clan winter “home”. We also took a half day Allen Marine tour trip to the Misty Fjords National Monument.

We boarded a ferry for Wrangell on June 7th. It was a larger ferry – the Columbia. We like the Taku better. It seems that large doesn’t necessarily give you better viewing or seating arrangements. This ferry originated in Bellingham and had campers on board. It was interesting to see how these people tied down their tents on the ferry. We had read about it but seeing is believing!

When we arrived in Wrangell, I was troubled when I realized I need to back up my camper half the ferry deck in a straight line with about a foot to spare on either side. Then, I had to back around a corner. A deck hand told me ‘Don’t worry, I’ll tell you exactly what to do.” I did and we made it! I wish he was around to guide me every time I needed to back up.

Fred’s plan for the morning called for us to paddle Johnson Lake, drive to Two Jacks Lake and the paddle up to Lake Minnewanka and then hike a trail before going back to camp for lunch. We took a scenic drive up to planned paddling areas. We decided to take the “short” paddle from Two Jakes Lake to Minnewanka. The wind was blowing fiercely toward Minnewanka.  As Fred got upstream, he discovered a dam blocking our passage. Now he knows what is like to be a frustrated salmon.

We decided to return back via other side of Two Jacks Lake to keep out of wind. As we got down the lake, we decided to continue to the end of the lake. There we found a wide stream. We went down the stream.  This trip down the steam was fantastic.

We failed to load water or food for this short paddle which turned out to be over 2 and a half hours.

We decided to hike around Johnson Lake when we got back from paddle.

It was wonderful visiting this park before the tourist season. We could stop anywhere without worrying about blocking others. We met people at major stopping points but rarely saw anyone on the roads. We were the only boats on the lakes.

On our first full day here, we spent morning traveling to Many Glaciers area and kayaking Swift Current Lake. In the afternoon, we went across the border to the Canadian side of the park to Waterton Lakes area. We paddled Upper Waterton Lake and took a scenic drive to Cameron Lake.

MANY GLACIER AREA – Hike to Falls and Kayak canyon lake

Waterton Lakes Area – paddle lake and scenic drive

At the end of the day, we decided to limit future Kayak Trips to one per day, if possible.

The kayak has added to our enjoyment immensely. We went to roads end in canyons and slipped into the kayak and went where you couldn’t easily get to by foot. We passed one mountain peak after another in the water. We got close to moose, ducks and saw Big Horn Sheep high in the cliffs over looking the water.

The glacial water was very, very cold. It probably will be no colder in Alaska. It didn’t bother us once we were in the kayak.

On the last full day here in Glacier, we drove to Two Medicine Lakes area. We planned to kayak down Two Medicine Lake (length of 2-3 miles) and hike about a mile to Twin Falls. We had to break thru ice that covered parts of the middle of the lake. That was a fun, When we got to the trail head, we had difficulty finding the trail and realized that there was snow up to our knees the whole way. We turned back. A storm arrived just as we got back.

On Monday 5/26, we spent the morning putting a new electrical connection on the car for the trailer. We are so greatful to the work campers at Glacier KOA who spent their time off helping us through our hitch issues. They were like angels sent from heaven to help us in our distress.

We drove to Calagry after lunch. We are staying at a Walmart for the night before proceeding on to Banff and Jasper.

We left Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and drove across Montana to Great Falls where we stayed at the Walmart – once again filling their coffers with food and misc. purchases. In the morning, we proceeded north to Glacier arriving about 1 PM. KOA Campground hosts generously installed our new hitched that arrived via UPS. They also worked on electrical problem for us.  Great people!

Journey across Montana provided varying scenes as shown in pictures.

We took an afternoon ride up the fameous Going-to-the-Sun-Road. We stopped to take a couple of hikes. One was to the St. Mary’s Falls. The pictures do not do this justice.

On our way back to campground, we stopped for a paddle of St Mary’s Lake. This lake can be quite windy and difficult to paddle. The early evening was perfect with glassy surface to guide across the lake.

We will be spending next two days in other parts of the park.

We arrived in the Cottonwood Campground on 5/16/2009. It was located 5 miles into the park. We toured the campground to select our site for the next 3 days. We found Bison seeming to occupy one site.

Cottonwood Campground

The campground was still in winter season. Only half of campground was open and not all facilities were fully available. The winter rates were half price. Fred got the National Parks Senior Pass for $10 which gets us lifetime free admissions to all National Parks and half price on camping.

We met several locals who love to come to the park for the peaceful setting and to see the Bison, wild horses, prairie dogs, white tail deer, elk and big horn sheep that populate the park. We were glad to be here before the summer season got going. We had the scenic drives to ourselves and met no one while hiking the trails.

The town of Medora is close to the entrance to the park. The main Park Visitor Center is here as well as several museums to visit. During the summer, many shops and arcades keep the tourists busy. A daily musical extravaganza is played out in an outdoor amphitheater on a bluff above the town.

There is a 34 miles scenic loop drive though the park. Our pictures do not capture the unique beauty of this land. We went on this scenic drive the first day here. When we went on subsequent hikes in park, we took the scenic tour road the other direction. It gives a different perspective the other way around.

Scenic Drives and Hikes

We wanted to take a kayak trip on the little Missouri River which flows through the park to see the land from the river. We decided to put in at Medora and paddle/ride the river flow down to the campground about 5 miles a way. Then, Fred was going to hitch a ride back to get the car. Our trip down the river took about an hour. A local by the name of Moby Dick from Dickson, ND met us when we got to the campground and volunteered to drive Fred to get the car.

Kayaking on Little Missouri River

We found the local people we met all over North Dakota to be very warm, friendly and accommodating. We stayed our 4thnight here in the Red Trail Campground, a private place withfull services – including great showers. With the high winds and cold weather here in winter, these people have to be very hardy indeed. While in Medora, the trains rumbling through town were a slight disturbance when you were trying to get to sleep. We recommend staying in the park but also felt that getting a camping spot in season may be a problem since there are no reservations in the park.

We are now off to Glacier National Park in Montanna with a few stops along the way.