Category: Travel

Into the Unknown: Where the Fish Boats Outnumber Us 100 to 1

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If you want to feel like a celebrity, here’s a tip: bring a cabin cruiser to a lake where everybody else fishes out of a 16-foot aluminum boat. Our launch from the Warroad City Boat Launch went smoothly, just a little dragging of the trailer over the launch to keep us humble. But the inspector at the ramp told us flat out he’d never seen a boat quite like ours come through there. We’d pictured sharing Lake of the Woods with other pleasure boats like Bearcruzer. Instead, we’ve gotten a steady stream of stares, questions, and what we’re choosing to interpret as friendly curiosity from the campground regulars. We were even presented with some fresh fish on Thursday night….since we hadn’t had the chance to catch our own yet, and he didn’t want us to miss a Friday fish fry.!!! We shared it with my Dad…as it was always his favorite!!! Our plan now is simple: explore respectfully and toss a line in here and there so the local fishermen know we come in peace.

Our first real test came fast. The channel leaving Warroad was skinny; we are still getting to know Bearcruzer, so when shallow water alarms sound, it’s all hands on deck to make certain we are not about to sink or run aground. We trimmed the engine and proceeded slowly till we were in deeper water. Crisis averted. We’d read about Garden Island on the US side of the border and pointed Bearcruzer thirty miles north to check it out. The wind was out of the west and built the lake into a steady three-foot chop the whole way up, enough to keep us both gripping the helm as the waves splashed over the bow, and we kept watch on Sierra, decked out in her new life jacket, bracing against the rocking. We were hoping for the calm serenity of a Garden Island. Instead, we found the waves wrapping clean around the island, turning the main anchorage into something closer to a washing machine than a place to spend the night. No, thank you!

So we pulled out the charts, made the call, and turned northwest toward Oak Island and a spot called Bobbies Bay, hoping the geography would cut us a break from the wind and waves and allow us a calm anchorage to hide in till Mother Nature was done rearranging the upstairs furniture. We tucked in just northwest of Hennum’s Oak Island Lodge and found exactly what we needed: flat water, a handful of cabins along the shore, and a couple of fishing lodges keeping watch over the bay. We stayed two nights. Aleshia served us a wonderful Breakfast Saturday morning at the lodge restaurant, and invited us to return later that evening for live music. As we arrived that evening, the inflatable floor of our dinghy began hissing at us and getting very squishy. She should still get us back to the boat, we’ll deal with it tomorrow. We went on to enjoy some classic country music and easy conversation with the local fishermen before limping back to Bearcruzer. Mike found that the valve cover on the underside of the dinghy floor had not been closed properly. An easy fix…thank goodness.

Between enjoying a meal and entertainment at Hennum’s, we took Sierra exploring the forest roads connecting the lodges on each side of the island, mud and all, where we found evidence of both bear and hearty pioneers. Which brings us to an important seasonal discovery: we have arrived at peak mosquito and tick season. Lucky us. Every hike now ends the same way, full-body brushdowns for Sierra and a thorough tick check for both of us, conducted with the seriousness of airport security. Worth it. Mostly.

Wildlife Scorecard so far: 1 turtle, 2beaver (tail-slap victorious), 2 Loons (not us), numerous White Pelicans, countless mosquitoes & ticks (I think we are losing this fight)

Sometimes the weather likes to test us!

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Our first day on the road, we were met with rain and winds from just east of Denver all the way to Ogallala, NE, where we stopped at Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area for the night.   We opted for the West side Campground as it was less crowded, and we had our choice of beautiful Lakeside Pull-Through Camp spots where Mike proceeded to check and tighten any loose bolts on the trailer. After giving Sierra a much-deserved walk, we settled in for a beautiful sunset followed by an amazing lightning storm.

To clarify our camping situation.  We are staying on the boat on the trailer while traveling.  It is set up to provide us a warm, dry place to sleep, eat, and get out of the weather.  Sierra even has her own little cubby.   While on the trailer, we use a step ladder to get on and off, and Sierra now waits for us to lift her on and off after she learned the hard way about boat-to-ground distances…she is OK.

Our 2nd day driving we were still challenged with both wind and a little rain but made it just outside of Nunda SD where we experienced the very best of what Harvest Hosts is all about thanks to our hosts George and Linda Fenwick — the private tour of the Waterfowl Production Areas, dinner at the Nunda Bar & Grill (rated 4.8 stars, by the way — clearly a gem), souvenir t-shirts, and a storm shelter offer during a tornado watch. That’s hospitality you don’t forget.  Linda’s elective collection of yard art along her walking paths made exploring their property fun.  It was a pleasure spending time together.

On our 3rd day, we pulled a 12-hour drive day with rain again and several detours.  We arrived in Baudette, MN. While exploring our choices for boat launches and a place to leave the truck and trailer, Sierra met a western painted turtle and saw her first beaver at Zipple Bay State Park She was enthralled and wanted to swim after it but it slapped its tail and dove under the water.  Nothing quite like a tail slap to establish the pecking order!

We pulled into Warroad City Campground around 8:00pm and found one of their larger camping spots with electricity available. With the wind still out of the NW at 18 – 20mph with rain expected, we settled in for a couple of days.   We talked to the ranger the next morning and were told it would be no problem leaving the truck and trailer.  The Campground itself is extensive with many of the long-term campers looking like they have been handed down through generations.   After 2 nights at the campground we decided we could wait no longer, so with the wind and waves finally letting up a little we readied Bearcruzer for her aventure onto Lake of the Woods. We felt secure knowing this boat was built to handle wind and waves.   With over 14,500 islands straddling the US/Canada border there is no shortage of places to explore….so where to now?    Come along and find out!

The Adventure Begins – Again…

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Well, we thought we were done with boats — but our hearts said otherwise. As much as we love being armchair sailors watching other people’s adventures on YouTube, we wanted to be out on the water ourselves again. Just one more boat adventure, while we still have the drive and mental capacity (sort of — after all, we did buy a boat!) to make our adventure dreams come true before the challenges of aging rob us of our abilities.

After lots of research and recommendations from friends and family, we shopped around and made a trip to the Pacific Northwest to find our boat. The adventure began almost immediately: the weather during our search was complicated by flooding in and around Seattle, WA, due to an atmospheric river that had us taking numerous detours to avoid flooded roads. We stopped off at the Ranger Tug factory and were given an impromptu tour. Thanks Guys! We walked quite a few docks and were shown a number of both Cutwater and Ranger Tug boats, and finally found our boat in Tacoma, WA. A 2023 25ft Ranger Tug with only 23 hours on her Yamaha 250, — and since she didn’t have a name yet, we’re calling her … what else, BEARCRUZER. We even designed a logo for her and my amazing brother sent us the Vinyl Decal to complete her outfit! Thanks Jamie!!!!

Making our dream a reality didn’t come without a few snags. When we arrived to take ownership of the boat we found that there had been a problem with electricity on the slip she was plugged into and we had to replace the house batteries, lucky for me, I know a great electrician!!! We were also in a pickle because she didn’t come with a trailer, so we had to find someone who could build us one so we could take her home to Colorado. That, in itself, was an endeavor — but the folks at King Salmon Marine came through for us. We hauled her home over mountain passes, through snowstorms & detours, but made it safely, and she fits perfectly under our carport.

The last few months we’ve spent learning her systems and adding a few necessities for longer trips. We bought a Sport Boats Dolphin inflatable dinghy and a small Hangkai motor to get to shore when we are anchored out. We took her over to Navajo Reservoir and practiced loading and unloading her onto her trailer… a new experience for us. We got a lesson in how to keep our boat and engine free of freshwater Quagga/Zebra mussles, which cause major problems throughout much of the US. Continued watching numerous videos to decide what are 1st big trip might be, and decided……Lake of the Woods on the Border between Minnesota and Ontario, Canada. With over 14,000 islands and designation as the Walleye capital of the world, we are headed your way. Will will spend a few weeks exploring & fishing, and then head over to Wisconsin to visit the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. Stay tuned!

Skagway to Hyder

Skagway to Hyder

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08/26 – 08/29/2019 We purchased passage on the ferry from Haines to Skagway in order to avoid having to backtrack. You know we couldn’t go on a trip without getting on the water at least once. While waiting in line for the ferry to begin loading the vehicles, I took Sierra for a last walk and ended up having to run to catch up with the Camper as it was pulling onto the ferry. We locked Sierra in the Camper and made our way up on deck. The ferry has cabins, showers, a café, numerous seating areas inside and out. There was a large solarium where many people gathered on lounge chairs and some folks even pitch tents on the deck using duct tape to secure them. The ride took just under an hour but it was nice to be back on the water even for a short ride. As we arrived in Skagway we saw three cruise ships docked and pulling off the ferry we found ourselves in a Disneyland like atmosphere with crowds of people wandering the streets and very little parking. We were finally able to find a parking spot and spent a few minutes among the crowds, gift shops and took a few pics, but feeling a bit overwhelmed we carried on north toward Whitehorse. and retraced our route back through part of the Yukon. We stopped a night at Squanga Lake Govt. Camp that had free firewood for our evening campfire. The next morning we continued on down to the Cassier Hwy 37. We found the Cassier to be in better condition than most of the Alaskan Hwy. As we traveled south we encountered a few black bears and moose enjoying the clover along the road. On the whole, We have seen more wildlife in Canada than in AK. We spent another night at Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park where we enjoyed a beautiful evening walk along the lake. The mushrooms were plentiful and the sunset over the water very pretty. Our Hyder destination is the most southern town in AK accessible by road. It is also known for Bear Viewing and we were still pumped about seeing bears from our time in Haines. As we drove Road 37A into Stewart, we passed quite a few large transport trucks carrying logs. The bay on the sister towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK was full of floating logs waiting for transport. We camped down the road from the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing area at Camp Runamuck where we caught up on laundry. We then went down and paid the fee to walk the boardwalk along fish creek where the chum and pink salmon were running so heavy you could almost walk across their backs. We enjoyed a wonderful halibut dinner at the Bus. And spent a couple of days visiting the viewing station but never saw a bear until we went to leave and saw one along the creek next to the parking lot and a mother and cub crossing the road down the way from the viewing station. Guess we really didn’t need to pay the fee but it goes to a good cause educating the public about the salmon, bears, and wolves of the area. We hit the bakery in Stewart on our way out of town the next morning and pressed on South.

Bucket List Checked

Bucket List Checked

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08/22 – 08-25/19 Time to head south and start making our way back down to the lower 48. After our adventure in the Interior of AK we spent the night in Fairbanks and another at Deadman Lake again. We decided to make our way down to Haines, AK and then hop the Ferry to Skagway. We stopped at the Welcome to AK sign to take a photo since it was early in the morning and not so crowded and busy as when we arrived. Better late than never. The scenery on the Haines Highway through the Yukon, BC, and back into AK was spectacular and different that anything we had seen previously. We pulled into Haines and stopped at the grocery store before heading to camp. Weather was a little cloudy and damp but we make our way out to Chilkat State Park where there was plenty of open camping spaces so we settled in and took Sierra out for a walk. I of course took the camera along just in case. Sierra and I walked down to the inlet and as we were walking back another camper told us there was a mother and baby moose making there way through the campground. He said he saw Mike trying to take pictures with his Phone. It was almost dark but I was able to get a couple of shots before my battery died. When I got back to camp, Mike said she and the calf had walked right through our campsite. Mike and I drove into town to check out the local farmers Market and saw the set of Dalton City that was constructed for the Disney movie White Fang. We enjoyed poking around the town of Haines, walking the Docks and driving around Fort William H Seward’s historic buildings. We heard there was another campground on the opposite side of the town beyond the Ferry Terminal where there was a fishing weir and where bears often congregated. After filling up with fuel we made our way out to Chilkoot Campground. We passed the weir on the way there and saw a number of people with long lenses….looks like we were in the right place to see the bears. We found a beautiful campsite right next to the lake and walked back down the road to the fish weir. The fish and game dept. monitors the fish that are passing through the weir and also helps to keep people and bears getting to close together. We were told that there had been a bear at the weir earlier but there were none on our first walk down. Walking back into camp we noticed a strong smell of gas. We looked under the camper a saw that the fuel tank was leaking. We drove the camper back into Haines to find a parts store and spent the next few hours working in their parking lot to seal the leak with some epoxy designed for just such an event. The patch seemed to hold and so we headed back to our camping spot. We met Holly and Terry who were also hoping to get some good photos and had been traveling specifically to destinations where they could view bears. We walked back to camp and were just finishing a game of cribbage when she stopped by our campsite to let us know that there was a couple of bears at the weir. I grabbed the camera and we made our way down and were able to get a few pics of the bears fishing and chowing down on Salmon. What a thrill! Getting a picture of a Grizzly bear in the wild was on my bucket list! Check!!! Over the next few days we enjoyed numerous walks to look for, and photograph the bears, wildlife and scenery. At one point all the fisherman on the river were bunched together on a island. We assumed correctly that there was a large bear close by and were able to get another bunch of great bear photos. We stopped off at the Haines Brewery and toasted our wonderful luck with a pint of Spruce Tip Ale. We also enjoyed one of the tastiest and beautifully presented meals of this entire trip at the Pilot Light Restaurant. I don’t usually take pictures of my food but couldn’t resist snapping a quick photo of my halibut tacos. While conversing with the waitress we learned that her family owns a restaurant near Hearst Castle, she gave us the name and we will definitely stop by when we travel down the California coast with Mom and Dad next month. We fell in love with the town of Haines and would love to return here someday for another visit.

Into the Wild

Into the Wild

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08/14 – 08/21/19 Our little Caravan made our way up to Fairbanks where we spent the night at Pioneer Park. We enjoyed exploring many of the historical buildings and museums and of course the proverbial gift shops. In the morning we said a heartfelt goodbye to Jim, Jackie and Bob who continued heading south through Canada back to the lower 48 while we spent the next week with our friends the Bouldings. We met up with Charlie, Robin, and Tory Boulding in Fairbanks after not seeing them since they had sailed in and visited us while we were Caretaking GSJ Island in the USVI. We had first met them in 2009 on the Island of Barbuda and again when we sailed together from St. Marten to the BVI in Nov of 2010. (Click on Highlighted Script for previous blog entries and Information) We told them that we would one day visit them in AK and we were determined to keep that promise. On Friday morning, we drove 4.5 hours from Fairbanks to Manley Hot Springs ahead of Charlie, Robin, and Tory while they finished up with Appointments. We met them at a small cabin they keep in Manley before loading up a couple of daypacks and the dog and headed down to the slough to help load up their boat with numerous groceries, supplies and a large Satellite Dish for one of their neighbors. The 5 of us, Sierra and their house dog Nook, boarded their river boat for the 20 mile trip to their homestead on the Tanana River. With Charlie at the helm, dodging sandbars, and floating debris, we relaxed as he navigated us up the rising Tanana River while the Robin and Tory pointed out places of interest and regaled us with stories of life along the river. After dropping off the Satellite Dish we made our way to their little slice of Paradise in the heart of the Alaska Interior. We tied off the boat to a tree next to their fishwheel and helped offload the supplies. They settled us into their one room guest cabin and proceeded to show us around their property consisting of around 35 acres, 2 Cabins, Shop, Smokehouse, Garden & Cache. Sierra was in dog heaven. She feasted on a number of pieces of dried fish that had been buried by one of their 6 sled dogs around the property and would curl up for a nap in the straw just like they did. The homestead is completely off the grid, true AK wilderness living. Their water is caught in rain barrels and is carried into the house for washing and cooking. Light is provided via windows and propane lights. They have a generator to charge the house batteries and a small solar panel that keeps their house batteries topped off. They do have some electric lights that are used when the generator is running. There is no phone but they do have the ability via Hughes Net to access the Internet so they can keep in touch with the outside world and their friends and family. There is no indoor plumbing but an outhouse is provided for comfort. They told us the small window in the front door was installed after a couple of close encounters with bears on their front porch. Their main cabin consists of a living space, a sleeping loft, a back bedroom, and a kitchen complete with an old fashioned but wonderfully functional wood burning oven, propane stovetop and another central wood burning stove for heat. Their refrigerator is a cold hole into the permafrost under the kitchen floor. Their garden provides them fresh vegetables and they hunt and fish for their meat. Part of their summer is spent at their Fish Camp where they catch the King Salmon that is a staple of their diet. We spent the next few days taking excursions on the Tanana and Kantishna Rivers, we fished for Northern Pike, picnicked, scouted for Moose, as hunting season is near, and visited some historical sites including part of the original Iditerod trail used to transport diphtheria serum from Seward to Nome AK. We stopped at the Tolovana Roadhouse that is now used for Sled Dog Excursions in the winter. We were also a witness to history in the making when we traveled up river and watched as the Kantishna river beginning to cut a new channel through a narrow bank that separated a mile long loop in the river. The Bouldings had been watching this spot during floods for the last 30 years knowing that it would happen one day. We helped where we could with summer chores, splitting kindling, harvesting the garden, helping with meal prep and clean up, and a bit of maintenance around their place. We picked green beans, summer and winter squash, carrots, kale, & a lot of peas. Robin canned 16 quarts while we were there. The rising river made it imperative to get as much as we could harvested. Robin fed us like kings and queens, baking bread and Apple Cake in her oven and an amazingly wonderful and huge King salmon filet for dinner. We also had a marvelous Moose stew and Bear and Cranberry sandwiches for lunch. Her Cranberry-banana jam is delicious! We spent our evenings together reminiscing and sharing stories of sled dog rearing and racing, sailing, & travels, past and present, as well as unpacking the large box of homeschooling books for Tory. As the river continued to rise the flooding around the cabins got deeper and eventually was above the level of our rubber boots, graciously provided to us by our hosts. We had to resort to using the canoe to travel between the cabins. I don’t know of too many people who would choose this lifestyle and Robin told us there are not too many people they would even consider inviting out to the homestead, especially during flood season. After the river had crested and started to recede, we decided we had better start our journey home to Colorado or risk being tempted to look for a place to build our own cabin in the AK wilderness. Charlie, Robin and Tory reluctantly carried Mike, Sierra and I back to Manley where we had parked the RV. We were sad to leave them but extremely honored and delighted to be their guests and felt so privileged to be allowed to experience and participate in this grand adventure for this brief but joyful reunion. We hope they will come visit us someday in Pagosa Springs or perhaps we can meet up again during our mutual travels. To our dear friends the Bouldings, Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We will miss you! Fair Winds & stay warm till we meet again.

The Big One!

The Big One!

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08/11 -08/13 Our Journey took us next to Denali where we had scheduled a Natural History tour into the Park by Bus. As we drove north we were blessed with clear sunny skies and a fantastic view of Denali from the South. It is my understanding that due to it’s extreme height of 20,308 ft. It creates its own weather and is only clearly visible about 30% of the time. We were lucky enough to arrive on one of those days. We made the Cantwell RV Park our home base for our time here found it to be clean and well maintained with good WiFi a nice selection of books to exchange and hot showers. We hiked around the Denali Visitors Center and were amazed at the variety of mushrooms growing. We met our bus and our tour guide Chris who took us into the park for our tour. There are a number of choices for tours but we chose the shorter one. When the bus arrived it was already pretty full and we wondered if there would be space for us all but Chris has roped off some seats for our group as we had made reservations in advance. This tour took us approx. 23 miles into the park and we were able to photograph both Cariboo and Moose. The Park itself was set up specifically to protect the wildlife in this area and is a great place to study the natural behavior of the animals. Everyone is encouraged to keep their voices low when the bus stops for wildlife. We were also treated to a talk by a native Athabaskan about his culture at one of our stops in the park. The rangers here patrol year round and use dog sleds in the winter. Again we were hoping to see some bear or wolves but were not lucky on this tour.

Cooper Landing

Cooper Landing

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8/08 – 08/10/19 Traveling north to Cooper Landing where Jackie has friends she has been in contact with who have given us recommendations on things to do and places to fish. We camped at Quartz Creek Campground next to Kenai Lake. The campground had a very nice boardwalk that looked out over the Creek where we found a large number of Sockeye Salmon spawning. The area also seemed very popular with fly fisherman as well. We rode our bikes through the woods and took Sierra for a number of long walks and swims in the Lake. Jim and Jackie got to do some gold panning in this area and found a little color! We enjoyed a really good meal at the Sunrise Inn where Jackie’s friend works. She was really great and set us up with Lures we could use to do some “Flossing”, a way to catch salmon who do not eat when they are traveling upstream. We followed her suggestions and after a missed turn and a slight detour of about 10 bumpy miles we arrived at the location she suggested only to find new signs posted “No Fishing”. Not to be deterred we pulled off the road on our way back to the campground where we had seen some other people fishing across the river and proceeded to enjoy ourselves as we caught a few Coho salmon. We took a drive another day and hiked up to the Russian River Falls where we found a massive amount of Salmon at the base of the falls trying to make their way upstream. It is amazing to watch them make these really big leaps up the falls through rushing water and even more amazing is that many succeed. On the way back from our hike we stopped again at our same fishing spot. We were told by some other fishermen that showed up that there was a brown bear up the road fishing in the river. We hopped in the truck and headed that way. Mike was able to Snap a couple of pictures but I only caught his backside heading into the woods. (Seeing a Grizzly in the wild is still on my bucket list). We still have a ways to go and places to see. I am not discouraged.

Homer Spit

Homer Spit

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08/05 -08/07/19 We made a brief stop on the way out of Seward at a small Weir where we watched the Sockeye salmon leaping to swim upstream to spawn. We headed across the Kenai Peninsula and on down to Homer. We drove out to the Spit and although very touristy it is a fun place to visit and heck we are tourists. Homer is know for it’s marvelous Halibut fishing but at over $300 per person for a charter we opted to fish from shore. No Luck. We did however purchase some wonderful fresh Halibut and Scallops and spent time bike riding, watching the local fisherman, SUP surfers, and taking walks along the elevated boardwalks through the many shops that line the Spit out to Lands End, the southern most point of the Kenai Peninsula. We all enjoyed and admired the unique and unusual sites around the Spit each in our own way. Of Course our visit was not complete without a required stop at the Salty Dog Saloon where we added our names to the thousands of others who have tacked a dollar bill up on the walls, ceilings, and doors of this infamous bar.

On to Seward

On to Seward

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08/02 – 08/05 As much as we have enjoyed Williwaw it was time to continue our journey. We headed south to Seward, AK. We had a small delay when one of the tires on J&J’s 5th Wheel blew, but the pit crew jumped into action and we were back on the road in minutes. The town of Seward offers camping right along the bay as the structure of the soils there were found not to be stable enough to support buildings in the event of another earthquake. The 1964 9.2 Earthquake destroyed many towns along Kenai peninsula. The city did not rebuild on the waterfront and has wisely installed fee stations all throughout the area and now charges $20 per night to camp there. We can’t complain as they have a lot of amenities to service the ever increasing number of RV’s that travel here in the summer. Dump Station, Potable water, bathrooms and hot showers and areas for Tent campers as well. We spent a the next few days riding our Bikes around town, fishing, and sampling the local fare. Sierra and I even joined a local 5k run to support the Alaska Sea life Center, an aquarium and sea mammal rehab. I figured it was at Sea Level and a good one to ease back into. I came in 5th in my age group. Of course I did not see how many in my age group ran the race there might have been only 5 but it was for a good cause and I got a T-Shirt and admission to the aquarium on that day. This is a popular stop for Cruise ships as there is a vibrant downtown and lots of little shops and restaurants. I even caught a glimpse of Bigfoot here! We had a great burger at a popular local burger joint named Reds that operates out of busses and a fancy dinner at Ray’s Waterfront. We would heartily recommend both. I spent one day just riding around photographing the murals around town. Although very busy, this colorful town has lots to offer.