Settling into Southeast Alaska

Kirsten and I are now engaged! We had been talking about this for a few months and solidified it last Saturday the 25th, with a small ceremony on Eagle Beach. It's been 10 days since we arrived in Juneau. The weather was rainy and cold when we got here. It felt like summer was over and we were right back in the Portland winter. I don't mind rain but it made me a little depressed. Now that has changed and the past few days have been in the 80's without a cloud in the sky. The mountain tops, no longer hidden behind the low fog, watch over all the little humans down in the town. The smell of rotting salmon pervades the stream sides here as they make the journey up every possible river and creek to spawn. I walked off a main road today along a creek no more than 50 yards and found chum salmon splashing about in the shallow water. At least 20 lay there dead on the banks among the skunk cabbage and fresh bear tracks in the mud. We have yet to go fishing but is definitely on the to do list. Below are some photos.



I gathered some bark from a beaver downed poplar tree while hiking one day. The inner bark was retted from soaking in the rain and was amazingly pliable. Kirsten and I began making baskets from it which we have yet to finish.

A bog or "muskeg" below Mt. Jumbo. There are all sorts of interesting little plants that thrive in this wet acidic soil such as, Labrador tea, Sundew, Crowberry, Alaska Cotton and Trailing Cranberry. The Sundew is a carnivorous little plant that eats insects.


I visited the Alaska State Museum twice to see a show about Yup’ik culture called "The Way we Genuinely Live". Pictured is a traditional kayak(minus the skin covering) with all the acoutrements of the native hunter. The waterproof rain parkas made from walrus gut are amazing!


Eagle Beach looking out on the Chilkat Mt. Range at sunset. We held a little ceremony here for our engagement. In the foreground is our campfire adorned with eagle feathers we found on the beach.


We hiked to the top of Mt. Jumbo 4,000' on a beautiful sunny day. The trail went basically straight up 3,300' in 2.6 miles. Our legs felt like they were going to buckle under us on the way back down this washed out vertical trail.

On top of the world! Yehhh!

Juneau!!!

We have arrived in Juneau after taking the ferry from Bellingham, WA for 2 and a half days. We decided that the original plan to bike tour up through B.C. was not what we both wanted. The ride, eat, sleep routine was getting monotonous and we wanted to get somewhere, Juneau to be exact, and spend more time hiking, foraging berries and enjoying the world at a slower pace. Below are some photos of the journey up until this point.

Camping at Kitsap Memorial Park, WA. We harvested a bunch of oysters and clams on the beach for dinner. I bought hard pretzels from the gas station and smashed them into flour to bread the oysters in and then made a sort of oyster casarole in tin foil on the fire.

Warmin' by the fire.


Whidbey Island was really pretty as we first arrived off the ferry from Port Townsend. We stayed at Ft. Ebey St. Park and they probably had some of the best and most quiet hiker/biker campsites. Although the tap water there tasted like it was being pumped straight from the sea. As we continued past the Naval base, the roads became busier and the roar of fighter jets taking off was deafening. blahh

Deception Pass bridge.



Really good rye bread we bought from a bakery in Edison, WA. A cool little town with a great cafe and bakery!

Boarding the ferry in Bellingham.


The ferry deck where we set up our tent(bottom right corner) as our home for the next 2.5 days. We would occupy ourselves reading books, weaving baskets, drawing, playing cards and absorbing the scenery of the inside passage.

Some baskets we made on the 2.5 day ferry trip. Left to right: a basket and two knife sheaths made from tule and new zealand flax we gathered along our tour and a little pine needle basket. Everyone on the ferry wanted to know what we were doing huddled in our little tent weaving stuff.

Some small town I can't recall the name of. We were told its the oldest existing Native community on the B.C. coast.

Petersburg, AK. We made a short stop here.

Portland to Seattle... ughhhh

Day 1: We intended to leave by 9:00am but after getting all packed up I realized that Kirsten's front basket was wobbly as hell. We made a quick trip to City Bikes and picked up a front rack, installed it and zip tied her basket on. As you can see in the photo above, she had a Wald basket with built in rack that when loaded, was really unstable. The new rack made a big difference. Finally at about 2:30 pm we were finally on the road. We crossed the St. John's bridge and rode out Rt. 30 past St. Helens, OR. About 45 miles later in the 90 degree weather and rush hour traffic we arrived at a friend's farm where we spent the first night.

Day 2: we crossed the Rainier Bridge into Washington. This sucked. Lots of big trucks and hardly a shoulder to ride on. I had been telling Kirsten that the roads would only get better and more scenic after we got off of Rt.30. I was wrong. Day 2 was worse. We were trying to link up to the start of the route on the Adventure Cycling Map I bought and could only hope that the roads we chose were bike friendly. They weren't. Rt.4 had no shoulder what-so-ever. We had to walk our bikes for 2 miles through the weedy roadside as cars blew past. I began to question why I was doing this tour. Why are we bothering to bike through a country road system that was built strictly for the automobile.



Night two was spent at a little fishing spot along the Cowlitz River. Aside from the drunken rednecks across the river blasting John Cougar Mellencamp ("Yeah, ain't that America, home of the free. Little pink houses for you and me..." how fitting) and lighting off fire works, it was a pleasant stay.



A nice morning on a country road with no cars. The sun is shining. The air is clean and cool and we inhale it deeply after climbing a big hill. We stop often to eat saskatoon berries and red huckleberry. This is when we remember why we came on a bike tour. We camped at Lewis and Clark State Park for two nights to take a break from riding. Kirsten's knee was hurting and we both needed to rest after riding in the 95 degree weather and being chased by countless dogs. I don't know what it is with dogs' hatred toward bicycles, but I kept our can of bear mace (that was intended for our travels through B.C.)easily accessible in my front basket.

Rolling into the town of Porter, WA (pop.473), our map claimed that there was camping beside the little store. The store clerk didn't seem to know what we were talking about and directed us to a camp site another half hour down the road. It was 7 pm and we weren't about to ride anymore. So I found this little spot along the Chehalis River. A legal campsite? "Well, I didn't see any signs officer."

The next morning was a rainy one, so we stopped at Betty's Kitchen in Elma. Kirsten opted for the "hungyman" meal. Yumm! Nothing like a brick of luke-warm microwaved hashbrowns and some high-fructose corn syrup slathered flapjacks. Here's to good health!

So, now we're in Seattle staying with Kirsten's brother and family. Yesterday was a frustrating day of riding. We passed through the town of Belfair and into Bremerton, where we caught a ferry over to Seattle. Along our way we had three motorists blow their horns at us as they passed. The first one tore past us on a country road and layed on the horn. I nearly crashed. I couldn't help but extend my middle finger in a show of resentment. As I come around the next corner, there he is, pulled over with his little daughter in his car, cursing me for supposedly "swerving at him" as he passed. Why I would swerve my bicycle into a speeding car is beyond me but this guy was pissed. I tried to explain that I had the right to be biking on this road and that blowing his horn at me almost caused me to crash. This obviously didn't concern him and he turned around and punched the gas, laying on his horn as he passed us the second time. No more than a half hour later another fat redneck in a pick-up plastered in US Marine Corps stickers pulled beside Kirsten and yelled, "Get off the road!" This time we were on a wide shoulder with plenty of room for him to pass. I'm usually a nice guy but I started daydreaming about how gratifying it would be to come down the road a mile later and find this guy trapped in his truck, flipped over the guardrail and engulfed in flames. I imagined standing there for a bit deciding whether or not I would help him. Yes, that is sick but I'm just being honest. Bike touring seemed to be bringing out the worst in me.
From here, we decided to reconsider the plans for our trip. I think we will be continuing the ride to Bellingham, WA and then catching a ferry from there to Juneau. We would rather spend more of our summer hanging out with friends and exploring the forests. I feel sad that bike touring through the American roadways feels so hostile. To be frank, the past week has left me with the impression that most Americans are fat, selfish, pigs bottle fed on petroleum, Bud-light, caffeine and lies and care nothing for their fellow citizens. Yeah, thats harsh, but I challenge you to ride your bike on the roadways of America and see what impression you are left with.