Hardy Tent Camping or Comfy Lodge?
Mari
There’s nothing like stripping away all your home comforts on a camping trip with your spouse to come face-to-face with your most profound differences. Marriage expert, Gary Smalley, declares camping experiences the best way to bond. Hm. He explains any mishaps and challenges you endure together as a couple or family serve as fodder to deepen your connection… about three weeks later.
Since Ty and I met in ‘99, I knew he was enthralled with the “roughing it” type of experiences. Not me. Never have been, never will be. See, I grew up in a remote part of Kootenay Lake, BC in a town with just 200 residents and had enough of a primitive lifestyle to last me a lifetime. Either that, or I was just born with a preference for comfort. Ha.
Here’s my travelogue of this past weekend’s side trip from Ketchikan, Alaska to Prince of Wales Island - the third largest island in the States, 140 miles long by 45 wide. (Hawaii is the largest, Kodiak Island, Alaska the second largest).
It’s a three hour ferry ride and since the fares are fairly pricey for vehicles (priced by the foot) we chose to leave our RV in a storage spot at Clover Pass Resort and take our Honda CR-V with our tent camping gear. Fuel surcharges are currently over 40% - yikes! Round trip was $418.
Thing is, most all of south east Alaska is part of the Tongass National Rainforest. Average rainfall on Prince of Wales Island is 16 FEET per year. Yep, having lived in San Diego for the past eight years I’m now used to just a few inches of rain per year. Ty and I agreed we’d only sleep in the tent if the weather wasn’t inclement. Ha.
Still, I was optimistic for a fun weekend:
“Here’s what you WON’T see:
No traffic jams …
(There’s not even a single traffic light on the Island.)
Clean, pristine land with no litter.
No tourist trap hotels and stores.
No cruise ships and ladies with blue hair.
No hot and humid weather; just clean, cool air.”
We left Ketchikan on Friday at 2:30pm on board the Stikine (pic right): the one ferry a day to Prince of Wales Island.
My aircard (internet connection) picked up a signal for the first hour or so of the journey. Then that was it. Nada. Nothing. Zip. No cell, no internet. The umbilical cord was pulled. Hm. First confrontation - the silence of being offline, unreachable and unable to reach out to my community.
The State of Alaska holds so much wilderness that it is difficult to even grasp its immensity… the pure solitude is sometimes almost overwhelming, but it’s an experience to be treasured in today’s world.
~Mike & Terri Church The Traveler’s Guide To Alaskan Camping
We arrived in sleepy Hollis (population 137) at 6:30pm and passed through Harris River USFS campground. A pretty spot for sure - though real primitive. Just a couple outhouses and pumps for water. It was overcast, though not raining… yet.
We continued on into Klawock (population 780) and checked out the funky Log Cabin Resort & RV Park - aha, hot showers and flushing toilets. But no tent spaces and no one was around. We headed into Craig a couple miles on, the biggest community on the entire island with a whopping 1,417 residents. But I was underwhelmed and confronted by my judgment. So many of the homes were real junky looking yet the few lodges and B&B’s command well over $100 per night.
So we proceeded northwards to the only other USFS campground on the island, Eagle’s Nest on Ball’s Lake. We arrived around 9:30pm (still lots of light) to find a big Forestry sponsored family fishing derby and the campground was maxed out. But one of the gals kindly gave us her walk-in spot while she stayed with buds in their RV.
The grounds were certainly picturesque and, in the height of summer with no rain, might’ve been quite enjoyable. We walked through the forest on a boardwalk to our site overlooking the lake. Just as we were pitching the tent, the rain started. And now I’m smack up against my extreme dislike for camping… especially when it’s cold and wet with no hot water–or other such comforts–in sight.
Meltdown for Mari. I vow never to tent camp again. Yet Ty’s in his element, he loves this. It poured with rain all night long. I wore five layers, yet was still cold. Bah!
Finally morning arrives - it’s bright, the rain stopped and the sun is out. The view right outside the tent overlooking the lake is gorgeous (pics below). Okay, maybe it was worth it, but I’m still looking for a lodge for the next night.
I have this overwhelming urge to ask our neighbors if they can point me in direction of the nearest Starbucks or internet cafe, please?! Ha, fat chance. I’m suffering from the extreme withdrawal symptoms Tim Ferriss talks about in his Four Hour Workweek book when you first cease to be controlled by constant email-checking.
We head off to Thorne Bay (population 486), once the largest logging camp in the WORLD. The claw greets incoming visitors (see pic below). Again, I’m under-impressed - it’s a super small town and there’s nothing much to see or do. We stopped at a local store and Ty enjoyed a reindeer hotdog while I stick with coffee (only marginally better than the usual gas station quality coffee. Ugh. I’m missing my morning Americano, spoiled brat that I am. Ha).
Next up is Coffman Cove (population teeny). As we head north out of Thorne Bay the paved road ends here and it’s gravel roads all the way now.
On the way, we took a slight detour to Luck Lake and wouldn’t you know, we bump into a dude from California! Our licence plates grin at each other. Michael from Del Mar just loves the remote parts of Alaska in particular; he comes up for a total get-away-from-it-all experience. He doesn’t care for touristy traps like Ketchikan or Juneau. Ty concurs, but I’m the opposite. I can only handle a very small dose of the whole rustic “get-away-from-it-all” environment. I mean, what is there to get away from anyway?!
It’s now teeming down with rain and Coffman Cove is even more sleepy than the other towns so far, with nothing to see or do. We looped around the tiny town twice before stopping to ask the local fishermen if their town has a place to get bite to eat. (Ty suggested asking them for directions to a restaurant; I’m afraid they’ll laugh so ask for somewhere to get a bite to eat). There’s nothing except a disheveled rustic store. We walk in and the air is so thick with cigarette smoke I think it would make a smoker choke. (Gak! There’s that spoiled Southern California brat again, so used to non-smoking everywhere). We grab a quick “safe” snack of V8 juice and nuts and make a beeline out the door.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that unless you’re a hardy all-weather outdoor person big time into fishing - maybe hiking, hunting, canoeing or kayaking too - there’s not a whole heck of a lot to do on Prince of Wales Island. Well, they did say it’s an untourist place.
Our journey continues on for a fleeting visit to tiny Naukati (nock-a-TEE) and up to teensy Whale Pass. Finally, we find Donna’s Place. Ah! This is more like it - a cute little fully furnished pad for just $80 for the night. And Donna and her big collection of adorable pet bunnies hopping around the gardens are super welcoming. There’s nowhere in town to buy food, so Donna gladly gave us a loaf of bread, half pound of butter, coffee and a whole freshly cooked crab dinner. The cozy pad has a good selection of videos so we settle in for a delightful evening with crab and movies… after a long hot shower! Yeah!
One more day to go - it’s overcast and raining again. We head up to El Cap Cave and arrive just in time to enjoy a 90-minute guided tour by Mo and Jess, a summer intern from Montana. Although my comfort is again challenged, this time by the 370 stairs up the mountain and the pitch-black claustrophobic caves, the history and biology is simply fascinating. Archeologists found the remains of a 45,000 year old bear in caves like this on the island, along with the bones of a man 9,200 years old. Woah!
We rounded out the day driving back on down to Klawock (hurrah for paved roads again!), checked out the totem collection, went back to Craig (I was hoping to persuade Ty for another night in a lodge), then ended up spending the night in Harris River campground where it was mostly dry during the night. We were up and at ‘em by 6:30am in time to catch the ferry back to Ketchikan. Yay, civilization (and internet connection) again!
[Fully functional Google map: zoom in/out & move around. Each tree icon represents the towns we visited; yellow housey is the lodge we stayed at; purple camera is El Cap Caves. Green lines show the route we drove].
So, the BEST part of the entire adventure? The abundance of beautiful, elegant Sitka black-tailed deer! We must’ve spotted close to two dozen of these gorgeous creatures. And they just dropped their fawns a week ago so we got to see plenty Bambis! See my short deer video on Facebook here. (I would’ve loved to also see bears and whales too… there’s time yet in Alaska!)
How about you? Are you a roughing-it camper type? Or do you like your creature comforts - simple things like flushing toilets and hot water?! LOL. (I sure have an even greater appreciation for my RV after this weekend’s experience! …oh, and I’m looking forward to three weeks’ time for that bonding. hehe).
Posted on: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 7:30 pm 
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Loved reading about Thorne Bay. In the late 80s my husband and daughter and I lived in a logging camp even farther out than Thornebay. My daughter made it to the spelling bea championship from all the camp schools and of course it was held at Thornebay the big mac daddy of camps. It was fun and they acutally flew 100 or so Mac Donalds hamburgers out for everyone. Just fun to read that Thornebay is still around and seeing the pictures. IS the school still there?? We also lived at Coffman cove for awhile and it was in the late 70s my husband had Long hair then and they actually were all short haired guys and we left because we felt unwelcome isnt’ that funny?? my 2nd husband and i Live in Palm Springs now and I don’t know if I could go without my internet and starbucks either. But I did live up there for 16 years in the camp and sometimes miss the solitude and sweet air..
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:34 amAlice Allen
Yay, Alice!! Really great to be able to take ya down memory lane! hehe. I’m sure you’d see mega changes on PoI now. I’m not sure if the Thorne Bay school is still there… I did see a few schools here and there, even in Hollis. Probably just one teacher and handful of kids!!!
Oh my, Palm Springs, eh! I ? California!
June 11th, 2008 at 11:15 amHi Mari,
What a post! First time here and love the way you took me on the journey with you - both virtually after the fact. I’m getting me some inspired ideas…
Seems we might have a thing or two in common, you and I (but you be the judge).
I met Randy, the love of my life, the same year you met Ty.
A similar dream of travelling together (camping occassionally included - I have a minimum comfort threshold myself) came to a natural conclusion when it became clear that the dream dreampt and the dream lived (at least, indefinitely) were two entirely different things.
Almost laughed myself right out of my chair when I read Gary Smalley’s declaration about camping and bonding!
Wonder what he’d say about a couple who felt called to work from home together, originating new work (we’re a couple of Life Coaches with a focus on strengths, calling and purpose), while renovating and then selling their 2700 sq ft suburban home to simplify (purged 85% of what we’d accumulated - accept for the dog, that is!), go green (right down to the composting toilette) and living a whole new dream in a sweet little 500 sq ft cottage on the Sunshine Coast of Lake Huron (where highspeed satellite internet is more medium speed, a tad better than your aircard when the weather cooperates!).
Seriously, we’re having the time of our lives and getting that a big life of big dreams is really relative to how big the positive impact is on you and you’re ability to serve the world.
Our plans to winter south came to a halt when our 12 year old Dalmation ‘The Prince’ Pongo stopped being the eager traveller he used to be. That part of the dream’s on hold till Pongo’s with us no longer (hard to even think about). Till then, and with your permission, I’m going to stoke the fires of passion by living vicariously through you and Ty.
Please keep the stories and pictures coming - and the FB tips too!
All best,
Lissa
Lissa Boles’s last blog post.. 3 Things You Need to Know
June 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pmHi, Mari
While the weekend sounds awesome, I am so much of a voluptuary, that my idea of roughing it *truly* is a hotel without room service.
I am loving following your journey. Thank you for making yourself vulnerable to the world by sharing it.
Warmly,
June 11th, 2008 at 6:06 pmStacy
Maybe next year you guys can go to a prison for a few weeks to bond?:)
Love the posts and photos. Safe and fun travels you two.
Geoff
June 14th, 2008 at 7:32 pm@Geoff - haha, thanks a mil! gives us something to look forward to next year!
@Stacy - I’m with you on the hotel room! Thanks for your kind comments.
@Lissa - loved your comment! Neato - yeah, funny how simplicity often takes more effort and discipline. I keep purging stuff off the RV even!
June 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am