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We don’t need to be to the ferry til 10am. So we take our time getting ready, including having my coffee outside looking at the fishing boats on the Wrangell Narrows. Then we drive to the ferry where we spend time talking to some other RVers who rode with us on the ferry to Petersburg. I also take a few pictures of the area, including a picture of a tugboat pulling a barge full of containers. Very picturesque morning.

The Taku engineer says we need to back on the ferry again. Only this time we need to back onto a long curved ramp (with a very low flimsy guardrail, in my opinion). It takes awhile with at least 4 attempts before we can get around the curve in the ramp.

This is by the far the longest ferry ramp in Alaska. The ferry is almost empty so we can leave the rig parked at the door and then drive right off when we get to Wrangell.

We walk up to the top of the ferry and discuss the ferry ramp – we wonder why they couldn’t have made this ramp differently. And I thought the steep ramp at Haines was challenging :-)

We have a short 3 hour ferry ride to Wrangell today, so we find a seat and enjoy the ride. I take one last picture of Petersburg.

Several miles from the dock we pass the Matanuska ferry:

Shortly after passing the ferry we pass a fishing lodge, where they have several halibut hanging. The one is over 200 pounds!

The Wrangell Narrows is the most dangerous part of the Alaska Marine Highway. The have a watchman posted at the front of the ferry to watch for other boats and any other hazards.

Views of Wrangell from the ferry:

We get to Wrangell and the attendant there looks at our rig and says "I bet that was fun getting on at Petersburg". We just smile. The drive off the ferry is an easy drive off.

We check out a campground near the small boat harbor that is supposed to have a nice view. Well, there are lots of trees, so no view for the campsites we can fit in. Plus the campsites are not very level and it’s $25/night for electric only. We head back to town for the ‘parking lot’ RV park with the level sites, full hookups, and free wifi for $32/night. After setting up we head to check out downtown Wrangell. It’s Sunday, so everything’s closed.

We look at the dock area and inquire about a tour to go see the nearby Anon Bear sanctuary. It’s $207/person! Times 3 is $621, so that’s not going to happen. On the ferry ride to Sitka we met a family of 3 from Homer, Alaska who were planning to do this; but too $$$ for us.

So we drive over to Petroglyph Beach and look for the petroglyphs. There are quite a few and a lot easier to find than at Sandy Beach near Petersburg.

Then we drive to the end of the good road, where we see a No Trespassing sign that is quite detailed.

Our planned last stop today is at Shaker Island to view Tlingit totems and a clan house.

As we’re driving back to the 5ver we notice a ferry in port. So we go look to see what ferry is in port (the Columbia) and check out the gift shop that is open for the ferry. There are also several kids at the dock selling garnets. They get around $20 and up for the garnets that are imbedded in some sort of rock. We later find out that the garnets are found on land owned by a local Boy Scout troop. Only kids are allowed to dig for the garnets.

We go back to the trailer for dinner. After dinner Jere and I take a walk to the new wharf area. Our walk is cut short when it starts to rain. So we head back to trailer and call it a day.

We wake to rain again, but it stops by the time we're ready to drive into Petersburg. Our first stop is the museum.

We watch their interesting 30-minute movie on the history of Petersburg and look around their small museum.

The 3rd grade teacher in town had her students write a journal about themselves and their heritage, so I read a few of them and leave a note for one of the little girls saying how much I enjoyed her journal. They are really well done for 3rd graders.

Then we park by the dock area and walk around downtown Petersburg.

We first stop at the Sons of Norway area and read about their Norwegian founder/heritage.

There are lots of fishing boats in this town.

Then we walk along the main street and do some window-shopping. Petersburg was founded by a Norwegian, so several of the stores are decorated with Norwegian artwork. Even some of the sidewalks have the Norwegian inspired designs.

All of the windows have quilts displayed, so I am thrilled to look at quilts. They apparently have quilting camp here each summer. I joke with Jere that we need to come back next summer so I can attend quilting camp. The town has dozens of quilts displayed from “Quilt Camp 2007”.

We look for a place for lunch, but the only restaurant we find in town that meets Jere & Joe’s approval is filled with cruise passengers. Petersburg gets 2-3 small cruises in here each week. The cruise boats are small, with less than a 100 tourists/boat.

So we return to the trailer for lunch and it is pouring rain. After lunch we head south for a drive. We pass several sitka pygmy black-tailed deer along the road.

They’re not bothered by our loud diesel and keep on eating when we pass. It stops raining so we get out to take a walk on a nature trail. It's through a muskeg meadow to a salmon creek. While we’re watching the salmon and fishermen at the creek, a black bear comes out to the riverbank about 50 yards downstream, so we watch the bear for awhile.

The one section of road has graffiti painted on it. The graffiti continues for around 1000 feet. I'm not sure if I've ever seen graffiti painted on blacktop.

We stop by the trailer for a snack and then drive to the other side of town and do some beach-combing at low tide.

There’s a lot of sea glass on the beach, so we gather some sea glass as a souvenir.

After walking on the beach for awhile we head down the road to Sandy Beach Park. They have very unusual picnic tables:

It’s not very sandy at Sandy Beach, but we walk out through the mud and mussels to look at some petroglyphs that are supposed to be out on the rocks. We find a few and then head back to the truck – it’s raining again.

We make one more stop (in the rain), where there's a covered viewpoint, Whale Point.

There are icebergs in the strait from the LeConte glacier, so we look at them through the binoculars for awhile. They're really pretty. Then head back to the trailer for dinner (and lots more rain!).

It's raining when the alarm rings at 5:45am, but we're getting used to the rain by now. Also, we expected rain in this part of Alaska. No need to call the ferry office today to see if the ferry's on time: we can see the ferry (Matanuska) from our campground:

By the time we're ready to drive over to the ferry around 7:30, the rain stops....well, actually it only stops for about an hour and starts up again right before we load onto the ferry. This ferry ramp doesn't look too steep, so that is good. We wait for our turn

and then drive onto the ferry as directed. The attendant tells us to go down the ramp, taking it slow. So we start driving slowly down the ramp.

OOPS! The guys at the bottom of the ramp start yelling and waving at us to stop. So we stop halfway down the ramp and the engineer apologizes to us -- we need to go back...they need to get a boat on the ferry before us.

Well, that may not be a big deal (to back up a ferry ramp) if you're a car, but we're 52 feet long and Jere can't see back past the top of the ramp AND NONE OF THE ATTENDANTS ARE HELPING HIM BACK UP THE RAMP! When I realize that no one is directing him, I ask if I should get out and he says 'yes' immediately. So I run to the back of the trailer and give him directions. He knows there's a pole on the left side near the top of the ramp, so he tries to get the 5ver to turn a little to miss the pole. Finally the attendant in the ferry office realizes that no one is helping us and runs over to help. THANK GOODNESS! Jere finally manages to get up the ramp and out of the way, with the attendant's help. This is NOT fun. This is also not typical when getting off/on a ferry. We normally get lots of help and it can be a little stressful, but not near so frustrating as this morning.

They drive the boat onto the ferry and then we get to drive down the ramp again.

By this time we're a little stressed and concerned, but they get us on the ferry and parked. They again apologize for putting us through that. We're just glad that's over. This should have been an easy ferry load...oh well.

We "set sail" for Petersburg and I take a quick snapshot of our campground.

It's a sportsmen club parking lot right next to the ferry. Very convenient. Not real picturesque, but we basically just slept there two nights and spent the daylight hours touring.

The day turns out pretty nice weatherwise. The rain stops soon after leaving Sitka and we enjoy the next few hours watching the view, including more jumping salmon.

As we're traveling past some islands, the captain announces that some "rare northern flamingos" have been spotted in the tree around the next bend. His announcement sounds official, like it's a real and rare event. So we get to the end of the island and sure enough there are about a dozen plastic pink flamingoes perched in a very tall spruce tree. Someone has quite a sense of humor.

The ferry shows several movies during the day, much to Joe's enjoyment. Joe and I watch a movie in the early afternoon; Jere watches a movie with Joe in the late afternoon. It's a 12 hour ride on the ferry today, but it goes quickly between the scenery, whale-watching and movies.

We also pass the Malaspina ferry, that we took between Haines and Juneau:

We even have several flyovers by a Coast Guard helicopter. There are 4 "armed" U.S. Coast Guardsmen on our ferry today, so maybe the flyover is connected to them. But it gives us something else interesting to watch on the ferry. Of course we also have the ferry's "man overboard" drill to entertain us.

When we enter Frederick Sound, we see several whales. I'm looking through the binoculars and I see a group of humpbacks rise out of the water together. They are bubble net feeding! I am thrilled and quickly hand the binoculars to Joe to see. They're far away, so no pics; but being far away I can see them come up to the surface to feed several times from the ferry. An incredible site. Joe is a 'too cool' 12-year-old to be as excited as I am. I remember being the same way in my early teens. Hopefully he'll learn to appreciate the little things in life as he gets older.

We have one stop between Sitka and Petersburg. The ferry stops for about 45 minutes at the town of Take, a small tribul community on one of the islands.

It's a small fishing village and it's claim to fame is the tallest totem pole in North America.

Amazingly, when we dock at Take, the sun comes out for about about 15 minutes -- everyone comes out on deck to soak up the sun. I'm just happy when it's not raining; sunshine is a really special treat :-)

As we get close to Petersburg, the captain announces that icebergs can be seen far off the port side of the ferry. They're from the LeConte Glacier, south of Petersburg. A very pretty blue color.

We dock at Petersburg around 9pm.

We again get to back up inside the ferry in order to drive off. And again the back few feet of our trailer extend out the side of the ferry as we back up to turn. Jere goes very slowly and the attendant yells at him to keep going "I promise to not let her fall out" :-)

The ramp is long and curved, but it is an easy drive off.

We take off to the campground, Twin Creek RV Park. We had called yesterday to make sure they had a site available and it turns out that we are one of only 2 RVers at the campground tonight.

We set up in the dark (missing that midnight sun that we had in northern Alaska) and then check our email. We have free wifi here -- a nice surprise.

We wake up to rain hitting the roof, but by the time we leave for downtown Sitka the rain stops. Our first stop is the Sitka National Historic Park Visitors' Center. We look at their exhibits about the Tlingit native culture and watch their excellent movie about Sitka's history.

After the movie we take a hike around the totem pole trail next to the museum. There are about 20 different totem poles from the Tlinglit and Haidi tribes. The totem poles are interesting, but it's the nice relaxing walk in the woods that I really enjoy.

In the afternoon we walk around the downtown area (along with about 2000 cruise passengers), stopping first at the Russian Orthodox Church in the center of town, St Michael's Cathedral. We learn more about the Orthodox religion and enjoy the beauty of the building. No photos allowed of the inside of the church, but we take some pics of the outside of the church. Actually, I take A LOT of pictures of the outside of the church -- I really like the architecture of the Orthodox churches.

After spending time in the church we head over to the Bishop's House.

It is a refurbished house that once was the residence of the Russian Orthodox bishop and is one of the few remaining buildings from the Alaskan-Russian era. The Orthodox church could no longer afford the upkeep so they donated it to the U.S. Park Service, who fixed it up and now have it open for tours. We get an interesting tour of the residence by a ranger, including a tour of the Orthodox Chapel that is on the second floor.

We spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and harbor area.

Of course we're in southeast Alaska, so eventually we know it's going to rain, and the rain comes in mid-afternoon today. We drive down to the area where the original town of Sitka was founded, before being destroyed by the Tlingits. There's a small park there and it's a very picturesque area. The salmon are jumping in the area and there's a fishing boat in the bay, so we watch the salmon for awhile (in the rain). Alaskans do not use umbrellas so we have also stopped using umbrellas. After awhile you just start getting used to being damp :-)

We try to take a short hike in the rain in the national forest near our campground, but we don't get very far before we give up and get back in the dry truck. We drive around for a short while and then call it a day.

We have a long ferry ride to Sitka today, so we get up early to prepare for the day. We leave our campground at 8:45. Our ferry doesn't leave til 11:15am, but we need to check in two hours early.

Jere parks the rig at the side of the ferry's parking lot and I jump out to get our lane assignment. Then we pull into our assigned lane and wait.

Today the Taku has Juneau as a starting port and is already at the dock when we arrive. It's a nice morning, so everyone is standing outside their vehicles and enjoying the sunshine. Shortly after 10am they begin loading. They take the vehicles going to the farther ports first and then we are the first vehicle to load that is heading to Sitka. The attendant comes over to Jere and tells him that he is going to BACK IN the ferry! Jere and I look at each other and I say out loud "This should be interesting". The attendant smiles and says "not to worry...I'll guide you in". We get into position and start backing down the ramp.

This ramp is not near as steep as the ramp at Haines. The attendant walks beside Jere's window and tells him which way to turn the steering wheel as we back down the ramp.

Of course, as with the other ferry, we need to turn it when we get it into the ferry to park it.

There are about 5 guys watching to make sure we don't hit or break anything.

Again, the engineer and his assistants are great.

Jere is not near as nervous this time as the first time we were loaded onto the ferry (in Haines), but it still is stressful loading this big rig on the ferry. The best thing about backing into the ferry: We get to drive right off the ferry when we get to Sitka late tonight :-)

We grab our backpacks and head up to the deck to relax. Another successful ferry loading!!!

It's actually a beautiful morning -- blue skies and no rain. The Mendenhall Glacier looks great as we leave the port.

We remember from our ferry trip to Juneau that whales can be seen just north of the Auke Bay dock area, so we watch for them and are not disappointed. We see several, including a pod of orcas. They are all too far away and too fast to take pictures. I do get to watch a pod of whales for a long time while the crew practices their life boat drill.

They actually get into a lifeboat and practice rescuing a 'man overboard'.

The drill does not go well and takes about an hour to complete, so we get a little behind schedule.

Finally we get going and pass more pretty scenery, including a lighthouse.

When we boarded the ferry this morning, we found out that the ferry stops at Hoonah, Alaska for a brief stop. This is a small fishing community on one of the islands, mainly natives. I think they have around 800 residents. We're looking forward to seeing a small, picturesque fishing community. When we get close to Hoonah, Jere comes to find me and says "There's a cruise ship there!" I never even heard of Hoonah before this morning and they have a large cruise ship?

As we sail into the port, Jere and I are standing outside enjoying the scenery. A woman who lives in Hoonah starts up a conversation with me when she overhears us discussing the island. She shows us Elephant Mountain and Tunnel Rock.

We ask her about the cruise ship and she explains that they get 4-5 cruise ships/week. They got their first cruise ship a few years ago and they get more each year. The port where they dock is called Icy Straits and is about a few miles away from the town of Hoonah. When I ask her what the town thinks about it, she says "they hate it". There are some people who think the tourists are a good idea, but she said half the town hates the cruise ships.

We continue to talk as the ferry is docked. I ask her if she is traveling to visit relatives, and she explains that she needed to get away from her home for awhile. She has lost two children in the last two years from illness. She shares the details with me and it is heart-breaking. She waves at a boy on the dock and explains that there are about 50 people who have been helping her to get through everything, helping with cleaning, babysitting her daughter, etc. I wish her the best as she and her daughter leave the ferry, and feel incredibly lucky to have 4 healthy children.

As we leave Hoonah the skies continue to get grayer and grayer til it finally does start to rain. So we sit inside the ferry and try to enjoy the views. This ferry is filled with vehicles, but has very few passengers, so we can sit anywhere we want. They have a large theatre area, but do not show any movies. There is also no U.S. forestry ranger on the ferry as there was on the first ferry. So the ferry ride seems long in the evening between the rain and not a lot to do. We eat in the cafeteria -- the food is pretty bad, unlike the first ferry.

The ferry travels through some narrow parts as we get closer to Sitka. Too bad that it's getting dark and the weather is so bad.

We finally arrive in Sitka around 11:30 and we are one of the first ones off the ferry.

Since we backed in, it is an easy drive off the ferry. Our campground is right beside the ferry dock so we pull in, set up in the pouring rain and call it a day.