Four O Clock in the a.m. and we board the Matanuska, headed back to Juneau. By now we know the routine; stake out the best location for our lounge chairs, know what we need from the car, and set up for a 16 hour trip to Juneau.
The weather couldn't have been more perfect and we both got sunburnt. According to gossip, we saw Johnny Depp on his yacht "Archimedes" (the local newspapers did say he is is Alaska, so maybe it is true).
We stopped in Wrangell and Petersburg just long enough to take Rosie for a 20 minute walk on solid ground.
Petersburg was just loaded with fishing boats, and float planes were taking off and landing in every direction.
The scenery was breathtaking. Watching the occasional iceburg float by, seals dozing on buoys, and the humpback whales lazily rolling in and out of the water with the blow hole sprays visible in the distance. I don't think I've ever been more lazy and relaxed than this day in many years.
It is indeed hard to describe some of the scenery here.
In a book I found at a used book store for $3 - an older US Dept of Agriculture technical book on "Alaska Trees and Shrubs" are some wonderfully perfect writings... and I quote: "Much of Alaska is still wilderness, and the value of undisturbed wild areas may someday far outweigh the potential value for producing lumber and pulp. An increasing number of people look to Alaska for wilderness that is no longer present in the more developed areas in the world. Thus, it is important that some areas of Alaska's forests be retained in their natural state."
And in describing the coastal forests of Southeast Alaska, it says: "In many areas only a narrow band of trees exist between the ocean and the tundra on snowclad mountains above. The scenic grandeur of the region is unsurpassed. The narrow waterways with steep forested slopes, the rugged high mountains, and the many glaciers reaching for the coast through forested valleys, along with an abundance of streams and lakes offer a wealth of recreation values."
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