It takes a while to get from Bend, Oregon to Coffman Cove Alaska. There’s a drive, a flight (2 actually), a ferry ride, a cab ride, a ferry ride, and another drive.
Upon arrival at Ketchikan you sure don’t feel like you’ve gotten away from it all. There are huge cruise ships docked so their customers can dump some money into the company stores and bring home their unique piece of Alaska. Thousands of people who likely don’t remember the name of the town they are in or walk far enough to see anything authentic mill around never leaving sight of the behemoth they arrived in.
Luckily we found a place to kill some time away from the crowd while waiting for the ferry to Hollis…
Before long it was on to the ferry and the ride over to Prince of Wales Island. It was a calm sunny day, perfect to take in the sights along the way.
A few hours on the ferry and we were on to the last leg, the drive to Coffman. We arrived in time to get a tour of the town (pop. 184), made plans for fishing the next day and called it a night a thousand miles of air, land and sea travel later. The real trip starts in part two.
In my day, 1970, there was just the ferry and us driving off it in an old VW Camper Van equipped with an 8 track stero… We bought a bunch of smoked salmon for two dollars in a bait shop. The roads going out of town were all dirt surface. We thought Ketchikan was heaven on earth. How time changes everything. …can’t wait for Part 2. tom