Peter and Thomas

We did spend the work week in the Petersburg marina since there are no nearby anchorages. Not a whole lot happens when we are tied to a dock; work/chores, restaurants, resupply, and repairs, not necessarily in that order. The big thing news was that we got the replacement part for the autopilot in, midday on Friday, even though it was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday – and we paid extra for that expediency. An Alaskan zip code does seem to add at least two or three days to any delivery. It is just a fact of life. Nevertheless, with our autopilot up and running again, we got straight out onto the water within moments of Kerri’s work day being complete.

Only 20 nautical miles away, Thomas Bay was our destination. It was an easy jump to complete before sunset on Friday eve and not much else exists within our reach in this corner of Alaska. The sail itself has pretty uneventful, with the sails staying lowered for the few hour trip, with wind only appearing in the usual final mile or two before our planned anchorage. The only event; a large 100 foot long charter-motorboat had passed us as we arrived into Thomas Bay only to come to a complete stop directly in our path and start spinning in place. Obviously the Captain knew we existed – he/she did just navigate around us – so I can’t imagine what the heck he was thinking. Motor boaters!

Said anchorage, by the way, was packed full of crab-pots like I’ve never seen before. Like, this was THE place in all of Alaska to catch a crab. There must have been a boat anchored here when the locals dropped all the pots as there was a single hole in the minefield large enough to allow us to anchor and swing, so we took it and called it a night.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from Thomas Bay. Alaska had already given us so many beautiful locations that I fully expect it to be running low by now. In the morning we took the dinghy across the bay to the mainland where a forest service cabin and a trail to a waterfall lay in wait. It felt like it had been a long while since our last hike (the backpacking trip?) so we tied up the dinghy at the [occupied] cabin and set off to down the trail.

When we came upon Cascade Creek we followed the trail up, towards the roar of Cascade Falls not far away. Once again, it was a scene straight out of Yosemite (with more foliage), but this is just every day Alaska right here. We viewed the waterfall from below, then hiked through the mist and up the hillside to watch from up top. I know Kerri wanted to hike further, but I knew what lay ahead; a two thousand foot climb to Swan Lake. Sounds fun, but we came prepared only for a muddy walk in our sexy ass Xtra-Tuffs, not a big climb – we did not bring our hiking boots. Plus, we still had places to go this day.