Ward Lake and Harriet Hunt Lake

This week Dan and I had the same day off. It was a beautiful day so we decided that after running a few errands, we would head out northwest of town to Ward Lake and Lake Harriet Hunt. I have been out to Ward Lake before. It is so very peaceful and beautiful out there. I grabbed my camera.....let's go!

It is a little lake that has a walking path around most of it. There is a picnic area for day use only. There are little pavilions around the lake with picnic tables and small fire pits. When we were out here before, it was later in the season and there were several fly fishermen catching silver salmon on almost every cast. The salmon would swim up the creek to the lake where they would spawn. Right now it was too early by a few weeks. So we were nearly alone at the park.

We started out along the path. We know that there can be bears in the area, so, in true Nancy fashion, there was loud talking (well, more me than Dan). The trees there are very interesting. There isn't much soil on Revilla, so they just grow out of rocks or from dead trees called "nursery trees." The roots are literally are on top of the rocks and what little soil that there is isn't enough to cover the roots. It is a very unusual sight. And the trees are huge.

There was even a rope swing hanging which Dan could not resist. Note those roots on top of the rock.

Here's one of the pavilions around the lake. This is the spot where the salmon fishermen were last time we were here.

This is Ward Creek that feeds Ward Lake. I'm not sure where it originates. If you go to http://mapper.acme.com and type in Ketchikan Alaska (in the bottom right), you may be able to find it. I do know that you can zoom in and go up Tongass Highway to Ward Lake. This is also a good site if you want to see on a map or even satellite to see the places we have been talking about.

Oh, this was interesting. We saw these notices posted all over the place warning of nearby bears. We weren't quite sure where "Last Chance" Campground was until we walked up a little farther on the park road and saw this next sign.

Well we decided this might be a good time to press ahead to get to Lake Harriet Hunt. We were driving more into the interior of the island. It was so different than the road along the coast. I believe this is Brown Mountain in this picture. We weren't far from Harriet Hunt.

Lake Harriet Hunt is a larger lake than Ward Lake. And there is a tour operator who takes you out to the lake where you paddle these canoes (pictured below) across the lake and have a picnic lunch. This place is also very peaceful and beautiful. And here there was no one else around. By this time we had forgotten about the bears. We couldn't walk around the lake, or maybe you can and we just didn't have enough time to investigate. But we did get some very nice pictures.

Our afternoon was coming to an end. We had gotten a late start, so we decided to head back. It was nearing time to think about what to do for dinner. It was so different going back to Ketchikan. We had been out in "the wilderness" for most of the afternoon, with hardly another person around. However, as we got closer to town, the traffic became heavier. We were back in civilization....back in the hustle and bustle of our big little town.