Freight Run

Today, we only had one ship in port. So after I sent out my tours I was free for the rest of the day. Dan had to take freight to Coffman Cove, Whale Pass and Naukati on Prince of Wales Island. Fortunately for me he had those freight runs after I was finished, so I got to ride along with him.

The weather was good in Ketchikan, but 500 foot overcast and 5 miles visibility over Prince of Wales Island. We started out from Taquan and the Tongass Narrows, going past Danger Island (picture on the left) and out past Ward Cove.

               The picture to the right is of Guard Island Lighthouse.

Caamano Point on Cleveland Peninsula

Over Guard Islands and past Point Higgins, we crossed the Clarence Strait and over to Cleveland Peninsula, which is on the mainland (not attached to Revilla where Ketchikan is). Across from Cleveland Peninsula is Prince of Wales Island.

The weather around is really interesting. It can be clear in some parts, but rainy in other parts. The next couple of pictures shows raining over the mountain tops and relatively clear over the water, with more rain over Prince of Wales Island.

The picture in the middle is the shoreline of Prince of Wales. The picture to the right here is also Prince of Wales. Look at the interesting cloud formations. The clouds and rain here are so different from back home. The clouds are like tufts of cotton that are just hanging on invisible fishing lines half way down the mountains. We aren't flying all that high, but some of those cotton tufts are below us or right along side of us.

Our first stop with freight would be Coffman Cove. We had a little bit of freight to drop off, and we were to pick up mail to bring back with us to Ketchikan. The tide was low at that time, so we could really see the tidal flats. If you look at the picture on the left, you can see where high tide is marked by the line of logs. There is a lot of logging in this area so there are a lot of logs floating around. At low tide they stick on the shore. Here we are coming upon Coffman Cove.

Here's something interesting. In the picture on the right, those really tall posts are stationery and the docks move up and down on them as the tide moves up and down. Right now, at low tide you can see they are very tall. When the tide is high, the docks are about half way up. The tides up here can reach 20 feet.

After our stop at Coffman Cove we head over to Whale Pass. We only have to go about 15 miles over Thorne Island. So it doesn't take us long to get there. Again, we have freight to drop off and a little bit of mail to pick up for delivery to Ketchikan.

Tidal flat at very low tide

Welcome to Whale Pass, Alaska. There was a very nice couple who met us on the dock to unload their freight. There was a lot of it that we took there. Some of it was going to stay there at Whale Pass, but some of it was going to be picked up and taken via land to another part of the island.

 

So, back in the plane again and on to Naukati. Only this time we were to fly over land. I'm finding that there really isn't much to tell you about this freight run. The views were spectacular. The flying was uneventful (that's a good thing). I can tell you that it didn't take very long to do all this. It seemed like no sooner did we take off from one location, and we were making our approach to the next location. The longest part of the trip was getting to the island and getting back to KTN once we were finished.

This is our approach to Naukati. It was a pretty little spot. And, as you can see, the weather was very nice. But once at the dock, it felt kind of strange. I really couldn't name anything specific. Why does the dueling banjos song keep going through my head........

We dropped off their freight and Dan inquired about oysters that he usually picks up there. The two guys didn't know anything about that. We wanted to call Danita back at Taquan, but there was no cell reception down on the dock. The guys said they would give Dan a ride in their pick-up truck up the hill in an office there that had a land line phone. I told Dan I'd stay by the airplane. (There goes those dueling banjos again)

Thank goodness Dan was back quickly. He got a hold of Danita. She said wait a few minutes, if the guy with the oysters doesn't show up, then just go. "You don't want to stay too long at Naukati." What does she mean by that, anyway?

 We decided to eat the lunch we brought and then head back to Ketchikan, oysters or not.

Well, as you can see, the weather is ever changing. We were going to go back over land, through a pass, but the rain was too much. This picture is a little further along where the rain was a bit lighter.

We flew past a logging camp

 

 

Our plane was empty of its freight. All that was left was some mail to be delivered to the post office in Ketchikan.

We are flying down the Tongass Narrows again heading for Ketchikan and Taquan's base. Looks like the weather is changing yet again. Hope we can make it before those clouds open up.

Wow! Looks like we made it just in the nick of time. I was sitting in the plane as Dan was ramping it. Maybe I should get going before it REALLY begins to pour.

Did we have fun today? Oh yes we did!!