Picto Diary - 16 (A) June 2016 - Ferry

Day 9. Overnight ferry south from Haines on Alaska Maritime Highway ferry, Matanuska. Matanuska, will make stops at Juneau, Petersburg, Will, and Ketchikan before reaching its terminus at Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Over 500 miles, taking 40 hours. We arrive at Prince Rupert, 2:30 AM, Day 11, 18 June 2016.

Above: Jim, John Gallt, and Wautosh. Bamboo, Cafe. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

Breakfast. Haines equivalent of LSDM... except these characters are not philosophers. Talk is bear hunt, salmon run and mountain goats.

Galt t-shirt says, "Atlas Shrugged. Now non fiction."

Above: Breakfast. Bamboo Cafe. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

Corn beef hash and potatoes crispy please.

Above: Road Kill and Galt discuss prospective salmon run on adjacent Chillcoot River. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

Galt took me on a post ferry registration ride around the sites of Haines.

Galt lived in Haines for 20 years. He knows everybody. Road kill works for the Alaska Wildlife and Fisheries department and monitors the salmon population during the run,

Sign on nearby weir indicates 436 salmon had passed the weir to date. According to Road Kill, a high day during the run is 10,000 salmon and an average day is 6,000 to 7,000.

Bears show up in the area when the salmon are running.

Above: Bald Eagles. Chilcoot Lake. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

Haines bills itself as "Bald Eagle Capital of the World."

It's appropriate that I got this shot, then! 20x telephoto zoom on the Panisonic Lumix.

Above: Matanuska, Alaska Marine Highway System ferry, plys into Haines ferry terminal. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

Above: Bikes awaiting ferry loading. Alaska Maritime Highway Ferry terminal. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

Above: House built by John Galt. Haines, AK. 16 June 2016.

On seeing the house from the Matanuska deck, I told Galt, "Galt, you're the real deal. You found your own Galt's Gulch." Galt replied that his private air field, outside his house in eastern Washington, is now his "Galt's Gulch."

Galt and Dagny Taggart lived in Haines for 20 years.

Above: Eldred Rock Lighthouse. Near Haines, AK. Alaska Maritime Highway. 16 June 2016.

Built in 1905, Eldred Rock Lighthouse is the oldest original lighthouse in Alaska and the only remaining octagonal frame lighthouse of those built between 1902 and 1905. It was established because of the many shipwrecks nearby especially during the 1898 Gold Rush, when Lynn Canal was in heavy use.

Above: Hunter Glacier. Alaska Maritime Highway, north of Juneau, AK. 16 June 2016.

Image captured from deck of Alaska Maritime Highway System ferry, Matanuska.

Addendum


"The feeling is one of stark, isolated, beauty. How can such a beautiful spot not have more visitors?"

If it did have more visitors, then there wouldn't be "the feeling . . . of stark, isolated beauty."

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Thanks for sharing your adventure.

FeeNix,
Phoenix, AZ


What a great ride! I saw Alaska from a bus and a ship but not on the open road. Keep on trucking.

Bridge,
Palm Beach, FL


While looking at "opportunities" in Alaska on June 14, did you reflect back 21 years to the last shareholder meeting of American Savings of Florida, FSB, on - appropriately - Flag Day? :-) Below is my favorite definition or sentiment related to opportunity.

Tom
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In the days before modern harbors, a ship had to wait for the flood tide before it could make it to port. The term for this situation in Latin was ob portu, that is, a ship standing over off a port, waiting for the moment when it could ride the turn of the tide to harbor.

The English word opportunity is derived from this original meaning. The captain and the crew were ready and waiting for that one moment, for they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in. Shakespeare turned this background of the exact meaning of opportunity into one of his most famous passages. It’s from Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3:

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat;

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

As usual your photographs and commentary are great. As a solo rider I've noticed that I have an abundance of pictures of my motorcycle in beautiful places. These pictures are just missing one thing me so... A $20 selfie stick remedies that issue.

ITYW,
San Angelo, TX

or a long arm.