Not lacking self confidence

Cloudy to start but sunny all afternoon. This fine weather is great for tourists but it is now approaching drought proportions in this part of Alaska. The lack of rain means the rivers and creeks are well down with insufficient water to allow the salmon to swim upstream to spawn. That means a lean salmon season in 4 years time.

We started off the day with a walk through town and a little shopping of course. I am still getting used to the gun displays in hardware stores and Walmart type stores. However the local hardware store was a treasure trove of all sorts of goodies. One lady described their range to me as “all sorts of crap you can buy for your wife to get yourself out of trouble”.

Another view from our B&B.

Downtown Petersburg

Well presented rubbish bins

Petersburg has close ties with Norway with a lot of Norwegians living in the town. There is a lot of Norway in much of the architecture and decorative work as well as Norwegian flags flying everywhere.

The perfect beach house

After lunch we took a 35 mile drive south along the coast of the island. We were hoping for bears as the guide books told us to not go without our bear spray. We missed out on bears but picked up some other wildlife.

First stop was a fish ladder.

The bear spray was in bold red letters but no luck. Then on to Blind River Rapids where bears frequent the shores and salmon a caught by the bag full.

Got themselves a beauty

Not great rapids. Not as much water as usual.

The bald eagle is very plentiful here and is almost a pest. Still a beautiful bird to see in action.

From the rapids to the Crystal Lake Fish Hatchery, salmon of course. A really interesting place to see the baby salmon and the big ones. We were told there was a black bear fishing in the stream 5 minutes ago, but long gone by the time we got there.

You can see why they are called red salmon.

Next the Ohmer Creek Trail, with bear spray. This was a forest walk of about 3km which included a beaver dam. Very picturesque but not a bear or beaver in sight.

Lots of impressive fungi though

And a Steller’s Jay

A beaver dam

And a skinny walkway

We journeyed on to the south of the island for more panoramic views over the straights and into the mountains.

When it said “End of Road” they weren’t kidding

By the time we started back it was 6.30, about when the wildlife are supposed to come out to jump in front of the car. It was a very interesting trip back.

We spotted porcupines on the side of the road but as soon as we approached they scurried away before a shot could be taken. Eventually we spotted one about 100m away so I stopped the car and quietly approached on foot. It was worth it.

Looks cuddly doesn’t he

The black tail deer were much easier.

The bear hunt continues.

Tomorrow more Petersburg before we catch a ferry at 10.30pm for an overnight trip to Juneau.