Robert, Monday, June 9
We went on an exploring mission today. The town of Wrangell is located on the north end of Wrangell Island. There is one road the leads south along the western side. After about 5 miles the pavement ends and you are driving on a logging road. That means the road is one lane with pullouts every mile or so. Most of thead has absolutely no shoulders so getting past someone without the pullouts is next to impossible. On the other hand we only met one vehicle while driving for several hours. We drove almost to the south end of the island. The views were spectacular. After we left the pavement there was a fifth wheel parked alongside the road with a sign that said campground host. There wasn’t anyone there when we drove in but they were there when we came back. It turned out they are from Golden Gate Canyon in Colorado. They live about five miles from us. We both thought that they had a lousy job. They didn’t have any hookups and they had to have water from town (about 5 miles). They had an outhouse and we don’t know how they got rid of their gray water. And there weren’t any campsites within several miles of them so they didn’t have anyone to talk to except people like us who stopped. After we got back to the trailer, we washed the outside. I had told everyone that we deserved an award as we had killed a million bugs and every one of them was stuck to the front of the trailer. Just to let you know how bad it was, the campground looked at the bugs and said, "We don’t have any restrictions on washing your rig." We backed the truck up to the trailer so we could stand in the truck bed and scrub. We have read the used dryer sheets like Bounce are the best thing for scrubbing bugs. It turns out that they work very well although the front of the trailer still needed a lot of elbow grease to get all of the *%$*&# bugs off. After getting the bugs off of the front, we washed the sides and back of the trailer. Many campgrounds do not allow washing rigs.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Wrangell - Zimovia Strait
Leslie Monday, June 9, 2008
Today was a glorious, sunny day. We decided to go exploring at the southern tip of Wrangell Island. About 14 miles south there is a large US Forest Service area. The roads are old logging gravel roads, some better maintained by the USFS than others.
The Nemo area rises quickly from sea level to about 1000 feet. The views are of the Zimovia Strait.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045669_uGEYm-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045213_McNMe-M.jpg
Our camphost had recommended we explore the Nemo Area, including the Three Sisters Overlook. The best views however were found 3.3 miles into the forest (along the logging road) to Highline Campsite. This would be a beautiful place to stay if you were camping in a tent. Notice the soft mulch pad area for pitching a tent.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045321_eEZqw-M.jpg
And the US Forest Service provided wood for a campfire in a sheltered wood box.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045415_BbQqK-M.jpg
The view from the picnic table can’t be beat!
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045444_vEpn3-M.jpg
Each site has a picnic table, fire grill, and outhouse. There are only two sites at the Highline Campsite so campers have almost a private outhouse! Water is available in nearby streams.
Further along the logging road we came across the Nemo Saltwater Access trailhead leading down to the ocean. The trail is entirely constructed of steps (500) and boardwalk. It is steep. We didn’t walk down to the ocean but the sign said that there were two campsites similar to Highline located at the water’s edge. (I would be concerned about mosquitoes there.)
The wild flowers have started to bloom in the high forest. Here are a few we saw at the forest’s edge.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045596_6Dr2E-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045239_wyYw9-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045279_QLenp-M.jpg
On our way out of the national forest we met the camphosts who are living there for the summer. In a strange coincidence their home is very near us in Colorado. This couple is spending the summer living in a 28 ft 5th wheel at the edge of the national forest with no water or electricity. They told us that they haul water in 5 gallon jugs and recharge their batteries with a generator. I would think that it would be a major chore to haul all water in 5 gallon jugs. Some RV’ers carry a waterbed to haul water. Keeping the generator fueled will also be costly as you’ll see from the fuel prices posted tomorrow. I did notice that their campsite has an outhouse but I don’t know how they dispose of their gray water. They told us that this is their third summer of camphosting although in the past they had been at Petersburg which is a larger town.
Today was a glorious, sunny day. We decided to go exploring at the southern tip of Wrangell Island. About 14 miles south there is a large US Forest Service area. The roads are old logging gravel roads, some better maintained by the USFS than others.
The Nemo area rises quickly from sea level to about 1000 feet. The views are of the Zimovia Strait.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045669_uGEYm-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045213_McNMe-M.jpg
Our camphost had recommended we explore the Nemo Area, including the Three Sisters Overlook. The best views however were found 3.3 miles into the forest (along the logging road) to Highline Campsite. This would be a beautiful place to stay if you were camping in a tent. Notice the soft mulch pad area for pitching a tent.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045321_eEZqw-M.jpg
And the US Forest Service provided wood for a campfire in a sheltered wood box.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045415_BbQqK-M.jpg
The view from the picnic table can’t be beat!
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045444_vEpn3-M.jpg
Each site has a picnic table, fire grill, and outhouse. There are only two sites at the Highline Campsite so campers have almost a private outhouse! Water is available in nearby streams.
Further along the logging road we came across the Nemo Saltwater Access trailhead leading down to the ocean. The trail is entirely constructed of steps (500) and boardwalk. It is steep. We didn’t walk down to the ocean but the sign said that there were two campsites similar to Highline located at the water’s edge. (I would be concerned about mosquitoes there.)
The wild flowers have started to bloom in the high forest. Here are a few we saw at the forest’s edge.
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045596_6Dr2E-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045239_wyYw9-M.jpg
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/312045279_QLenp-M.jpg
On our way out of the national forest we met the camphosts who are living there for the summer. In a strange coincidence their home is very near us in Colorado. This couple is spending the summer living in a 28 ft 5th wheel at the edge of the national forest with no water or electricity. They told us that they haul water in 5 gallon jugs and recharge their batteries with a generator. I would think that it would be a major chore to haul all water in 5 gallon jugs. Some RV’ers carry a waterbed to haul water. Keeping the generator fueled will also be costly as you’ll see from the fuel prices posted tomorrow. I did notice that their campsite has an outhouse but I don’t know how they dispose of their gray water. They told us that this is their third summer of camphosting although in the past they had been at Petersburg which is a larger town.
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