Pacific NW

Expeditions

Upon our morning arrival in Pelican yesterday, we took to our feet and walked off the swell from the Gulf of Alaska. We explored the whole town (pop. 80 or 100, depending on who you ask) and met many interesting folks. I asked a young man about a path to the city’s reservoir, and he replied that the stairs were unsafe and the trail was in unknown conditions. Suddenly an old man in a wheelchair burst open his shutters and said “Oh for Christ sake, just go behind that building and you’ll see the ladder. The stairs are rickety, — just yell real loud when you fall–you’ll be fine!” Then the old man eyed the young one with a look of contempt, and returned to his livingroom table. He appeared to have been paralysed from the waist down. The poor guy would have climbed up there with us if he could have. His advice proved well worth taking. Justin and I climbed up the back of a 3-storey building and then straight up an extremely rickety walkway. Paralleling the ramp was an enormous wooden waterpipe, the town’s main water line. Huge sprays of water fanned out in gaps of the wood in various parts of the pipe. The pipe and the gangway led up to the top of a mountain valley, and then flattened out into a flume of great length. Eventually it ended at a home-made dam and a beautiful reservoir, high above the town. Justin and I began to feel a huge wave of relief at having crossed the Gulf. SE Alaska stretches its protected arms out in all directions. We are having trouble deciding which way to go first! There is no public shower in Pelican anymore. We walked down to the cannery and asked to use the fisherman’s shower. “Ocean sailors are OK.” said the woman in the office, and handed us the key. It was a huge honor to get the key and use the free shower! On our last evening in Pelican Justin and I visited Rose’s bar, which has somewhat of a famous reputation. Everyone has written their name and boat on the ceiling above the bar. As Justin was writing, people at the bar began to shout “HEY ROSIE, GET OUT HERE!” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rose herself come bounding out from behind the bar, arms outstretched and ready to yank Justin’s pants down. I was drawing my arm back with a pool stick, ready to make my shot when she lunged. This small action was fortunate for Justin. Rosie turned her head to me and said “You blocked my shot, he was lucky!” Each time I turned to the bar there was another beer waiting for me, as some kind folks were buying rounds for the house. In diminishing light and drizzling rain we skipped town that night, to a Forest Service dock a dozen miles away. I am unsettled about the tides and the depth of water off this dock. Two sections of the dock that would be over deeper water are missing. We may have to depart at 0400 hours.