Ketchikan to Seattle

Wednesday June 13, 2012

It’s 6:00 am; I am lying in a bed in a hostel in Seattle. Awakened at 5:15 by a snoring woman in the next bed, there’s no getting back to sleep now. I’ve got my earplugs in listening to Gillian Welch. I’ll be couch surfing tonight and tomorrow night in Seattle and then bumming a ride to Portland on Friday. I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with my uncle, Donnie and his crew there.

I flew out of Ketchikan Monday night. My ticket would have ultimately taken me home, but I’m not ready to go home yet, so I jumped ship in Seattle. Before leaving Ketchikan I met a man whose summer job was not working out for him either and he is leaving Alaska today. He’s driving home to his family in Portland and will be coming through Seattle Friday morning. It’s funny how you meet people when you’re traveling.

Monday morning my couch surfing host, Nic took me and all my stuff into town at 6:00 because he and Kaylynne were leaving to go to Kansas City for three weeks. Nic dropped me at the Alaska Fish House, which is owned by another couch surfer, Raffy. Raffy let me stow my stuff, and then I went in search of some coffee. Raffy owns a coffee shop as well, but it’s an outdoor café with only outdoor seating. Kind of strange in a town like Ketchikan- cold and rainy most of the time. After coffee I wandered around town wondering what I should do with my day. At some point I realized that the Deer Mountain trail was only .6 of a mile out of town, so I headed out there to see what it was like. I had heard in town that it wasn’t possible to hike right now because of the snow. Not true! Why do I listen anyway? I started up the trail without a plan, thinking that I would have to shortly turn around. I met several people coming down the trail; no one had made it to the top, but all had enjoyed their hikes, so I continued on. My backpack contained my purse, my computer, all the cables that go with the computer to plug it in and to plug things into it, my journal and a couple books, a few snacks, my raingear and a bunch of odds and ends useless for hiking. I had no water, no compass, no first aid kit; it was all packed in my duffel bag, as I was packed and ready to fly out in the evening. It made no sense for me to continue hiking, but I did anyway. And, it was wonderful! There were no views because it was cloudy, but a beautiful hike nonetheless. The snow at the top was 10 to 15 feet deep. Sometimes I stepped in deep and my boots (at least I had my hiking boots on) got snow down in them. I feel like I made it to the top of the mountain, but I didn’t see a sign saying so; it would have been buried in snow if it were there. I think I ended up hiking seven miles all together. I made my way back to town to have a sandwich and a beer at Raffy’s place.

The Alaska Fish House doesn’t serve beer. Bummer! I really wanted to patronize Raffy’s business because he was so kind to allow me to leave my stuff there. No problem, the guy behind the counter offered to bring my sandwich across the way to Fat Stan’s where I could have my beer. So, that’s what I did. And, that’s where I met Jimmy who is going to drive me to Portland. He and his friend, Chas invited me to sit with them at their little table. I ate my sandwich, drank my beer, and enjoyed the conversation. Chas bought us all a glass of wine, and I learned that Jimmy was heading home. The two of them had been coming to Ketchikan for the past five years to work for the summer, and for some reason Jimmy’s summer wasn’t going as planned and he wanted out. Chas tried desperately to get me to stay. He made phone calls and showed me web sites to work for the company he works for. But, I was done. Done with Alaska, ready to head back to the “other 48.” And, so here I am, waiting to see how life will unfold next.

Before leaving Alaska I filed a report about the dog bite with OSHA, Ketchikan animal control and the Alaska state police. All were on my side in the matter, so hopefully something good will come out of all that.