Glacier Highway

Airship Goes to Alaska

After we successfully installed our second new Cutless bearing this morning and did a ton of work (work work, not boat work), we thought we'd take Steve's and Julie's suggestion (and Julie's car!) and head north to check out Echo Cove.

It was a beautiful drive along Lynn Canal today:

We first took the road past Echo Cove and all the way to the very end:

That's it. The road narrows and gets closed in by bushes and is ultimately blocked with a sign that has some instructions about not fighting fires here because there are explosives stored…something like that. 

Back at Echo Cove we walked around a bit, watched some guys fishing on shore, then headed back down to Eagle Beach and did a little hiking. Lots of salmon heading up this river, but no bears in sight:

Along the Eagle River:

Up close with the salmon as they head upriver:

Mountains, with salmon in the foreground:

After this hike we headed back toward Juneau and decided to stop and see the Shrine of St. Therese (No. 5 of 68 things to do in Juneau, according to Trip Advisor).

Beautiful trails in and around this place. This is the little stone chapel:

It sits out on this…oh what's that called…not an island, but like an island connected to land by a narrow spit:

Later on for dinner we headed over to Twisted Fish and had some king crab legs and a wasabi salmon…both great. I know the king crab is not caught here in SE…it's caught in the Bering Sea and flash frozen and then steamed to serve to us at a premium price, but it was still good. I know it's way better fresh, but it was pretty darn good. After dinner we walked around the waterfront some, and then drove the road to the south until it ended. No bullet holes in this one…probably because there are too many homes around and it's not all THAT far from town:

The last part that we're waiting for (new PSS dripless shaft seal) did not arrive today. If it arrives tomorrow we'll be able to finish up most of what needs to be done on Airship! If it doesn't come until Monday, then so be it. I completely cleaned and dried the mid-ship bilge and surrounding area today…now it's dry as a bone and looks brand new. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday we'll wax the rest of Airship. 

Our plan is to do sea trials and test everything thoroughly as soon as we get back in the water, maybe stay here one more night depending on the time we finish all of that, and then head over to Taku Harbor to put some crab pots in the water overnight, then head south down Stephens Passage, maybe stopping at Port Snettisham for a hatchery visit, maybe stopping next at the entrance to Tracy Arm to do some halibut fishing…that's as far as our plans have gotten. South. That's what we know. 🙂

Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day (even warmer than today!) 

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