‘Out the Road’

June 24th – afternoon-Several people, who we had asked about what we should do in Petersburg on this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, told us to head ‘out the road’ to do some sightseeing and to make the most of this unusually nice weather. ‘Out the road’ is kind-of like ‘get out of town’ …..and since there is only one main highway in or out of town…..’out the road’ we went.

Our first stop was to Falls Creek Fish ladder, a structure consisting of a series of concrete stairs…..

To help the salmon get upstream to spawn. It certainly looks easier to climb the ‘stairs’ on the right, than to hurdle over the rapids on the left. Unfortunately, the species of salmon that are usually present in Falls Creek were not yet heading upstream, so we were not able to see the fish climbing this ladder.

Next stop, Blind River Rapids – a nice boardwalk hike through the muskeg forest.

Muskeg is a tundra swamp of wet, boggy areas, and spongy ground cover, with scrubby trees and brush. It looks like perfect moose habitat. We kept our eyes open, but did not see any moose…..only the occasional pile of moose droppings.

The boardwalk ended at the Blind River Rapids.

Here we met a couple of fly fishermen from Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida, and their wives. And speaking of ‘small world’….In the parking lot we had visited with a family, two brothers and their wives and kids. They had noticed our Louisiana license plates and introduced themselves as the “Boudreauxs from Alaska”. Their father was born in St. Martinsville, LA and had moved to Alaska in the 1970’s to work as a school teacher and coach. The brothers had been born and raised in Soldotna, Alaska. Small world…..!

On out the road……we stopped at the Three Lakes Loop Road and trail to Hill Lake – a very narrow boardwalk – and I mean one 12 inch wide board width – through the muskeg ………

Jade  LOVES it when she gets to go! So many smells….so exciting!

The boardwalk took us to Hill Lake, where we were told that there would be a row boat for public use.

We took the boat for a spin around the lake…..

There were these beautiful water lilies at the lake’s edge.

After leaving this Three Lakes Trail, we drove on, following the map guide that we had picked up. Maps give us all kinds of confidence……

So….off we went, down another one of those darn gravel roads. This one was not nearly as scary as the last….and did not climb up to the snow.

We stopped at the LeConte Glacier overlook. That is the glacier in the deep ‘V’ between the peaks. It looks a long way off…..but, if you look closely, you can see chucks of ice floating  in the water.

Finishing our drive out the road, we headed back to our camper for a nice dinner of grilled salmon and a salad.