Wrangell Narrows

Duncan Canal to Petersburg

Day 21                    34.5 nm

Photo: Jagged, snowy peaks signal Petersburg is just around a corner... or two 

Sun shining though an overhead hatch woke me before the 0400 alarm had a chance to ring. The Capt. had planned an early start, scheduling us to catch the end of a flood tide with a favorable current through the 24-mile long Wrangell Narrows. This narrow, twisting, dredged waterway is a main route connecting Sumner Strait and Frederick Sound and carries a lot of interesting traffic, commercial vessels as well as pleasure craft. On this transit we met sailboats, fishing boats, powerboats, an Alaskan ferry and two tugs guiding a log raft around the various bends and channel markers. Of course we met the largest vessels in the narrowest turns, just to keep things interesting.

Oliver Cove to Khutze Inlet

Day 4                                    59.1 nm

Taken from a distance these photos are a bit blurry, but the helilogging action was crisp and skillful!

   We paused in Jackson Passage to watch a large Vertol helicopter lift logs from a hillside logging operation and drop them into a boomed area in the saltwater below. The chopper pilot darted about briskly, maneuvering with pinpoint precision to lower a cable with heavy hook into place for the hillside crew setting choker; a quick lift and release into the chuck; repeat over and over. The booming crew kept busy retrieving and bundling chokers for the helicopter to return to the hill.

Aha! Remember the tug with two barges of cedar logs that we passed near Bella Bella? Now we know where they came from, if not where they’re headed.