A Three Ring Show

It's been quite the week. I feel like I stepped off the plane from Denali and hopped right on a whirl wind carnival ride. Jordan Lake came first, where Curt and I joined Tyson, Waylon, and Doyle in brushing out the 2 mile stretch of trail between that cabin and the one at Heckman Lake. The boys made a mess with their noisy machines, hacking through the jungle of salmonberry and devil's club, while I cleaned it up and made it look like a trail again. We got to take a helicopter in, as we were slinging a bunch of lumber for repairing boardwalk, but took a float plane out a day later than planned due to the weather.

The next stint was out at Wilson View cabin, and getting there was a perfect example of why it's called the Forest Circus. First, a front was roaring through and nobody was flying the day we were supposed to leave. Then the next day we had way more equipment than would fit on a single flight (in addition to four people), so I waited with Bo, a local kid volunteering for the weekend, while Curt and Dwayne headed out with the first load. Dwayne is another volunteer who manages property in Ketchikan and does contracting on the side. Two hours later some Fish and Game folks showed up for their flight with 13 days worth of food and a huge propane tank. Plan B was to have us jump on with them, but needless to say there was no space on that plane either. So we went to Plan C: the pilot drops them at Bakewell Lake, runs over to Hyder by the Canadian border, picks up some more folks, and finally comes to get us in Ketchikan five hours later.

Fair enough. I dropped Bo at his house and went back to the warehouse to plane some posts. At 1:00 I picked Bo back up, stopped by the float plane office, and discovered the flight would be at least another hour. I dropped Bo back off and returned to the warehouse. An hour later I called the Forest Service dispatch to check on our flight and learned that the company needed that pilot for a flight seeing tour and didn't have any more available flights for the rest of the day. Good thing I got to work at 6:30 that morning. Luckily, Plan D (hopping on the 7:30 AM flight the next morning) worked without a hitch and Bo and I reached the holy grail of Wilson View cabin.
As you can see the cabin above is missing a deck and is precariously balanced on some Lincoln Log lumber. Our mission was to replace the foundation and return the cabin to level ground. Dwayne orchestrated the event with professional ease, directing the three of us as we coordinated jacks, assembled a wheelbarrow, and dug out rotten posts. When it came time to mix the cement for the foundation he and I positioned ourselves on opposite ends of the wheelbarrow, shovels in hand, and proceeded to combine pre-mixed bags with water hauled from the lake. Dwayne is a big guy, well over 6 feet tall and about 300 pounds. I'm 5'3" on a good day and about 135 lbs with my Xtra Tuffs full of water, so the sight of the two of us going to town must have been pretty funny. The act of mixing cement is exactly that of paddling a raft: lock your arms, dig in hard, rock your whole body back, and keep in time with your partner. After a couple batches Dwayne looked down at me in wonder and stated, "You're the best cement mixer I've ever worked with". My daddy would be proud.

Flying out to Wilson View we got to see so much of the country you can't see from town.

Looking up one of the many inlets in Misty Fiords National Monument.

You can see why it's called Misty Fiords...

Flying up Wilson Lake on our way in.

Wilson Lake on a quiet morning.

On our way out the mountains decided to make an appearance.

The head of Wilson Arm, where the river dumps into salt water.

I love float planes!

Looking up Carrol Inlet on Revilligigedo Island.

You know you're on the home stretch when the cruise ships come into view. Ketchikan town on a beautiful sunny day.