Has anyone been to Prince of Wales Island

2000 miles of mixed road gravel, chipseal, asphalt. At the end of the inside passage. Thinking of going there this summer, would like some feedback.

Guess not !

I'm going this summer let you know how it is 😉

I think it would be cool to go there. Won't have time this summer though. Weather permitting my top goals are the Dalton, Dempster and checking out around Kluane lake.

But I will be looking for you ride report. Re-post here when you get back.

Ride safe

I took my 1992 R100R to Prince of Wales Island in 1993. We were doing an archaelolgical investigation of an ancient fish weir. I didn't get a chance to ride all 2000 miles. Just Hollis to Klawock to Craig and back. It was beautiful and I had a great time. Were you looking for anything specific? I have some pictures someplace. I'll look for them. I took the ferry from Haines to Ketchikan, then the smaller ferry to Hollis.

-KM

Thats great
If you have any pictures it would be great to see them. I'm going to be doing the same route Haines -Ketchakan but coming back I would like to get off in Skagway and check-out that rail line, I came the other direction last year

Thanks for responding

Bob

Like I said, a 1993 archaeological survey of an ancient fish weir.

Waiting in line for the ferry...



Surveying the weir in nice weather...

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Surveying the weir in wet weather (it is SE afterall)...

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This is the target...



A view of all that's left of the weir. See all those little pieces of flagging? The PI (in the background) wants a shot on each one!



I did have time to tour the totem park...



More totems...

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-KM
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Thanks KM
I think I'm going to allow at least a week on the island just dinking around. I want to check out the caves on the north side of the island. Maybe do a little fishing
Did you really have to take pictures of all the flags? Wow

Thanks again

Bob

I think in the end we finally got him to agree that we just needed to map the extents and count the number of stakes in a sample square meter. We were only there for a week and had to work with the tide (and battery life of the total station).

-KM

KM, that’s a pretty fancy lookin’ transit you’re runnin’ there. Never got to run one of them new-fangled ones.
If what I think I am seeing are the flags that’s one hell of a lot of shots!
Don’t understand why they would need so many all that close together.
Were you on archaeological survey crew on a regular basis? As a job or part time job? Volunteer?
Some pretty nice totems down there.

Yes, there would have been a hell of a lot of shots. We tried to make him see reason before we flagged them all, but nooooo. After the first day, though, he realized it was impractical. My bachelor degree is in anthropology and I worked for the State as an Archaeologist I in the late 70's (until NorthernBoxer came along). They took me along on this survey because I could run a total station. I was a paid volunteer. (I worked for a surveyor between the archaeology gig and my current situation.)
It was a good trip. Lots of adventures.

-KM

Interesting ...
Surveyors!
“...All the players and surveyors
Keep the whole place uptight
While it keeps on gettin' darker outside...”
Steve Miller, ‘Space Cowboy‘
Love that tune. : )

Said I knew how, not that I was one.

-KM

Didn't say you were.

That's fun, too!

Until somebody loses an eye ... or a head!


ps: Somthing just now came in on your 'history' question. Checking now.

Did you ride from Skagway to Carcross or was there a shorter trip.

When I first came up to Alaska in 81, I worked up at the Independance mine. And worked with a group of surveyors that shot the tunnel connecting the Palmer side to the Willow side. What amazed me the most that they were only about a .25" off all the way around. Driving the tunnel from both sides.

I've ridden the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway a couple of times. The first time was from Skagway to the top of the White Pass. The train left the station downtown with the steam engine, but just outside of town they switched to the little green and yellow diesel engine for the trip to the top. That was kind of disappointing but a cool trip nonetheless.

The best time was after hiking the Chilkoot Trail.

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<o>We had made reservations on the train for the trip back to Skagway from Lake Bennett (end of the trail). I was excited to see that it was the steam engine waiting for us at the station! Bonus!</o>
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Back in Skagway.



-KM
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That looks so kool thanks for sharing

Bob

Been off the board for a while, so was late in seeing this post. There is LOTS of road to ride on the island, been here about a year now and have barely covered any of it. There is going to be a fair amount of road construction going on this summer. Primarily the Klawock-Hollis road, and the road to the north end of the island stating at the Coffman Cove turn up to Wale Pass. The forest service has their motorized access maps available online as well as nice big paper copies for free in the Craig office.