Our trip home from Calder Mountain Lodge, would involve a short boat ride, a back country drive, 2 ferry trips, and a 16 hour drive across Washington, Montana, and Idaho.
We left Calder Mountain Lodge and went through “The Gut” to Port Protection. It is a narrow channel only accessible during high tide.
Port Protection is one bay south of Point Baker. It is famous as it was a National Geographic reality tv series since 2015. The population fluctuates between 14 and 30 citizens.
On the far side of Port Protection is literally the last northern spot on Price of Wales Island that you can drive a vehicle…it is called End of the Road.
At the boat ramp, there is a rope that goes across the small arm of water. It has a pulley so that you can tie up your boat and the boat will go up and down with the tide.
End of the Road…Area residents of Point Baker and Port Protection will leave a vehicle at End of the Road, so they can drive to Hollis if needed. It is home to a variety of vehicles, some running, some not. Many vehicles have been abandoned and are now at the mercy of the forest.
In the April, the lodge owner, loads a pick-up and trailer onto the Alaska ferry in Bellingham, Washington. He then drives to End of the Road, where the pick-up and trailer is unloaded and left until September, for the process to be done in reverse. This year, due to reduced ferry routes, if we did not leave with the pick-up 2 days before the lodge was closed for the season, a lodge employee would have to wait another week for the ferry to return.
It was a 4 1/2 hour drive down the forest service road to Hollis. The pick-up’s GPS kept indicating we were on the wrong road…lol, there is only one road!!
The last sunset before arriving in Hollis.
The next morning we caught the Inter-Island ferry to Ketchikan. We had to check in and a receive a spot in line. It’s a good thing Jim is very good at maneuvering a trailer.
We found a spot on the back of the ship and ordered breakfast.
Leaving the Hollis ferry terminal…. Once we left, we could hear a car alarm go off. Jim wondered if it was the pick-up and he had accidentally hit the alarm button. So he touched the button on the key fob and the alarm quit and then it went off again. After several rounds of this, we realized that the pick-up had an anti-theft motion sensor and we would need to leave the pick-up unlocked for the duration of the trip. We weren’t too worried, as there was a security officer who was in the car bay.
We remembered that it was September 11th and the flag looked pretty amazing.
It was a 3 hour trip to Ketchikan.
We were the lead vehicle so we got a front row seat of the doors opening.
We were then the first vehicle to drive off of the ferry
The pick-up and trailer we were in charge of….the trailer was full of the broken props, fishing poles, and reels that will be fixed over the winter. We were also responsible for getting Luna and Annie back to Idaho. We had time before our next ferry left, so went for a walk in the Walmart parking lot.
Back at the Ketchikan Ferry Terminal, Jim had to back the pick-up and trailer into the cargo area of the ferry. Per protocol, a worker had to walk along side of us.
The last vehicle to be loaded was a shuttle bus
With everyone parked, we got the dogs settled. The cargo hold is open every 6 hours for 15 minutes, so that you can go down and check on pets or retrieve something from your vehicle. They usually announced that the car deck was open, but just to keep us on track we made a schedule. Walking the dogs was pretty congested for those 15 minutes, as it seemed every passenger had a pet. The ferry even provides a freezer for passengers to use to keep food frozen.
We had a room for our 36 hour trip…the couch makes into a bed so we didn’t have to climb into the bunk. Our room also came with a bathroom. Those that didn’t have a room, set-up tents. Some passengers simply slept in the lounge chairs provided in the viewing areas.
Leaving Ketchikan and heading to Bellingham, Washington. The ferry terminal was across the inlet from the airport. We watched as the planes drove up a ramp to the runway. The terminal is 2 miles north of downtown, so as we sailed past town, there were 2 cruise ships in port.
The ferry had a great salad bar and very good clam chowder. Food is not including in the price, but microwaves are provided if you had your own food.
The purpose of the ferry is to get people and their vehicles from one point to another point so there was no entertainment, tv, or frills. We spent a lot of time reading the informational boards.
In between napping and taking care of the dogs, we sat on the back of the ferry and enjoyed the scenery. Cruise ships do not travel the inner passage of Vancouver Island, so this area was new to us. We even saw the city lights of Vancouver BC.
We arrived at Bellingham, Washington at 8am. Everyone who had a vehicle had to be in the vehicle by 7:45. It was an organized chaos with vehicles and pedestrians getting off at the same time. Luna and Annie were thrilled to be able to run around.
Then it was a long drive home with a detour in Idaho to pick up supplies for the lodge. We even had a traffic jam in the middle of Washington. We made it home early Saturday morning and met up with our “now: Idahoans for lunch.
Things we learned on the ferry…
It is a great option if you need to get a vehicle from Washington to Alaska for a long term situation or if you can’t drive to an Alaskan community. The price is determined by length, so a motorhome with a tow vehicle could be 3-4 thousand dollars one way.
The room was nice, but expensive. Now that we know what is offered on the ferry, we maybe would think about taking a tent and sleeping on the deck. There are public restrooms as well as showers. However, it was nice to lounge in our room and be warm. We were right next to the engine room, so it was abit noisy. We did discuss that it would be noisy in a tent on deck with the wind.
Animals are only allowed on the car deck and must be on leashes during the 15 minute open time. Passengers are not allowed to stay on the car deck after the 15 minutes and the doors are locked.
Take lots of books to read, and a lap top to watch movies, as well as a deck of cards. We could see how people could get bored.
The cafeteria was open 3 times a day and was ala carte. It had very good food. There is also a bar on the ferry that was open in the afternoons.
We learned a lot and had an enjoyable time on the Alaska State ferry system.
