Roadtrippin' on Revillagigedo Island

 
Clear skies, a lovely loaner car, a full tank of gas, and unexplored island equals Roadtrip!   There is only one major road on Revillagigedo Island, and that is Tongass Ave which passes northwest-southeast diagonally through downtown Ketchikan.   Here we are near the northern end of the road as we head to Lunch Creek.

I'm told that the locals call Revillagigedo Island, Revill Island - I can see why.

Oh, and I'm exceedingly happy to report that we were not eaten by bears.

Marc, who generously loaned us his car for the day, suggested this among many other wilderness hikes on the island.  The way he described this hike, sounded lovely. 

This area of forest is home to many old-growth trees.  These are really large diameter ancient trees.   Mostly Sitka spruce, western hemlock, western red cedar and yellow cedar dominate the forest.   The really big ones are western red cedar, like the one behind Karen.

Lunch Creek as it tumbles down the cascades.

And it tumbles on out to the sea...

Fortunately, we don't have to wade across Lunch Creek as the Forest Service maintains a nice bridge here.

We stopped and looked for bears and salmon, seeing neither.

Dense forest just bursting with life.   And the air...   Ahhh, the clean fresh forest air.  So soothing.

There must be a story behind this twisted ancient western red cedar, but I don't know it.

That's a very large leaved whatever-it-is plant.

Same plant, same foot/toe for scale, different photographer.

No idea what kind of mushroom this is.  I'm not going to touch it or eat it.  I don't know my fungi and the consequences of an error are painful certain death.   Not good.

Dense canopies of mosses and ferns are everywhere.

Another fungus in a micro-moss forest.

One of the reasons for selecting this particular trail is that it included some "beach" walking.   Note the total lack of sand.   This isn't like the beaches back in California or Florida for sure!

The Beachcombers... errr... Tidepoolers is more accurate.

A tree with a stream running through its bifurcated trunk.  Pretty cool?

Alas, we had to return the Murano to its rightful owner, Marc.  THANK YOU so much.   That really opened-up the island for our exploration.   And still we ran out of time to do anything but the hike at Lunch Creek.  There is so much more here.

Back home on the boat.   Time to get ready for guests.

Jack and Sarah dropped by for happy hour(s)!   Jack is the son of a good friend and colleague of mine.   We'd not met beforehand, but we've exchanged a lot of email over the last few years.  This was our first actual face-to-face meeting.   Perseverance!

Congratulations on your pending wedding.   We wish you many happy years and safe and adventurous voyages in your new sailboat (A Baba 30, a very nice Robert Perry design)!

Entertainig complete, now on to dinner.   Karen made Pho and here she is pan frying some Chinese dumplings while I make the sauce (light soy, garlic chili paste, chili oil, and Chinese mustard).   Very spicy and umami.  Yes!

And the results.   Totally yummy!

We decided to polish off the last dribbles of Scotch we had so we don't have to bring them into Canada.  Canada has strict limits on the amount of alcohol brought into the country.

Best, if we only bring in a few bottles.

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I couldn't decide on which photo of tonight's sunset I liked the best, so I went with all of them.   Which do you like the best?   1, 2, 3 or 4?   Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Good Night, My Friends.