MORE SOUTHEAST ALASKA 
  
     Southeast Alaska is a rain forest and 17 million acres of it are in
the Tongass National Forest managed; some say mismanaged, by the U.S.
Forest Service.  There is very little private land which is why it is
rather expensive and any lot with beach frontage can carry an outrageous
price.  The rain is nice because it keeps this place from being overrun
by people.  Ketchikan (85 air miles to, round trip airfare $260) gets on
average 162 inches annually.  We get a little less than that.  Our rain
gage has shown 20 or more inches in several winter months.  Every spring
and summer we've been here there have been up to six weeks with no rain.
We do not much like it when that happens.  We prefer overcast skies and
there is a very good reason for that.  Too much sun causes problems.

     Kosciusko Island (about 15 x 30 miles) and most nearby islands are
composed mostly of marble and limestone.  Several old marble quarries are
not far away.  On Marble Island there is an old quarry where hundreds of
huge blocks of the stuff still lie.  The quarries were shut down before
WWII.  I know some of the marble was used in the US Customs building in
San Francisco.  Once there were communities not far from here where any
sickness in a remote place like this was absolutely deadly in the early
1900s.  A small nearby island was usually chosen for the graveyard and
yes, they made tombstones from the local marble.  We found one such
"Graveyard" island with the headstones dated from 1904 to about 1924.

     Trees (western hemlock--70%, Sitka spruce--20%, western red cedar
and Alaska yellow cedar--8 to 9% and red alder) cover everything up to
tree line.  During WWII most of the large Sitka spruce were cut to
build ships and airplanes.  They only took the ones less than about
1000 feet from the beach so some huge trees (6 to 8 ft diameter, 150+ ft
tall) still live.  Logging played a very big part in the local economy
until the last 4-5 years.  Most loggers have gone elsewhere (probably on
welfare and food stamps) so the trees are left to the bugs and the
"environmentalists" can go stir up trouble in Timbuktu.  Let's leave that
debate to some other time and place.

     Small vegetation (bushes & shrubs) takes hold where the trees do not
cast full time shade.  The most useful to us are the blueberries,
huckleberry, salmon berry, currant,  swamp gooseberry, low bush, high
bush and bog cranberry.  Peggy has more jellies and jams in jars than
we'll ever use.  If you can live on berries you would have no problem
here in most years.  There is plenty to go around and the bears get most.

     Land animals:  Black bears are too plentiful, small Sitka deer are
not plentiful enough largely because the bears eat them, wolves, land
otters, pine marten, mink, and on down to the mice, voles and shrews.
Some critters you might expect are not here: squirrels, rabbits, skunks
(4 legged), although we suspect there are nocturnal flying squirrels but
we haven't seen one.  There are zillions of gulls, many ravens, northwest
crows, Stellar jays, a few cute little winter wrens, and of course there
are thousands of our national symbol, the buzzard--er I mean the bald
eagle.  Some derelict, low down people have gone off and left their cats
to go wild.  I hope those folks have gone back to Miami or Chicago or New
York City or some other such Hell and have nothing to do but play golf or
watch soaps for eternity.

     Marine animals:  Humpback whales, orcas (killer whales), several
species of dolphins and porpoise, sea otters by the thousands now, lot's
of seals and sea lions.  Water fowl, many are migratory, are swans,
geese, ducks, murrelets, and a bunch of others.

     Fish:  The most notable are the halibut which can grow to be really
BIG!---up to the state record of 460 pounds caught on rod and reel.  Many
very good tasting rock fish live in deep water (100 feet or more), and in
the right season there are five species of salmon.  Right now (January)
there should be some winter kings close by and I ought to be out trying
to get one rather than wasting your time with this!  What the heck, we've
got too much fish in jars and the freezer anyway, but a fresh king salmon
surely would taste good I betcha.

     When we first came here there were dungeness crabs all over our bay
and there were a number of good beaches where you could dig all the
various clams you could carry.  In the last 2-3 years the sea otters have
moved in and wiped out these critters.  You have to go miles from here
now to find a decent crab.  I think the &(%$\!!! sea otters are still on
the endangered species list although you can see 100 or 200 easily and if
you really travel say 3-4 miles from here you'll probably see 400.  In
any case, they (gov agents) will fine you up to $25,000 and do other
nasty things to you if you bother one.  I am not certain it is OK to even
look at them except maybe on Sunday when the "looking at" season is open
if you have purchased the right license.  Another hot debatefull subject!

     If you have seen the July 4th picture then you've seen most of the
local inhabitants.  There are a few people back under a rain canopy
guarding the food table.  In all there are about 30 adults and a few kids.
Everyone brought food and we had a potluck on our beach and the kids shot
off fireworks that evening.  This picture was taken at low tide.  At high
tide all the rocks you see are under water. Our extreme tides can range
from minus 4 feet to plus 12 feet---a change of 16 feet in about 6 hours
twice daily. Normal tides are about 0 (zero) to plus 10 feet.  

     In another picture, Picnic on secret island, you see some boats and
a Cessna 185 plane which belongs to our neighbor, Pat.  Our boat is
farthest out; the white thing on top is the radar dome.  It is a 21 foot
aluminum boat with 120 HP outboard.  It is built much like a LST.  The
front has a ramp that can be lowered to allow you to load/unload stuff
on the beach.  We have hauled two 4-wheelers plus other gear to several
beaches to go hunting or just exploring.  I won't tell you the name of
that island cause, well just cause.  Mainly cause I don't know you well
enough to trust you with that kind of secret.  That beach is really
something and if I had the money I would easily pay a million bucks for
it since I can't think of a better use for a million dollars. I hope it
will be used forever by mankind only for the sort of short stay we
enjoyed that day.  You see? I, also, am an environmentalist, but I don't
much like to claim it because there are way too many kooks who claim that
label.  I don't believe I've ever seen any of the "tree huggin muffins"
I would want you to think I'm in "bed" with either figuratively or
literally. 

     I'm anxious to hook up our new webcam so you will not have to put up
with any more of my tirades.  This HTML gibberish is...well gibberish to
us and I worked as a computer programmer for 30 years!  Anyone know of a
good HTML ref manual?  I'm bettin there ain't no such thing.  HTML coders
must all be under the age of 12 who are used to looking at gibberish.     

     If you've come this far I think you really ought to get a life---but
 thanks for the compliment.         
     
                  THE BITTER END!