False Start and (Hopefully) Real Start

Everything started well, our good friends Amy and Uri picked us up from our house on Friday morning and drove us to Bellingham, where the Alaska ferry leaves and would bring us to Ketchikan in a day and a half. However, our plans fell apart very quickly. When we checked in to the ferry, we were told that the ferry had some technical issues and was going to leave a day later than initially scheduled. Later that night, we learned that the ferry was delayed one additional day due to larger issues with both engines. After a good night’s sleep, we found out that the ferry was cancelled and that we could rebook our ticket to the ferry leaving one week after our initial planned departure or get a full refund. Since our plan to fit hiking and paddling 3000 miles in a bit less than 6 months is fairly ambitious to start with, we decided with a heavy heart to fly from Seattle to Ketchikan tomorrow morning and thus only start hiking one day later than initially outlined.

Ready to take the ferry.

On the bright side, we were able to sleep a lot and recover from all the very late nights in the last few weeks, finalize a few small tasks that we did not get around to doing, and spend some time with friends in Seattle.

We are now ready for departure tomorrow morning and look forward to getting started. We are a bit nervous. Will all go well? Are we prepared enough? Are we ready for Alaska’s weather? The weather forecast looks pretty bleak for the first week - rain, snow, and gale winds.

S