[Don't forget to check our photostream. We just uploaded a new batch of pictures. Find the link at the bottom of the Day 1 entry! This will be where any new pictures will get attached in the days to come.]
The day started with a surprise visit from Andy, who came by to make us his special banana pancakes for breakfast. After dining on both pancakes and Jon’s blueberry muffins, we were ready for our last day of trail building on Near Island.
We walked up to the gazebo, stretched, got our tools, and listed to Andy give us a brief on the day. Ethan, Shane and Melanie started on transporting gravel, while Justin and Jon spread the stone once it was brought up to the cleared section of trail. Emily, Haley and Michael grubbed trail, while Andy and Gage (our crew’s mascot) walked up and down the path helping out and directing operations when needed.
We made great progress, and by the end of the workday we were able to sit back and proudly gaze upon 150 feet of graveled path, and another 200 feet of freshly grubbed trail. Not bad for missing our three trail leaders, Mike, Tom, and Allison, who were taking a much-needed day off.
After congratulating ourselves on a job well done, we walked to the trail head and hopped into the van. Andy had secured a tour for us this afternoon at the Kodiak Island Coast Guard Station, the largest Coast Guard base in North America.
We managed to make it through security without raising too many eyebrows due to our scruffy appearance, and went to the Coast Guard Fisheries Training Center. At this school, Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel received training in how to properly board and inspect fishing vessels for the proper safety gear and to see if they were catching the correct numbers and species of fish.
We were able to see examples of over 28 different species of fish that make up the Alaska fishery. Included in the presentation was a description of factory trawlers. Trawlers are fishing vessels over 400 feet long, that catch, process, freeze, and package fish round the clock in the waters of the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. They haul massive nets called Otter trawls, which are as long as the main span of the George Washington Bridge, and whose opening can fit the entire Statue of Liberty.
The next stop was an entire room filled with the different types of safety gear that could or should be on board fishing vessels. We got to sit inside a life raft, and sample some of the emergency rations stored inside of it. They tasted like coconut flavored cardboard, but had enough calories in a square inch to meet the requirements of an adult for one whole day.
Our last stop was to the airlift wing, where we got to meet some of the pilots and rescue divers. The Coast Guard in Kodiak has to patrol and respond to emergencies in an area equivalent to the size of one half of the United States. They do this with only 5 fixed wing aircraft and 12 helicopters. Quite the feat.
We were able to walk around and through a C-130 Hercules, and a rescue helicopter, and meet the both the drop master of the C-130 and the rescue diver of the helicopter.
The students peppered the officers with questions about the gear, the machinery, their jobs, and life on the base. They managed to answer them all, and show us around and through all of the various parts of the aircraft at the same time.
We left with a new appreciation for the hard work that these men and women do everyday in order to keep the mariners of Alaska safe.
After Melanie tried to recreate the flight deck scene from “Top Gun”, we piled back into the van and headed off to the Island C for our cookout on deck.
Burgers, chicken legs, watermelon, and brownies made up the last dinner on board ship for the week. Quite the feast, and our hats go off to Mike, Allison, and Melanie for making a meal worthy of any summer BBQ.
Sadly, this is Ralph’s last night, and we celebrated by playing a marathon round of Rummy (which of course he won – again). Tomorrow brings new adventure as we will be preparing to head to Anton Larson Bay right after breakfast. So we sign off, and head to bed, dreaming of the challenges that await us in our new back country home.
As of this post we will be headed into the back country for a week, and probably will not be able to publish anything new for a week. There is a possibility that we may be able to come in mid-week for showers, and if that is the case we will publish then.
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