Wilderness Wonderings

So today is my day off and I unexpectedly had to leave my apartment cause something needed to get fixed. I had high hopes of getting homework done, but I was already thrown off - so I thought I would just go with it. After coffee with a friend and some time and work done at the office, I decided to go explore. Kinda pathetic that I have been in Ketchikan almost 3 months and I really have not explored much. There is only about 37 miles of road and I probably have only been on half of it. (I figure I had better pace myself :)
So I headed into the interior of the island to Ward Lake. It is a quaint little lake. Apparently tourists are not allowed to go there - or at least tours can't take tourists there. So in the summer, it is a sane place for Ketchikanites to get away from all the tourism craziness.
There is a 1.3 mile hike around the lake. Myron and I had a nice quiet walk around the lake. I was excited to take pictures for you all to see, but my camera battery was dead - so no shots. But thanks to the wonder of Google images here are a couple of hijacked pictures.


I really did see a bunch of ducks like this.
Then I decided to keep going farther on the road to the other side of the island to Lake Harriet Hunt. Not too far down the road, the pavement ended. Then the snow started to lighly fall. It was pretty. But I had no idea where I was going. There were no road signs. Then I thought that I better text someone to tell them where I was heading, just in case something happens. But there was no cell service. I decided to press on. I have not seen a car since Ward Lake and an erie sense of smallness and aloneness punctuated my thoughts as I kept going. It got prettier the more I drove, but I had to focus on the road because there were so many potholes. After 15 minutes there was a sign that was completely spray painted over with a road going to the right. I turned thinking a sign (even though I had no idea what it said) must mean something. The road quickly got more narrow. I kept going until I hit severe ice on the road. I decided to turn around becuase I really had no idea if this was the way to the lake. Once I got back to the "main" road I turned right and kept going. After another few minutes that road narrowed. I know the lake had to be around somewhere. But the sun was setting and I was truly in the middle of nowhere. No one lives on this side of the island as far as I know, so if something were to happen it's not like someone will be coming by to rescue you. But the real reason I turned around was I really had no clue where I was going. So I turned around and decided to try again another day when I had a map. But before I headed back to town, I stopped to ponder just how small I am and how weird it is to be the only person in an area of the world for miles all around. Not too many times I can say that is true.
So some day I will get to Lake Harriet Hunt. But again. with only 37 miles of road - I better ration out the adventure... :)