I first hiked up the Naha trail in the summer of 1978.
At that time there was a USFS cabin just above the Orton Ranch.
The daily rental rate at that time was $5 per night.
I think it is $25 per night now.
But that cabin is no longer there.
I've hiked that trail probably dozens of times since then.
A couple of years ago it occurred to me that at some point I would no longer be physically able to hike the trail.
I think I have finally reached that point.
I will be moving out of Alaska soon and I wanted the chance to hike up that trail one last time, and I think this was my last time.
As I've aged I've become increasingly aware of physical changes that happen, whether you like it or not.
I have become very uncomfortable walking on slanted, slippery surfaces.
I think it is because my reactions are much slower now, my balance is not nearly as good as it used to be, and my legs are just not strong enough or quick enough to catch myself should I start to fall.
The Naha trail is about 75% boardwalk, and a good portion of that is old and deteriorating, which means it is slanting and slippery.
In addition certain places on the trail have been destroyed by blow downs, trees and brush that have blown over in a storm, and taken out the trail. So you have to crawl or climb your way over or around them as best you can.
I truly enjoyed the hike, but I had to go very slowly and carefully, and I don't think I will try it again.
For this trip I had my son Steven with me.
I have been taking him to the Naha since he was about 2 years old, so he is very familiar with the area.
We left late on Friday afternoon and dropped the shrimp pots in Clover Pass on the way through.
We arrived at the Naha dock about 6 PM, and no one else was there.
After getting tied up we took a short hike around "The Loop."
The trail is set up such that if you want to you can walk around by the rapids, and then loop back to the boat.
By the time we got back to the boat we were using flash lights.
There were some pretty steep tide changes around this time period and that always ramps up the amount of foam that comes streaming out of the rapids.
It looks neat, but it leaves brown coffee like stains on your hull!
This time of year it gets dark pretty early so we had a lot of "cabin time" in the evening.
I had come prepared with several "new to the boat" movies, real winners, only $3.74 from Walmart.
But it helped to pass the time in the evening.
About 8:15 PM as we were watching a movie I saw a boat's lights in the darkness out in front of the dock. A cruising boat a little larger than ours was trying to set their anchor out there. I turned on my LED cockpit lights, which are really bright. That lit up the dock area enough to where they could see the dock, so they pulled the anchor and came in and tied up. Turned out to be someone Steven knew. We helped them get tied up, and then it was back to the movie.
In the morning when we woke up the boat that had come in the night before had left, but a smaller boat had tied up nearby. We didn't even hear them come in.
We started up the trail about 9:30 AM.
The weather was absolutely perfect for a hike like this.
It was mostly clear and sunny, with only short periods of rain.
Of course the trail is still wet and muddy from previous rain, so we still had to wear full rain gear and boots.
The small boat that arrived in the morning while we were sleeping was named "Dragon Bait."
Some readers may recall that there was no ramp to shore here for a couple of years after a huge storm blew down a lot of trees. I surmise that the one that hit this beam also took out the ramp. The beam is about 14" square, so it was pretty Skookum.
This is the picnic shelter that is just up a short walk from the dock.
It has a picnic table and a fire pit.
Since it is covered it makes a nice place to have a picnic if it is raining.
In the past I have seen young people come up here and pitch a tent under the roof and stretch tarps around the corner posts to create a relatively dry camp site.
I think the USFS must be planning to do some work on the trail.
These bags contained gravel.
We were trying to guess how much each bag must have weighed, and we thought maybe 1,000 lbs.
You can land a barge right here by the picnic site so they must have brought a barge in and then used some kind of small excavator or tractor to move all this gravel off the barge.
I'm pretty sure that this sign was there when I took my first hike up the trail in 1978.
I have never seen any Trumpeter Swans on the lagoon or in the river.
At this time of year the fish in the Naha river, mostly Pink salmon, have almost all spawned and died, but a few are still wandering aimlessly in the shallows, the skin rotting off their bodies.
In previous years, when I had smaller boats, I would come here in the fall with my dog.
I would come prepared, with dog shampoo, because many dogs cannot resist their natural instincts to roll in the slimy remains of salmon.
On a small boat you don't want to have to sleep with a dog nearby that has rolled in dead salmon.
The bears have been feasting on the salmon for the last part of the summer, but that is not all that they eat.
The bears like to dig up the roots of the Skunk Cabbage and eat them.
They are not very tidy with their meals though.
I was surprised that through the long hike we saw no bears, even though we saw lots of bear sign.
Not sure what this is from, most likely a deer.
Hopefully not an old hiker like myself.
Roosevelt Lagoon is just up from the salt water, and the trail meanders around it before you reach the Naha River "proper."
FYI a lagoon is like a lake, but differs in that salt water enters it at high tide, so it is actually a mix of fresh and salt water.
These are some interesting lichens that we found growing on trees and stumps.
The lagoon is truly beautiful on a calm October day such as this.
I feel very lucky to have been able to experience it for all these years.
There you have it, photographic proof that we made it up to Orton Ranch.
Orton Ranch is owned and managed by the Baptist Church.
They use it for their own meetings and retreats, but they also rent it out to other organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, other church groups, etc.
When Steven was young I brought him up here a few times with the Cub Scouts.
They had a full time care taker, Jerry, that lived up here back then, but he died of lung cancer a few years ago.
I think they did manage to find another caretaker eventually.
Here are some shots of the facility and its many buildings.
 |
| They used to let fishermen stay in this little cabin |
 |
| They have several bunk houses, with wood stoves for heat |
 |
| This is the covered fire pit area - many S'Mores roasted here |
 |
| Flags are up, caretaker must be around somewhere |
 |
| The main dining hall, the only building with hot water |
There is a big generator in a shed behind the main buildings.
Back in the day when I came up here a lot I learned that Jerry, the caretaker, had a long line run from his cabin to the generator shed, so that he could start and stop the generator without leaving his cabin.
Steven and I had lunch at a little picnic area just above the ranch.
Looks like the picnic table is in need of a little TLC.
At least it was a place to sit down and eat our sandwiches.
My energy and ambition were still high so we continued up the trail a little further, to the first bridge.
We stopped at a couple of spots along the way for Steven to throw in a few casts.
He hoped for a trout or perhaps a Dolly Varden, but ended up hooking a nasty old Pink salmon.
He tried a few casts from the bridge as well, but no luck there.
We weren't the only ones on the river this day.
This fellow was fly fishing down below the bridge.
There was a lot of squirrel activity along the trail.
We saw them often, and there were huge piles of the remains after they chew the husks off the pine cones to get at the seeds, which they store for the winter.
This little guy gave us quite a scolding for invading his territory.
So I shot him - with my camera of course.
No hike in SE Alaska would be complete without seeing an eagle or two or three.
Or some slugs along the trail.
As the sun starts to set you can many times see a beautiful sunset from the dock.
Just before dark a small boat came in with a couple of guys on board.
Once again Steven knew them.
They are more hardy than I am.
They set up a tent and camped right there on the dock.
I prefer the bunk on my boat with its memory foam mattress and goose down quilt.
That night we had another movie night aboard and sacked out early after a long hike during the day.
On Sunday morning we hiked "The Loop" one last time and then pulled out to head for the shrimp pots.
This time we had no problems pulling the pots and were rewarded with just over 180 shrimp, many of them quite large. Well worth the effort.
From there we headed to town.
A very successful trip, and one that I will remember for years to come.
10/19/2017 Post Script
On Monday afternoon, October 16th, at about 4:30 PM, Steven took his own life.
As it turned out, this trip was to be the last one we would take together.
I know it was a happy time for Steven and that makes me happy, but of course his passing makes me very sad.
I wish that I could have done more to make his short time among us happier for him.
I miss him greatly.
