Richard W. Frank

The Wilderness Explorer

   In May 1993 I was planning to make a dream come true. I would take five months to hike the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail that stretches from the Mexican border to Canada. I had spent a littler over a year planning the trip, buying the gear, training in the mountains around southern California. I had inconvenienced my three roommates for five months running my dehydrators almost around the clock drying fruit I had bought from the Santa Monica farmers’ market and homemade spaghetti sauce. I had planned seventeen resupply points along the way, and I had meticulously packed seventeen boxes with the food and supplies needed for the following section. I was set…

   And then southern California had the harshest winter it had seen in a long time, and snow packed the high passes around San Jacinto and San Gorgonio mountains. There was no way I felt safe trying to slog my way over the snow and ice by myself at the time of year I would need to do it in order to make it to Canada in time to beat the winter. And so I painfully decided the smart thing to do was to not go. Having already given notice to my apartment and my job, I was free to find other ways to spend my time. I thought “Hey, I have always wanted to work for a salmon boat in Alaska. There is no time like the present.”

   The next thing I knew I was buying a one-way Greyhound ticket to Seattle where I had heard that salmon boats hired for the season. I had bought a book by mail order that listed the fishing companies’ addresses and what they fished for. What could go wrong? I would spend a summer working in Alaska making some good money and have some good stories for my friends back home.

   In the predawn hours I emerged from the Greyhound bus several days latter more than a little rattled by the journey. I managed to find my way to the Pike Place Market HI hostel, my very first hostel stay. I dropped my sea bag (yes, I had actually gone to a military surplus store and bought a sea bag) and walked around downtown trying to find the offices of Tyson and Icicle and the rest of the companies. After the first one I knew that I had made a small miscalculation...I was four weeks to early. No boats would be shipping out until late June. Whoops. Having no hope at getting a salmon job and not having the money to wait in Seattle I spent several days exploring Seattle trying to decide what my next move would be. I was 0 and 2.

   On my eighth day in Seattle I was using the public phone at the hostel letting the parents know that I was alright when my eyes fell on a piece of paper that had been tacked on a small bulletin board above the telephone. It had hand-drawn pictures of whales and dolphins, kayaks and mountains. It said something like: “Come work on a small cruise ship in Alaska for the summer and kayak and hike amongst the most beautiful country in the world.” I felt a chill run up my spine. I quickly hung up with LA and called the number on the bottom of the piece of paper. I said that I had seen the sign and was interested. The man on the other side asked how soon I could be at his office. It was ten blocks away, so I said ten minutes.

   As I walked up to the office another guy was also going for the door. He was nice enough to let me in first and I talked to the receptionist. We both were there for the job, but I went in first for the interview and was offered the job on the spot providing that I was willing to start that night and cut my hair. I said yes to both, and began my love affair with Alaska.

© Richard Frank 2007-2008. All rights reserved.

Sightseeing on the way up the Inside Passage

   The M/V Wilderness Explorer was a shallow draft small river boat that had been converted into a budget cruise ship that took about twenty-five passengers and thirteen crew. The boat was sailing that night with a load of passengers on an eleven day trip up through the Inside Passage off British Columbia and South East Alaska to our base at Glacier Bay. The boat (and I) would stay in and around Glacier Bay on five day cruises with daily opportunities to sea kayak near glaciers and humpback whales. It would open my eyes to a whole world outside California and whet my appetite both to go back and finish my BA and to see what else the world had in store.

[More to Come]

Another tough day at work

We had a compliment of eight Necky two-man sea kayaks.

The crew all together for once going ashore for a group shot.

Climbing on my one eight-day vacation 65 miles from the nearest person or road