ALASKAN TOUR GUIDE

 After working 10 days out of the Rowan Bay logging camp on Kuiu Island locating clear cut boundaries and spur roads as outlined on aerial photos, we were given four days off.   A plane took us back to Petersburg where we stayed in the Forest Service barracks.  

A friend, who had worked at the Cottage Grove Ranger District had transferred to the Petersburg District a few years earlier and had been the recreational staff assistant on the District, until she decided to leave the Forest Service to get into the tourist trade.   On one of my days off on a Saturday, she informed me about a small tour boat that needed a tour guide from the Forest Service to explain the flora and wildlife to about 20 tourists on the boat.   She said I would have to wear a Forest Service uniform, lunch would be provided, plus it would be a free tour for myself.   I agreed, acknowledging that I did not know much about the ecosystem.  She said, "wing it" and I did.   Most of the tourist were elderly couples that were traveling on the large cruise ships that made their way through the inside passage of southwest Alaska and stopped for a day or two at Petersburg.   The small tour boat cruised along the coast line and into one of the glacier bays consuming a good part of the day.  I told the people about the different trees, including the Alaskan cedar, Sitka spruce and western hemlock that were visible on the nearby slopes.   Eagles and ravens were plentiful during the tour and a few black bears were seen along the shore line.   It was a good day and the people were very thankful when we departed the boat at the end of the tour.   No clearcut units were visible since logging was confined to the interior of  most of the islands and thank God nobody asked what my regular job was.