2025-09-12 Naha Trip

One of my most favorite places on earth is the Naha. There is a USFS dock there that has been deteriorating badly over the years. I was aware that contractors had been working on the dock and on the trail for a couple of months earlier in the summer and I wanted to see it up close and firsthand. All the planets aligned to allow me to get out there for a quick overnight stay just to check things out.

Here is a map snippet from my Garmin InReach that shows the route out there. In this screen shot Ketchikan is down at the bottom near the middle.

It is about a 21 mile run one way out there, which in my slow boat takes me about 3 hours.

I had my dog Nova with me on this trip.

Here is another map snippet that shows more detail of Naha Bay and the area where the dock is located.

The spot marked with a blue "X" is approximately where the USFS dock is located.

I left town pretty early as I wanted to increase my chances of getting a spot at the dock. It is first come first served and you cannot reserve it. USFS personnel have first priority if they need to get up to the dock.

Here's a shot of the dock as you approach it from the water. It is just a small square dock, with a longer side float off to the right side. I took this shot as we were leaving which is why it does not show any other boats there.

When we arrived, there was a small Hewes Craft runabout tied to the inside of the long float on the right side of the main dock. I got tied up on that same side float without any problem.

Some of my boating buddies knew I was coming here and wanted a firsthand report on the status of the new dock and also the repairs to the trail. So, I had to send numerous photos of the dock areas to them.

There is a "connector" between the 2 dock sections, and the old one was really sketchy. So much so that I typically just stepped around it rather than stepping directly onto it. They have replaced that with a shiny new metal one. And it is actually safe to walk on it.

They have added a boarding ladder. This is in case someone falls off the dock and needs to climb back out. It is actually very difficult to climb out without a ladder.

The metal ramp slides back and forth as the dock rises and falls with the tide. At the bottom, where the metal ramp meets the wooden dock, they have these "skid plates" that are made of plastic or fiberglass material of some sort. These make it so the ramp can slide back and forth at the bottom without making a horrible screeching noise.

They don't have these at the dock in Marguerite Bay and the ramp makes these loud banging noises all night long making it difficult to sleep.

It looks to me like it is the same ramp that was there before.

Some of the ramps have a wooden side and a metal side, but this one is all metal grating. I have had some dogs over the years that simply refused to walk on that metal grating. Fortunately for me, Nova had no problem walking on the metal grating. Otherwise, I would have had to carry her up and down the ramp.

Not a bad place to spend a day and a night. So peaceful and serene.

The Naha River flows out through Roosevelt Lagoon, through a race way, and out into salt water. That creates a lot of foam in the area around the dock. Sometimes it creates neat patterns in the water.

After lunch on board, I took a walk up the trail. I wanted to see first-hand the improvements and repairs that had been made on the trail. There used to be many obstacles along the trail that made it very difficult to walk up to Orton Ranch. I did not make it all the way up there, but I did go up for a little over an hour. The section of trail that I walked had no obstacles, and had new gravel, a new bridge, new board walks, and other repairs and improvements.

They kept the old trail sign. I suspect it was a decision made to preserve the historic nature of this trail. The sign has fallen off the post and lays at its bottom. I suspect it is the same sign that was there when I first walked this trail in the summer of 1978.

There is a bulletin board at the start of the trail with some maps and some information about the trail. There is a post with a container that is supposed to have a logbook. The theory is that you sign in when you head up the trail. The logbook was missing. I never sign it anyway.

There is a lot of Skunk Cabbage along the trail. These things get huge. The bears dig them up and eat the roots. The deer eat the leaves.

If you do any amount of hiking in SE Alaska, you will quickly become aware of a plant/weed that we call Devil's Club. It thrives in wet areas near rivers and creeks. It has thorns along all of its branches. Many a hiker has grabbed without looking and ended up with a handful of thorns.

I was surprised to see just a few remaining blueberries still on the bushes.

There were significantly more Red Huckleberries still on the bushes.

There is a picnic shelter a short way up the trail. We have held many a family picnic here. Many great family memories made here. Kind of sad to be here all alone...

There were mushrooms and fungi of all sorts all along the trail. I have no idea what most of them are called.

I do know what these are. We call these Bear Bread. Some artists paint scenes on the very large ones.

I did not take Nova with me on this hike. Here is one of the reasons I did not take her. At this time of year there are dead and dying salmon along the trail. Some dogs have the overwhelming instinct to roll in this stuff apparently to cover their own scent.

Wherever there are fish in a river there are bears around. Here is some "scat" the confirms that they live here and we are just visitors.

Here are a few more of the local residents of this area.

The weather wasn't particularly sunny, but it wasn't raining and blowing, so I considered it to be a pretty nice day. This hike offers some great scenic views of Roosevelt Lagoon at various places along the trail.

One of my goals for taking this hike was to see the improvements and repairs that were made to the trail. I have heard from others that they did not go all the way up to Orton Ranch but that they would be finishing it next season.

I was quite impressed with the state of the trail. I only hiked about1 1/2 hours up the trail but I did not run into any obstacles along the route.

Here is brand new bridge. Nicely done.

Here's an older bridge that has been repaired and renewed.

There was new gravel everywhere, which made for nice hiking.

There were many new sections of stairs, completely rebuilt from scratch.

In the "old days" they would use asphalt shingles on the steps for non-skid, but now they use a kind of mesh that seems to work well and probably lasts longer than the old shingles.

There was one section of all new board walk that must have been more than 100 yards long in total, with many turns along its route.

More new board walk & stairs.

In one area they built a set of stairs out of rock.

People keep all kinds of watercraft at the head of the lagoon, ostensibly for fishing in the lagoon and for accessing the river at the other end of the lagoon. Most of them have been long forgotten and abandoned. A few are still in good shape and might even float.

There is a sign at the head of the lagoon alerting you to watch for Trumpeter Swans. This is the same sign that was there on my first trip in 1978. I have been here at all times of the year and have never seen a single Trumpeter Swan in the lagoon or along the river.

In the evening after dinner there was kind of a pale sunset in the West. Not very spectacular, but nice. I had a fire in my fire pit on the dock and enjoyed sitting out on the dock by the fire.

I had a peaceful night on board and left fairly early in the morning to get the jump on some windy weather that was predicted.

There were 2 Sea Lions working the area when I left. I lingered around for a bit trying to get some decent photos, but they were too elusive and quick. I could never predict where they were going to surface. There are a lot of salmon in the area, so they were well fed. They would frequently surface with fish in their mouths. They swing them from side to side to break off pieces of the fish. All the Sea Gulls in the area swarm near them when they surface with a fish so they can get some of the bits that fly off when they swing the carcass back and forth.

It was a good trip and I'm glad I went. There are still some Silver salmon in the area, so perhaps I will be able to get out and get a few before salmon fishing shuts down for the winter.

I logged about 42 nm for this trip.