Upon drawing back the blackout curtains in my hotel room,  I was decidedly NOT shocked to see a pillow of gray clouds and mist hanging over the harbor and obscuring the harborscape and beyond. I had reserved a rental a car for one of the three days here. There was lest than 100 miles of public roadway in this island and at approximately $200.00  per day for a rental car, I thought a 3 day rental was definitely overkill. I anticipated taxing a taxi for any other needs. So  after helping myself to the  typical hotel complimentary breakfast bar, I headed out to the airport and had expected to pick up a Toyota Corolla Sedan (the least expensive car). But I was instead given a Ford Bronco to travel about in. I was definitely pleased by this switch! The script was to head to the farthest points on this very green and very wet island. The destination was Fossil Beach (aka Surfer’s Beach) and Pasagshak State Park on a paved (mostly that is) 35 mile drive over an undulating roadway, that initially hugged the coast with the views,  mostly shrouded  by fog, of Middle Bay and Kalsin Bay.

A surprise find (in all of the literature on Kodiak I never read about this) was  the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska as I neared Fossil Beach. This is a dual-use commercial and military spaceport  for  sub-orbital and orbital launch vehicles providing  low-cost access to space for small- and light-lift vertical rockets and stratospheric balloons (perhaps Chinese?).

After passing the complex, following a directional arrow towards Fossil Beach, there was a gravel lane descending before me down to the beach. It was a muddy, rutty, mucky, potholed mess. This definitely would not have been suitable for a sedan but my heart quickened now that I had this 2023 Ford Bronco Sport for my vehicle. I surmised I could negotiate what appeared to be a road needing 4-wheel drive and a higher clearance.

So with sweaty palms clutching the steering wheel,  I slowly bumped, bounced, dipped, splashed, slopped, mudded and carefully wove my way down this narrow gravel track. I didn’t bottom out but thought one might be able to swim in a couple of those potholes. My inner adventurer was quite satisfied at this point so I opted out of slipping and sliding down the slick wet clay paths to the beach via my two feet. I was not in much of a mood to search for fossils in the inclemency of surroundings. So it was off on the next adventure successfully snaking my way back up the mucky lane and on past the myriad of fishermen, fishing boats and recreational vehicles camped at the beaches along the way. I was not enticed to pop out of this trusty Bronco and join the passel of fisherman, standing there in the drizzle, anticipating their big catch of the salmon season.

So I headed back to the Chiniak Highway to visit Cape Chiniak. After 1/4 mile of a paved surface from the Pasagshak Road Junction,  my definition of highway, discussed in the previous post, had again to be revised. Behold, a washboard gravel road can also be  considered a highway here in Alaska. There are miles of these “cordurory highways”  (envision the  wale of your  corduroy slacks).  The speed and comfort of travel would be significantly compromised. So for approximately 13 miles at about 13mph  on this  washboarded  road surface of transverse ripples,  I  bump, bump, bumped along. Now I could have avoided the aggravating, rumbling, teeth-jarring jolts had I chosen to go 5mph or less but was certainly not willing to devote 5 hours of my day for this 25 mile round trip trek. I knew, having experimented on other gravel roads, that I could avoid most of the vibration at a higher speed of 20mph or more but was acutely aware it could become  a hazerdous “slippery” surface road should I have to brake for one of those famous Kodiak Bears, if one ran out into the middle of the road for photo op of me. So my rational  brain won out and I drove at an uncomfortable but safe speed, spraying mud (one upside of the rain is that it kept the  dust own) as I headed for Cape Chiniak. 

I never quite got to Cape Chiniak. What I perceived as near the end of this highway, and shortly after seeing a sign that read “State Road Maintenance Ends,” I came upon a  sanctioned creek/river crossing. for cars.

I found this problematic – there was no bridge. Do I ford it myself to test the water first or just barrel across in the Bronco with me at the helm? After some pondering , I determined that at some point perhaps my luck could run out since I am good at punishing the vehicles I drive, and I did not want either of us ending up down under (though the water  really did not look that deep).  So I passed on the opportunity to head out to the Cape riding the Bronco or on foot. I determined that, most likely, after what I have seen in my traverse of this island, it would not have been a truly unique vista , and since I was alone in the middle of nowhere with no one else around, I got back into the car and headed back towards the town of Kodiak. 

I thought I might explore the  tiny outpost of Chiniak on the way , which has a post office, elementary school, library and a population of around 50,   so headed up King Crab way towards the  library but soon decided that this was a bad idea as this road again look like it had the potential to wreck the suspension of the Bronco.  This scenic curvy highway along the shoreline though was a lovely drive though with views of Kalsin, Middle and Women’s  Bay. I even spotted a Bald Eagle enjoying the view of Kaslin Bay. I was quite happily cruising along,  back towards Kodiak to hopefully hike the Pillar Mountain Trail, when the low tire pressure light came on.  Ugh! Since I was only a few miles from the airport, I figured I could go by the rental desk and have it checked. Brilliantly, the guy who came out to check it out said  “Yep, it’s low!” as if the car computer would have fibbed to me. He pumped it up and a visual inspection did not reveal any nails, damage etc. Since it was a new vehicle with only 2000 miles on it, I decided to proceed with my itinerary. Fixed!

The weather was steadily deteriorating, getting windier, chillier, mistier and spattering rain, but not to be daunted, I continued on my search for the Pilllar Mountain Trailhead. It is a 2.9 mile  moderately challenging  trail with an estimate time of a couple hours to complete.  Alas, there was no trailhead signage to be found nor any signage or parking area. BUT it was a drivable road of gravel, scree and talus deposits and, given the weather , I decided I would drive it until it wasn’t any longer feasible.  Happily, I could pick my way up through the rocky terrain all the way to the summit. I patted myself on the pack for such a wise choice (though wussy by the normal standard I expect myself). There was a day when I would have been bull headed and try to follow my planned adventure of hoofing it up in misery. The wind turbines up top along with the mother nature’s wind and the spatter of rain resulted in about a five minute not particularly  enjoyable experience of taking in the views of Kodiak City, Chiniak Bay, and the interior of the island. I imagined that if I leaned  into the wind on this  blustery day it might have  held me up a little! 

It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and still lots of adventure to be had.  I headed towards the other end of the island  on really normal paved roads toward Fort Abercrombie and White Sands Beach. Much to my chagrin, the low tire pressure light comes on just as I was headed for the Fort Abercrombie Trail. NOT fixed! Not wanting to take any chances, I turned around and headed back to towards the  strip mall  section of Kodiak with its Walmart, Safeway, and gas station.  After much fussing around and back and forth phone calls, putting air in tire, another phone call, employees conferencing about what to do,  and waiting for someone else  to call me back, an employee was sent out to change the tire and put on the balloon spare. Fixed! I figured that is what they should have done in the first place but when only about three miles down the road at the  Fort Abercrombie entrance the low tire light went on again. Not fixed! I was quite aggravated! 

Back to the station, more phone calls, and an unsuccessful attempt to inflate the balloon, they decided to trade out the vehicle which, of course, would take a while as it needed to be prepped etc. I said I was driving the car back the three miles to the hotel (after a brief food shopping excursion into the Safeway for dinner, club soda,  and lunch food for the hikes tomorrow) and the trade out could happen there. By the time I got there the pressure had cropped from 26 to 14.  Well finally around six my new vehicle arrived, a Toyota Highlander , and I had absolutely no desire at this point to attempt any new adventures or drive another strange vehicle even though there is still plenty of light because the sun doesn’t set until around 11:00 pm.    Fortunately my hotel room was a mini suite with a kitchen and I heated my Safeway King Pao Chicken and stared at the rain from my port side balcony.