Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

 For the better part of thirty seven years I've been blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I know that every area has it's own brand of beauty, but for me, this area of Alaska, the Tongass National Forest has no equal. It has the best of all worlds for me- forests, streams, bays, mountains all things that I love. Because of the remoteness of the area and the difficulty of getting around, there isn't a large population inhabiting the surrounding towns. The whole 17,000,000 acres is only home to roughly 70,000 people, and those are spread out over a handful of towns up and down the Southeast Panhandle. At thirty some thousand souls, Juneau, the state capital, is the largest town. Some of the other towns with relatively large populations are Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell. Then we have Craig, Hydaburg, Tenekee, Angoon, Hoonah, Kake, Metlakatla, Thorne Bay, Gustavus, Elfin Cove and Pelican. I'm sure there are othe...