Prince of Wales Island
Over the summer of 2016 I took a 4 month housekeeping position with a remote fishing lodge on the Prince of Wales Island in South East Alaska.
During the summer I fished for wild salmon, kayaked to uninhabited neighboring islands, hid from bears and explored abandoned mining cabins.
Here are some of those adventures and a little about the island.
One of the most dangerous animals next to the peaceful Alaskan black bear. This bear is named Steve. We could always count of Steve to be waiting for us on the rocks about 2 minutes from the lodge. We’d visit with him while he ate fish and berries.
A little about Prince of Wales Island, Alaska
The island is roughly 2,577 sq mi (6,670 km2) with only 6,000 people living on it year round. For reference, the island is larger than the state of Delaware which has over a million residents. POW Island is the 4th largest island in the United States.
I was told while I was out there that there’s 3 bears for every 1 human on the island. Although I can’t source that as factual information, I can tell you that it felt like there was 100 bears to every one person. Every time we turned around there was a black bear standing there or hiding up in a tree.
The island is known for it’s dense animal population which includes: Gray wolves, black bears, mink, beaver, Sitka blacktail deer and river otters. In the water you can also find: Humpback and Orca whales, stellar sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters.
POW Island is also known for it’s rich metals and minerals. In the early 1900’s the island was heavily mined for its Copper. The miners were also digging up gold, silver, zinc and palladium. There are dilapidated remnants of miners and loggers cabins that are free to explore.
Between tending to the guests needs we’d take off on either the small skiffs or our kayaks.
POW island has nearly 1000 miles of shoreline and a seemingly endless amount of small coves and creeks for us to explore or fish in.
Everyday we were catching salmon, halibut, lingcod, trout, dolly varden or rockfish.
My favorite thing about being out there was the whales. During the season we witnessed males breaching and slapping their tails to attract the nearby females. It was absolutely awe-inspiring.
Nothing makes you feel so small as being next to one of the massive humpbacks. They can grow upwards of 60 feet and around 80,000 pounds (36.3 metric tons).
The only way to get supplies to the lodge was by boat or plane. There was many “beer run” trips back to Ketchikan. Lord knows fishing and beer goes hand-in-hand.
We’d get food and supply shipments about once a week unless necessary for an extra delivery.
Did you know 1 in every 78 people in Alaska have their pilot’s license? Thats about 6 times the national average per capita. I don’t have my pilots license, but I do own an airplane.
Our playground
Being out on the island for the summer gave a sense of freedom that isn’t found in too many places across the United States anymore. Over the course of the summer my coworkers and I didn’t run into a single other person throughout all our boating and hiking. To some it might feel intimidating knowing no one will find you if you need help, but for us it was exhilarating. We had the island. We had the coves. No one would bother us. If we wanted complete solitude we could find it.
Nothing makes you feel as alive as being surrounded by nature with bare feet on the ground. It was us and the bears.
We’d wake up and tend to the guests during breakfast. Wait for them to board the boats and do a whirlwind clean of the rooms so we could hop in the skiffs and take off. As long as all the tasks were done for the day would could play between 10am-4pm. Daily we were limiting out on salmon and rockfish or exploring remote islands befriending stranded deer.
Looking back at my summer on Prince of Wales, I’m realizing how many incredible memories I have. Like any long remote job I couldn’t wait for it to be over, but I remember how sad I actually was when we loaded up on the boat to head back to Ketchikan for the last time.
Lodge
The lodge I worked at consisted of a main building with an industrial kitchen and a dining area for the guests. There was a small gift shop near the dock and the dock had a building we called the “fish house“. The Fish House is where all the meat would be processed and froze to be sent off at the end of the guests stay.
Above the main building was a series of single unit cabins and two larger multi-unit hotel style rooms. The rooms were all basic with beds, private bathrooms and maybe a chair or two.
Our employee housing was barebones; Bunk beds in each room with a dresser and prickly raw plywood walls. The leads were given their own rooms while all other employees shared. The fish hands had these tiny cubbyholes they slept in. It was basically the size of their beds and they had a curtain to pull. The men and women were separated with extremely (we’re talking comically strict) strict no fraternization rules. Like if you looked at the opposite sex for too long the owners would come down on you. Even with the rules there was at least 4 couples by the end of the season that I know of. We all had each others backs though and would help sneak a girl in one building or a guy into another. Honestly, the summer sneakiness added to the fun and excitement of the lodge life.
Although it was continuous work with no days off for 4 months straight it was still a blast. Personally, I’d never work for the lodge that I was at again, but I would work at other lodges. There are so many scattered throughout Alaska with different amenities and opportunities to offer.
I met many incredible people visiting the lodge, learned new skills and caught more fish over the summer than most catch in a lifetime.
If you’re interested in working at or experiencing fishing at one of the lodges let me know! I’ll point you in the right direction.
-Morgan
