The Ferry to Alaska | Lost & Found EP.01
It’s hard to believe this day has finally come. This is a project that’s been in the works for nearly a year now… Or maybe longer than that because we were a year behind schedule even getting to go to Alaska. Either way, this is something we’ve dreamed of sharing for a long time now. The first episode of our series Lost & Found is now live. The series will document our travels and the lessons learned from them as we traveled through Alaska this summer.
Here is the first episode.
The blog posts for this series will serve as a BTS (Behind The Scenes) of each episode, as well as be a place to share the many photos we took during the time each episode covers.
View from the bow of the ship while in transit from Bellingham, WA to Juneau, AK
This first episode covers our time from leaving Bellingham, Washington until we arrived in Juneau, Alaska on the ferry. In total, the ferry was two days and twelve hours on the boat.
Leading up to the ferry we’d been spending some time in the Pacific Northwest enjoying the coast and lush green rain forests that were a stark contract to our usual desert scenery! While in the Olympic peninsula we filmed a video documenting an overnight coastal backpacking trip and met up with a film crew so Dropbox could film a video about us. Both are linked here if you are interested.
The mighty Matanuska
This is the boat that we called home for not one, but two ferry trips this summer. The boats that are used as car ferries on the Alaskan Marine Highway were made in the mid 60’s. Ours, named the Matanuska, was made in 1963.
Once we made it on the boat, the biggest hurdle we had to get over was securing our tent to the deck. Which ended up being a bigger undertaking and consumer of tape than I expected. It took nearly an entire roll of duct tape, but by the time I was done, I was confident a swift wind wasn’t going to carry it overboard.
Owen looking out over the water just a few hours after setting sail
MAK enjoying the view
Life on the boat was a lovely change of pace. This past January, as work started to come back on the calendar, I over committed us. Now that some time has passed I realize that I was over compensating from the loss of work in 2020 due to COVID. It was a race to get as much done until the moment we got on the ferry.
All of that to say, that the time on the ferry away from service forced us to slow down, breathe and take in the view. I don’t think either of us realized how much we needed it.
One of the wild sunsets we had on the boat.
The ferry was an incredible journey that gives you a view of a large section of the Canadian and Alaskan coast that is totally inaccessible by land. We spent our days hanging out on deck watching the view, walking laps around the deck for exercise, and doing as much work as we could while keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Obviously there was plenty to look at! Owen and I had a few people ask us if we were working for the ferry system, because we’d been racing around the boat taking so many photos. It makes me laugh, because I genuinely don’t know how you could resist taking so many photos (and video clips) when it looks like this out. I think that capturing the experience is kind of our way of enjoying it!
God rays through a misty passing shower
Passing waterfall
Sunset glow hitting the mountain peak
Our humble abode aboard the Matanuska
I didn’t expect to get much sleep on the boat. We were surrounded by other tents, the lights never turn off in the solarium and the boat itself isn’t quiet. However, as soon as my head hit the deck every night I slept like a brick. The slight hum and rocking of the boat and the cool air made for the PERFECT sleeping conditions in the tent, and on the lawn chair where we slept our last night.
Owen staying warm and enjoying the evening
The heat lamps in the solarium made this red glow that was such a beautiful contrast to the blue of twilight.
MAK taking in the views next to our tent
Both of us were sad the ferry was coming to an end. It was such a unique and special experience that we could have easily stayed on for a few more days. However, it was officially time for our adventures to begin in Juneau! See you next week! - MAK
All packed up waiting to disembark in Juneau
Thank you to our sponsors
These brands made it possible for us to document our travels through Alaska and turn it into this series. Without their support none of this could happen. We are forever grateful to have brands we already use and love on our side to help us create something we’re proud of!
Our work life is powered by Battle Born. They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power system that enables us to work from the road! It took an incredible amount of power to create this series, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
Power and power management are key to living and working full time from the road. Our mobile lives run on a Redarc Manager 30. It’s a state-of-the-art battery management system that charges and maintains auxiliary batteries by incorporating AC, DC and solar inputs. We’re not sure where we’d be without it!
We’ve now been living out of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 3 years. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that our FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all our years on the road!
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails no matter where we are. On X allows us to access saved maps offline so we can locate ourselves in the wild when there’s no service.
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable on everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you anywhere you want to be!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
We’ve trusted our Jetboil cooking systems for years. Our favorite, the Flash Cooking system is lightweight, compact and perfect for any trip!
