Sitka Day 2

Woke up to more rain.  Temps in the 60s.  We decided to go ahead with the tour of the rain forest.  We weren't sure what to expect.  Kayla picked us up at the motel and drove us to a dock where we met Thorton.  He took us in a small boat to an island which took about 45 minutes.  When he put the boat on the beach, we met Casey.  These are all young people in their 20s.  Casey was the one that would lead us into the forest.  We were surprised that we would be doing our own driving of the ATV 4X4.  Barry took that task as I wanted no part of it.  At least it had a roof, so we weren't drenched with the rain.
As we drove through the forest, we were impressed with the amount of ground cover and moss.  That's picture number 1.  Then we stopped in an area where Casey explained the types of trees and the logging that took place in the 1970s and '80s.  The second picture shows the new growth from the logging and how it's covered with moss.
The third picture is of trees that grow only about 15 feet, but are about 300 years old.  I can't remember the name, but they were left because they weren't the kind of wood they wanted to log.  The growth cut down was hemlock, spruce, and cedar.
Next is a small, small pond in the muskeg (that's like a bog in a temperate rain forest).  The pond can actually be as deep as 20-25 feet.
Then we came to a meadow and had hoped to see wildlife.  We did get a picture of a young bald eagle - his head isn't white yet.
We then reached the North Beach which is a black sand beach.  Some people do actually swim the 55 degree water and surf in it as well.  We did neither :-)
Got a picture of Barry sitting in the driver's seat of the ATV and Casey took a picture of us both in the vehicle.
On the way back we again scanned the meadow and were happy to see a couple of bears laying in the grass, so snapped a couple of pictures.
On the way out of the forest we did see some deer, but they don't stand still for photos.
All in all it was an awesome time.  We were wet & cold, but it was an amazing site.  And we were able to get acquainted with Thorton & Casey on the way back to the dock.  We were their only customers today.  Tomorrow the cruise ships come in and they have five groups of six to take out.  We assume the company has more employees to handle the load.  We were glad we had the extra time to get to know this neat, young couple.  Oh, and their dog, Jenkins, who joined us on our journey.  He is a German Shepherd/Rotweiler mix.
After the tour, we came back to the motel to shower and do laundry.  The next few days we are back tracking our steps to get out of Alaska and back on the road.
Sorry the pictures didn't come out in order.  Hope you can figure them out.
Enjoy & talk to you later!