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| Photo Gallery |
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| Photographer Rich Reid |
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Alaska's Virgin Islands
Over a decade of experience as a backcountry guide makes photographer Rich Reid about as close to an Alaska expert as they come. So when Reid and Contributing Editor Robert Earle Howells pitched Adventure a twist on the classic Alaska-unbound experience—using the ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway to island-hop the Inside Passage—we were hooked. (Check out "Floating Into the Country" in the May issue.)
Their strategy was simple: To cruise up to a handful of the hundreds of islands that stud the Inside Passage, saddle-up mountain bikes and BOB (Beast of Burden) trailers, and pedal off into a wilderness teeming with mystical totem poles, black bears, old-growth forests, and glorious vistas of proportions far beyond any found on a "Visit Alaska" postcard.
"In just half a day, we would ride through such vast extremes—from marine rain forests to arctic deserts, glacial valleys to muskeg wetlands," says Reid, who notes that this mode of ferry-hopping is a favorite among seasonal guides and Alaska locals, but is still far from the tourist beat.
"The culture on the ferries is amazing—everyone has a sincere outdoor spirit," says Reid. "At the end of every day we were welcomed into a warm house for a cold beer and good stories where the laughter was infectious."
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