Tenakee Springs, July 1, 2012: Quintessential, Quirky Alaska

Only Road in Town

One skinny, muddy, dirt road shoots the through town – population 100, swelling to 200 in the summer.  The posted speed limit is 10 MPH but since no cars or trucks are permitted I guess they’re talking to the golf carts draped in canvas and sport utility wagons topped with blue tarps that tool up and down the road to nowhere – it ends on both sides of town.  The claim to fame here is the natural hot springs in the public bath house – “Nude Bathing Only Please” – Men 6 AM - 9 AM, Women 9 AM -12 PM and so on, staggered throughout the day, until late in the evening when there is a free for all.  No clothes,  no soap - no thanks.

When we are close to the harbor, Safari radios us, having parted company and destinations with them in Sitka, to tell us they just left Tenakee Springs and there is a great bakery in town that serves cinnamon rolls.  It just so happens that I am on a quest to find the best cinnamon roll.  Last summer I started this journey and I had plenty of contestants up and down the BC coast as every harbor and town we went to had a bakery with cinnamon rolls.  I just assumed I would continue up the coast in Alaska trying every cinnamon roll, large small, frosted or glazed - I would try them all, my quest having no boundaries, no sacrifice too great.

Words to Live By

Turns out my quest has been squelched as there are no bakeries in Alaska thus far, well…,   Ketchikan has a bakery in town but since it is only open when cruise ships are in – nada.  Next, Wrangle has no bakery, they barely have a town.   Meyers Chuck, the hamlet of 20 people, has cinnamon rolls but you must call the Post Mistress – yes, post mistress - ahead of time to let her know you’re coming and she will bake them and deliver them to your boat – a full service postal office. Unfortunately, I did not know this in advance.  Petersburg had a bakery but the owner developed a gluten allergy and closed – you can’t make this stuff up.  Sitka has a bakery that does wedding cakes but they are closed for the month of June – really, June?   June is the month you want to take off? 

The Bar

The situation is so dire that just last   night I resorted to  whipping  up my own buns based on a recipe the chef from Pybus Lodge gave me after much discussion including  the merits of raisins – sometimes, nuts – never.  But now little Tenakee Springs, they have a bakery.  I am delighted.



Nicer than Most Homes

Tenakee Springs is lined with small wooden cabins, some being added onto, and a limited “commercial” district - said bakery, a general store with the basics and one bar of questionable repute – just our kind of place,  but at 7 PM on a Saturday night – it was boarded up.



 I follow the road out of town and meet up with a resident heading the same way.  He tells me that the residents of Tenakee are at their best when things are tough but other times they just stir up trouble. Sounds like the rest of the U.S.  We passed a cemetery with one raised burial spot which got me to wondering how that whole death thing works without a funeral home for embalming.  I know that further up the coast in Haines, the local True Value store sells caskets -  but here?

Local Resident
Taking a Sip From Stream

                                               

We walked further into the woods, crossed a brook,  and there on a tree hung 2 communal coffee cups tied to a branch by some wire, perfect for quenching your thirst with the fresh water cascading down from the mountains.  These streams are what provide most of the residents with their water supply, a gravity drip system tapping into these creeks.

It’s a quirky little town all right – Jim thinks its hillbilly heaven, I prefer to see it as part hippie holdout, part artist’s haven.  But the cinnamon rolls – not so much.