Monday, June 21, 2010

Whale Watching, Juneau, 6/20

This was the very first HOT day...what a relief! At one point we actually had to dust off the air conditioner in the car, and people were walking around in shorts and t-shirts. One girl was even in her bikini top - that might have been taking it too far! The highlight of the day was our whale-watching trip with "Captain Larry," an old, crusty, salty seaman who has been doing whale-watching tours in Juneau longer than anyone has been alive (actually, just longer than any other tour company!). He was able to spot whales from miles away without using binoculars, and we were the first boat on the scene. Maybe he had sonar? At the outset, Captain Larry said that they don't see Orca (i.e. Killer) Whales 90% of the time. However, within minutes of leaving the dock we spotted a sizable pod of them! Captain Larry used his expertise to get just close enough to the whales without disturbing them, which made for some National Geographic-quality photos. We then went further into the ocean and Captain Larry knew exactly where to look for humpbacks. Again, we got extremely lucky because we came upon a pod of humpbacks feeding using the "bubble" method. This is when they surround a bunch of Krill by blowing bubbles around them, and herd them toward the surface. Then they take turns shooting up from below and swim sideways with their mouths open to scoop up the Krill. The owner of the campsite where we're staying said it took her 12 years to see bubble feeding, and Captain Larry said it was extremely unusual to spot this behavior. When we got back to shore we decided that we had enough energy to return to the Mendenhall Glacier for a 4-mile hike through steep rainforest hillsides where there were spectacular vistas of the mountains and glacier. Little did we know that another first awaited us after we finished the hike. From a distance we heard some kids screaming "beaver," so we decided to investigate. They pointed out where they had seen it, and even though it required tramping through several icy-cold, glacier-fed streams WITHOUT our socks and shoes on, we made the trek...and boy did it pay off! There was a family of beavers, very busy and hard at work carrying branches to their dam and munching on bark and leaves. After the hike we still weren't completely tired out, and the sun doesn't go down until around 11pm, so we drove the only road out of town, which dead ends 40 miles outside the city. Despite the fact that the drive took us several hours and the hour was late, at this latitude the sunset lasts nearly two hours, so we had sunset ocean views nearly the entire drive.

Juneau, 6\19\2010 (26 photos), by Jennifer Bowne


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Juneau, 6\18\2010 (12 photos), by Jennifer Bowne


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Glacier Bay National Park, Juneau, 6/19

The day started at 4:45am (and we're an hour behind Pacific Coast time right now) when we boarded a 4-seater prop plane. We were the only passengers on the magnificent flight over the Chilkat Mountains. At times we were so close to the mountain tops that you could spot individual wildflowers. We landed in Gustavis, a tiny town on the edge of the national park, and took an all-day boat tour through Glacier Bay. Our final destination was Margerie Glacier and Grand Pacific Glacier (only 3/4 mi. from the Canadian border). However, along the way we spotted lots of wildlife. There were tons of sea otters playing in the water when we first began our ride (this was a first for us). Then we saw humpback whales, porpoises, and sea lions. As we got further into the bay, we passed a rocky hillside with several mountain goats and a couple of kids (another first...and Jenny was the eagle eye who spotted them first!). On several occasions we also observed groups of tufted puffins (ANOTHER first), which are small black birds with colorful, tucan-like beaks. Later we were told to keep a lookout for bears along a certain beach, and guess who spotted one...that's right, old eagle eye Jenny! It was a sole grizzly foraging along the waterline for mussels. We were so close that we could see him lifting up rocks in search for food. After several hours on the water we finally reached our first iceburgs and glaciers. We learned that mini-iceburgs are called "burgie bits" and "growlers." The Margerie Glacier was a towering pale blue wall of ice stretching a mile along the waterline. You could see the scrap marks that chronicled its journey down from the Brady Icefield. We saw it calve (pieces of ice break off into the water), along with many waterfalls as ice was beginning to melt. On the way back, we saw several other glaciers, including: Grand Pacific, John Hopkins, Reid, and Lampugh...all were stunning! We flew back to Juneau on another tiny plane that evening, and we were so exhausted that we fell asleep quickly that night!

Mt. Roberts, Juneau, 6/18

Today was our first rain-less day in what seemed like several weeks!! We decided to hit the trails and do the 5-mile Mt. Roberts hike. We started by taking a tram up to the top of the mountain. When we arrived, we hiked above the treeline into the sub-alpine region to gain spectacular views of the area. Then we hiked down the mountain through lush rainforest. The hike was pretty grueling, as there was much mud from the previous rainy weather, but it was a great workout and well worth it once we made it to the bottom! Later in the afternoon we decided to drive around Douglas Island, which is opposite Juneau and connected by a bridge. We stopped at several turnouts for great views and ended up hiking along a beach where had mountain views and saw various seabirds.

Sitka & Juneau, 6\17\2010 (5 photos), by Jennifer Bowne


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Sitka & Juneau, 6/17

On our last day in Sitka we awoke to the usual drizzle. However, this didn't stop us from taking a Ranger-guided totem pole hike through the Sitka National Historical Park. The trail took us through mist-shrouded rainforest, along spectacular coastline, and included about a dozen totem poles. At each pole the ranger explained the history and legends behind what we were seeing. At mid-day we boarded the new, fast ferry to Juneau. Midway, Jenny was christened "Sequence Champion of the World" (this is a board game introduced to us by our friends Adam & Katie that we brought along for these long ferry rides). Upon arriving in Juneau we wasted no time in seeing the sights. We took a brief walk around downtown (but it was completely deserted due to the fact that there was no cruise ship docked) and got our first glimpse of the Mendenhall Glacier, which is a large, tidewater glacier.