Gunalcheesh ax xooni (Thank You, My Friends)

Days 49 to 51 – July 14 - 16, 2015

North from the 38^th to the 64^th  parallel latitude … 51 days on the road, 6,400 miles … driving, hiking, sightseeing, sailing the inside passage ... learning about native Alaskan Tribes ... and experiencing life … and each other.     

     Wildlife is always miraculous. It’s not like you can call “here bear” or “here elk” and expect them to come on command. Each visit is a blessing.

 It’s said that expectation is just a set-up for disappointment. Did we find what we were looking for or did what we found surprise and amaze us? In any case, this trip was remarkable in that our experiences were unexpected and unusual … new and startling … and in some cases unbelievable. 

Did we see it all? … no! Alaska and northern Canada take years to experience. We did not go to the Arctic Circle or sail Glacier Bay. This is our 21^st blog for this trip and we shared only a portion of what we experienced. Some of it has no words except “I didn’t know that” and “Wow”. 

Did things go awry? … of course. A tire went bad and had to be replaced; the alignment is not good … but can’t find a place that can lift our Coyote; the ferry lost 4 ½ hours turning back to Juneau for a medical emergency (which made it a 30 hour trip ... glad we got a cabin); smoke from wildfires; rain (but mostly only when driving) ... and we missed connecting with people we would have liked to meet up with.

We’ve been focusing on small churches when we photograph them … this Usk Chapel is tiny … seats only 12 people. Found in British Columbia between Terrace and Jasper on Hwy 16.

 
This is our last blog for this trip … but we’re still on the road. We sailed from Juneau to Prince Rupert … arriving in Canada once again. 

Our plans are to drive east for about 2,000 miles to visit with our grandchildren in Minnesota. We are traveling on Highway 16 across the middle of Canada. After that we are going to Dan’s side of the family reunion in Kentucky. After that we might even go home to Colorado. Although we’ve found that home is wherever we are … with each other.

We’ve found phenomena tiny and big and alive and new in the northern county … and spectacular! AND ... All of you are a blessing for enjoying our blog. Thank you for allowing us to share our trip!

So as the Tlingit say, Gunalcheesh ax xooni!

Dan and Vicki Rector
Colorado
08 Roadtrek 210 Popular      

Saints and Devils

Days 46 to 48 – July 11 - 13, 2015

As mentioned in the last blog … we did not spend much time in the touristy parts of Juneau. We did go up the tram … bought a couple gifts … but headed out of that area soon.

There is a 41 mile road on the island going north called the Glacier Highway. A wonderful drive with many pullouts to discover unique and lovely places. 

     
     

Along this road there is a small chapel called St. Therese Shrine. Built in 1938 of natural stone, it is located on a tiny island 400 feet from the mainland shore. Accessed by a man-made causeway, it is a genuine discovery. And it is Sunday … and the Bishop is presiding. Dan and he visited and upon learning that Dan is Raiders fan, the bishop promised to pray for his conversion. The island also has other beautiful features … a truly lovely setting. Trust Vicki to find a labyrinth!

Hemlock Forest, Islands, Devils, Skunks and Waterfalls

We’ve partial to ranger talks and walks and have learned much about what we are encountering. 

The trees at the end of the Glacier Highway are hemlocks; the plants at the bottom edge of the picture are called Devil’s Club; you can see how thickly it grows … very spiny branches and nasty … produces painful rashes if touched; you can see why you cannot walk in this forest.





The large green plant huge ... 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide; called a skunk cabbage, it is very poisonous.




The gnarled tree is actually being traumatized by growths called Witch’s broomsticks … a cousin to mistletoe.

 

… and tiny islands everywhere ... and waterfalls … and fishing. Such a charming setting (Echo Cove) … makes us wish we were fishermen.

Passing to the Inside

Inside Passage

Days 44 & 45 – July 9 - 10, 2015

Now driving for 43 days does provide surprises around every corner and vistas never before seen as well as the opportunity to stop on a whim and a chance. However, for a change of pace we decided to take our Coyote on the Alaskan Marine Highway. Leaving Haines on the ferry we traveled to Juneau (to which there are no car roads at all) and stayed there for four days.

     Besides being the state capital of Alaska, Juneau is a popular visit for the monster cruise ships. So the port of Juneau can see up to eight cruise ships that are immense, enormous, colossal (ok, you get it … it makes our ferry look like a tugboat) that disgorge thousands of tourists every day into the city. The population is doubled and the residents are preoccupied with entertaining those tourists and visualize Honolulu or a small version of Vegas. So … we left the downtown to its business and ventured to other more verdant vistas and entertainment by the local fauna.

     
     The flowers in the picture are found in Glacier Gardens … a neat place created by a local gardener who capitalized on 400+ acres destroyed by an avalanche and rendered commercially useless. He rearranged the hillside with detention ponds and drainage and roads all intended to deter future avalanches and then planted daisies and begonias and thousands of other floral wonders. Including upside down dead trees planted with flowers … flower towers! A tour through these gardens is incredible. Our tour guide is a microbiology student from Nevada.

Ice Everywhere

Beyond Juneau in the mountains are thousands of acres of glaciers a icefield. The Juneau Icefield is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska and continues north through the border with British Columbia and is the fifth-largest ice field in the Western Hemisphere, extending through an area of 1,500 sq mi. in the Coast Range ranging 87 mi north to south and 47 mi east to west. The icefield is the source of many glaciers including the Mendenhall Glacier and the Taku Glacier. The ice field is home to over 40 large valley glaciers and 100 smaller ones.

      They pour out into the channels and inlets. OK … ‘pour’ may be a poor choice of words … they are receding which means they are melting and calving and filling the lakes and channels and rivers below them that eventually run into the ocean. A ranger says that by 2050 these glaciers will no longer be visible as they are now. 

These first two pictures are of glaciers taken from the ferry before we docked. The first picture is Taku Glacier; the second is Mendenhall Glacier.

The third picture is the Mendenhall Glacier up close. There is a visitor center there with all kinds of ranger talks and fascinating information. Trails lead out for closer looks of the glacier 
and to an adjacent water fall.

Camping

The best sites to overnight or stay a few days we have found are the state, federal (Forest Service, Nat’l Parks and campgrounds) or provincial parks. Inexpensive (1/2 price if you have a USA senior pass). They are cheap, safe and large. Some of them have sites so large you can’t see the next camper in any direction. For example, In Juneau at the Mendenhall Forest Service campground, we bet the sites were a minimum of ½ acre each or more, and were only $21 a night with full hookups. In Haines, the state campground, Chilkoot Lake, was at the end of a beautiful river road and the sites were on or near the lake… boondocking for $15.

Flowers and Ravens in Juneau roadsides. 

    

More about Juneau in the next blog……………..