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Written by Jane
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Sunday, 13 July 2008 |
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The final stage of our journey. 
We started out for Alaska from Seattle, traveling through Banff and Jasper. I thought nothing could compare to their beauty until we got to Alaska. It was our first look at the icefields of Northern Canada, retreating glaciers and lakes colored a surreal turqoise from glacial meltwaters. Lots of wildlife and luckily great weather too.                  
We sailed on the Alaska ferry from Prince Rupert, BC to Juneau. The ferries here are long and slow as they make their way up the inside passage. Luckily, bordered on both sides by beautiful mountains and abundant wildlife, we haven’t been bored. Our first ferry trip was two days. Kell had the run of the ship and made a few friends so that was fun. Miles and I found the bar and wavered from our tee-totalling lifestyle for a night.      
We’ve spent time in Sitka (a small island south of Juneau) and in Juneau for the last two weeks, soaking up the coastal life again. What the climate lacks in desirability here (wet most of the time), the scenery more than makes up for. We’ve been hiking around glaciers, mountains and muskegs, we’ve seen whales and bears and eagles too many to count. We’ve observed seals calving on iceberg floes and elk calving in the campgrounds. It’s just overwhelming and wild. The people up here are great too. On Sitka, we caught up with our Montana friend Jeannie’s cousin Wendy (got that?). She and her husband Jason and their 5 year old daughter Grace were the most gracious hosts – taking us on a picnic our first night there and then on a fabulous hike the next day. Kell had a great time trying to keep up with Grace who is truly a force of nature.   
We came back to Juneau for a few days and got a chance to hike up around some old mines, and take a boat out to see a calving tidewater glacier in the Tracy Arm Fords Terror Wilderness. It was by far one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen. To get to the glacier we had to slowly make our way up a narrow 1200 foot deep fjord. On either side we say towering walls, waterfalls and bears munching on mussel-encrusted rocks, bald eagles fighting over fish, and the seals and their pups basking on the ice that floats down the fjord from the glacier. Sawyer glacier is known for shedding huge chunks of ice and snow into the water on a regular basis and we got a few glimpses of that once the captain had managed to navigate the boat through the maze of swirling icebergs (some as big as the boat).               
Being in Alaska is like traveling through the looking glass, and if I could actually sleep at night during the summer (it gets dark at 11 and light at 3;30), and if it weren’t so so hard to get to, I might consider living here instead of Nelson. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 14 July 2008 )
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