July 19 - Glacier Bay Adventure Day 1 - Juneau to Haines AK

Flew into Juneau AK last night, my first trip to Southeast Alaska. The flight was wonderful; could see down to the ground all the way to Seattle. Lots of snow on Mt Ranier and the surrounding mountains - saw one other snowy peak (very rounded - perhaps Mt Hood).

Landing in Seattle is a bit surprising as all the grass at the airport was very brown -- I thought it always rains in Seattle. They must be under that same persistent weather system that's got UT in drought conditions as well.

Pretty clear on the way to Juneau - seeing lots of snowy mountain ranges along the way. As we got nearer to Juneau, the ground disappears into clouds. The cool is that some of the mountain peaks are standing above the fluffy clouds!

Landed safely and took a taxi to the "destination hotel" in downtown Juneau. Phase 1 complete - arrive safely in Juneau.

Today (Sunday), I get up to a very overcast Juneau but at least it's not raining!!. I meet the 5 other people on my trip plus the guide and off we went to the Alaskan Ferry that will take us from Juneau to Haines up through the Lynn Channel. (My first travels on the Alaskan Maritime Highway.)

Along the way to the ferry terminal, we drive pass the Mendenhall Glacier - very pretty - looking forward to seeing it up close on our last day.

We arrive at the Ferry terminal on Auke Bay. On board, we get seats on the upper deck in an area called the Solarium -- just a covered portion of the upper deck. As the ferry moves from the dock, we get departure greeting from 2 Bald Eagles perched on some poles. Very majestic birds!

Exiting Auke Bay, we have some good view of a glacier (this might be the Mendenhall, we are nearby)

Off we went for the 4.5 hrs cruise through channel. The entire way we see beautiful mountain peaks (some snow covered, some glacier covered and some clear), lots of waterfalls all of them tumbling down from the highest points of the mountains (which were 5-7000ft tall).

Did I mention the glaciers, lots of them. See one glacier that was really multiple glacier streams merged together - I could see the striations of dirt were the glaciers merged.

On some glaciers, I could tell that they just recently receded as the ground was just dirt or rock - no vegetation; the vegetation was further down the mountain.

All very spectacular!!!

The special treats of the ride -- two humpback whales. A very brief encounter - the guide see them first and then we wait. Of course, I am looking in the wrong direction when the one breaches, I just see the splash. But I did see the tail of the second whale!!!

Further along, I see about 5 porpoises (probably Harbor Porpoises) - quite by luck. I was exiting from the bathroom when I saw several people running for the lower deck, I knew it was something good and followed along. And I'm happy I did. The porpoises were behind us in the distance. Yea!

Along the way, we see Salmon that we jumping out of the water. Makes me jump several times thinking it was something like a porpoise, seal, etc.

One salmon jumps along for quite some distance - perhaps it's getting chased by a predator.

We are closing in on  a white building on an island - looks like a monastery -- but it turns out to be a lighthouse on Sentinel Island.

As we get closer to Haines, the water got a little milkier - meaning more glacier silt.

And yes, we're still passes mountains and glaciers.

As we dock in Haines, we get a low circular deck flyover by 2 Bald Eagles - an awesome greeting to Haines.

Once off the boat, we head for our hotel - Hotel Halsingland (former Commanding Officer Quarters of Historic Fort Seward). I have a wonderful room looking at the channel (and mountains and Fort Seward fire hose tower) out one window

and a park (former parade grounds) out the other. Very beautiful!

After lunch, we head for a short 1 mile hike through the woods to Battery Point at the Chilkat State Park.

On the way, I see lots of Fireweed in bloom. It blooms from the bottom up and its close to being bloomed out. 

Around the trail's parking area - there are red elderberry (with berries), devil's claw and twisted stalk (this looks a bit like Solomon's Seal). I did not know that the berry of Twisted Stalk is eatable - called watermelon berry. Tried it, really doesn't have much of a taste but it does give a pop of water in the mouth. Blueberries are also found -- they were very tart.

And that's all before we start the trail. The trail was through a Sitka Spruce/Hemlock forest. Lots of wonderful wooded plants

Bunchberry -- some with berries and other not.

Shy Maiden (past bloom), Rein Orchids, and Skunk Cabbage (only one with a bloom stalk) -- much larger than the ones in the Midwest.

Bright orange mushrooms (I think our guide called them Shelf Mushrooms) - these are eatable.

It starts to rain while we are in the forest. I can hear the rain but the forest really protects us from getting wet.

Upon exiting the forest, we see a small patch of Fireweed in front of the water - so pretty. 

We also find, yellow Paintbrush, sweet pea and a wild Geranium (blue).

Never make it to Battery Point (the endpoint of the hike) - partly because of the rain and partly because the guide had to take one the participants back to the car. But that's OK still a great hike!!

At supper, the special is Dungeness Crab. I would like to try it I have no idea how to eat it with the body shell and all. I mention this to the guide and lady (from Portland) sitting next to me. The lady orders the crab and made it a point to show me how to "attack" it. She was pretty insistent (had the guide and myself laughing) but extremely helpful. Now the pressure is on for me to order it at the next opportunity :)

After supper, we went to look for  bear on the Chilkoot River. They are seen when the salmon begin to run and the salmon are just starting their run. Not many bear have been seen at the river recently but at some point they will arrive, so we took a chance -- we only need one bear. It's raining harder now as we watch intently at the river as we drive slowly down the road. Seeing only fisherman.

Pass the fish gate which funnels the salmon through an exit point (fisheries do this to count the salmon - around 7000 went through the gate today).

But no bear tonight :(

Time to call it a day -- good day!