Juneau

A 4 hour ferry ride from Haines brought us to Juneau. Juneau has a population of about 31,000 and is the capital of Alaska. It has a more touristy, city feel. Many cruise ships parked at the docks and many activities and shopping. We camped out of town, in a wooded forest service campground near Mendanhol Glacier. The only drawback was the constant sound of helicopters taking tourists to see the glacier. And of course rain followed us.

We visited the glacier and visitor center also, with the photos you see. In the 90's the glacier receded an average of 30 ft a year. The past couple of years it has been closer to 300 ft a year. The reason glaciers are blue is a lack of oxygen as they compact.

A highlight of Juneau was the Alaska State Museum. They had one of the best displays of Native culture and artifacts that we have seen. Also, the 2 raven photos are from a exhibit of art works by Evon Zerbetz from Ketchikan depicting the antics of ravens from real life stories. Very cute. Very enjoyable.

Road to Haines

The weather hasn't cooperated with us for the past few weeks. Occasional breaks in the clouds, make us run out of the trailer to see the Mts that have been hiding. Camping almost always on water of some sort is great, but hard to enjoy with the rain. Every pair of shoes are wet, as well as mildew in the trailer. Headed south on the Glen highway, retracing our steps a bit to the Alaskan highway, through Haines Junction to Haines. Passed a few campgrounds in the Yukon with some serious bear warnings. A grizzly ran across the road on the Haines highway. Remote area, very wild and beautiful.

The town of Haines has a hometown feel. Few tourists, lots of colorful locals, gorgeous views and wild areas make it a favorite of ours. We camped 10 miles out of town at Chilkoot Lake Campground right on the lake. It is a heavily wooded area where the lake flows into the river and 1/4 mile later the river into the Lynn canal (ocean). We enjoyed this area for 6 days, seeing bears on the river side, constant chattering of bald eagles, and ravens. Crossing the river is a weir, a bridge type of structure where the Fish and Wildlife department is counting sockeye salmon that pass through it daily. We saw the count go from about 20 to 200+, but were unsuccessful at catching any.

The Southeast Alaska Fair took place during our visit, reminded me of the Heath Fair in MA. Small country fair with music, judged items, food, 2 rides for kids. Another activity that appealed to Joe was the wood cutting contest, that drew quite a crowd. Overall a very nice day at the fair.

We were unable to hike or bike ride due to the constant rain during our visit. I have been told over and over that this is an unusual summer with temps rarely getting up into the 60"s.

Woke this morning thinking of an event that happened 38 years ago today. The birth of my baby boy!! Hard to believe that much time has passed. He has done so much in his life and worked hard in a variety of positions at the University of MA, volunteering in his community in many projects, and most importantly a wonderful attentive father of 2 beautiful children. I am proud of my son, and Happy Birthday Travis!!

Homer area and Anchorage

It has been a long time between hookups, we have gone as much as 2 weeks without electric, but each time we travel the battery in the trailer recharges. Spent 5 nights in a Forest service campground 20 miles north of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. Lovely little site overlooking the Cook Inlet. We saw bald eagles in pairs with their young from our campsite and in Homer. They are very plentiful in that area. Homer has 2 sides, touristy and wonderful. Beautiful spot with a long, narrow spit of land where there is a convention of RVer's, as well as partiers, mixed up with fishermen. We spent about 30min there! However in the main part of town is a wonderful wildlife center, where we took a guided tour through the estuary seeing many interesting plants and birds. The Sandhill cranes had a chick that they were guarding with their lives. We then spent an afternoon browsing through the Pratt Museum. Samples of sea items and history of the area, gardens, artwork (including quilts), and a video area where they play the news special about the Exxon Valdez disaster over and over. A sad reminder of what oil drilling can do to pristine areas. During our stay in AK the supreme court decided not to give the people of the coastal areas that were affected by the disaster their punitive damages they have waited 19+ years for. You can imagine the frustration of the locals. Our visit in Anchorage was much enhanced by staying with Annie and Westby who toured us around the area, fed us, and took us to some hot spots in town. The 4 of us went on a nice bike ride alongside the beautiful Turnagain Sound. It was great getting to know them and spend time chatting, great hosts! Anchorage is an interesting city with a population of about 250,000. Great book stores, restaurants, shopping. There is an interesting mix of people here. Many Alaskan natives, who struggle with poverty, as well as a mixture of other ethnic groups. A large University section and of course, tourists. Bike paths are everywhere here as well as in many of the smaller communities.

Hope Alaska

We found a quiet little town on the Kenai called Hope. It is on the Turnagain Sound about 2 hours outside of Anchorage. It is off the beaten path with colorful locals, old gold mining history, and lots of beautiful views. The town consists of a library, 3 restaurants, a used book store and 2 gift shops. It is very picturesque to just walk through the town. Some fishing at the mouth of a river that enters the sound, but more people panning for gold than fishermen.


What we enjoyed most was the since of small town, quiet, and a beautiful place to camp. Porcupine campground is a USFS site, where many people reserve their campsite, we lucked out and found a nice site for 1 week that did not require a reservation. We could see bald eagles, pine grossbeaks, and other birds. A mother ptarmigan with her brood scuttled by during a hike. A nice 5 mile hike skirted along the bank of the sound from our campground.
Wild flowers continue continue to awe me. All in all we probably would consider this our favorite stop so far, and most likely because we relaxed and didn't need to break camp for a week.


Our next goal is to find fish in the infamous Kenai peninsula. Then south towards Homer.

Denali

We had a mixed experience at Denali and area. Started out chilly in our campground 13 miles into the park. Took the 5 hour bus trip to Wonder lake and ran smack into mosquito ville. On with the head nets and bug spray. Nice little spot on an incline near the lake, should have been lovely but in turned out to be our rainiest day in 8 weeks! One night in the tent for Joe and I, not too bad, but poor Phil, wet, and failed air mattress, left him looking sad after spending the night trying to sleep in a gravel pit covered shelter covered with mosquitoes!

Regular attempts to see "the mountain", everyone looking, it is the big draw of course beside the wildlife. On the bus we saw 2 cute little short eared owl juveniles sitting in a pine tree, 2 grizzlies, a wolf, dall sheep on the hillside. The park was overwhelmed with a peak population of snowshoe hares, which means, there will be a peak in the lynx and wolf populations in the next few years. We also spotted some red fox pups playing, nice sight. A golden eagle roosting on the ground, a jaeger ( pronounced with a y), gulls, and sandpipers in the woods! And of course old Mr Raven follows us everywhere taking advantage of left overs. Everyday we see more and more wildflowers, so many varieties, such as blue bells, lupine, dogwood, fireweed, wild rose, ect., I am amazed at the numbers. We had the treat of watching a dog sledding demo with the rangers, including 6 husky pups. Huskies come in many different colors and types and are bred by their ability to lead, and good temperaments. Dog sleds are used exlusively for patrolling the park by rangers in winter, snow mobiles are prohibited.

Denali is enormous and mostly closed to tourists unless you backpack. Just a few days before we came 2 young women were lost in the park and finally found, following a braid ( rivers separating as a result of glacial runoff). One must really be prepared to venture out into this wilderness.

The day after rain comes the sun, and with it Mt McKinely, over 20,000 ft, which is very grand and quite exciting. Two more days of boon docking and we head back to Anchorage where we bid a farewell to Phil as he heads out to visit his cousin in Kotzebue, a remote area in the Arctic circle, we look forward to hearing about his travels.