Newsletter 9 - July 2013

We had booked our ferries about two weeks before we sailed, so that gave us a deadline to plan our trip around Alaska. All went well and we lined up in Haines two hours before departing. 

Our Marine Ferry coming into Haines

It was a lovely sunny evening and we sailed on calm water with snow covered mountain tops on both sides of the channel. 

Cruise Ship on the Inside Passage

A cruise ship from Skagway followed and soon overtook us. 

Scenery on the way to Juneau

It was only four hours to Juneau, the capital of Alaska which we explored for two days.

Ferry loading ramp

We booked into an RV Park and at Corrinna’s (the owners) suggestion, parked the van at Walmart and caught the bus into town. There were people everywhere from the three cruise ships. 

Downtown Juneau

Corrinna had warned us about the crowds. She had a chart on the wall of the ships coming in each day in July. On two Mondays there were seven ships and it averaged about 3-5 every other day. She was very critical of the cruise ship companies and the effect on the locals. 

Local art - carved ram's horn

It seems all the front shops are owned by the cruise companies especially all the jewellery shops and that makes it extremely hard for local businesses that are open all year. It seems there are even shopping suggestion sessions on board before the ship docks. 

Every Grandma has to buy one of these

When the season is over the shops are boarded up and all the stock, staff, and helicopter companies, leave Juneau for the Caribbean. 

Juneau sea planes - local taxis to the many island communities

Even the shuttle buses only work the hours the ships are tied up. The locals don’t like to complain as cruise ships bring business to their city with people doing museum visits, tram rides and town walks etc. We haven’t done a cruise. Maybe you can tell us if these details are correct.

After ten minutes we were done with shopping and did the town walk which took us to the Capitol building (that was having a renovation to make it more “earthquake proof”). 

State Legislature-Capitol Building

A guided tour here was very interesting as was the history of Juneau video at the City Museum. 
A well liked judge from the turn of the century had built a grand house, Wickersham, now a museum, up on 7^th Street.

Wickersham House

Dining area in Wickersham House

To get there you have to climb the steps as the hills are too steep for streets. The views were really good and we came down more flights of stairs with landings to go off to the various homes. There was another old Russian Orthodox Church (St Nicholas), and gardens and flowers everywhere in the neighbourhood.

St Nicholas Church

The Federal Building downtown is about 5-6 stories high and from one of the upper floors is a large patio which makes good viewing of the town.

View of Juneau from Federal Building

Later that afternoon we drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier. 

G & J with fireweed in bloom in front of the Mendenhall Glacier

Fleets of helicopters had been shuttling people from the cruise ships all day and it was spectacular. Several places provided stunning overlooks and the cloud in the upper valley gave the ice face a bluer colour. 

Mendenhall Glacier

Glacial ice has a unique crystalline structure that absorbs and reflects light giving the ice the blue appearance. 

River of ice - Mendenhall Glacier

We were disappointed it was an overcast day but we had been told that glacial viewing is often best on an overcast or rainy day. There were board walks along the creek and salmon were there swimming madly upstream.We drove to the end of the road on the island, and before we lined up for the ferry,

The coast north of Juneau

we went to the salmon hatchery.

Macaulay Salmon Hatchery

Salmon return to where they were born. A fish ladder has been built along the harbour edge 

Fish ladder at Macaulay Hatchery

and there were so many jumping salmon you could have “walked” across them. They congregate in the area slowly making their way up the fish ladders to the large tanks of the fish hatchery that they think is their place of birth. 

Salmon trying to get back home

As they swim through the gates they are stunned, milked of their eggs and sperm, and then used for fertilizer, cat food or fish oil (after spawning they will die very soon). So the eggs are fertilized in tanks and grow for up to a year before they are released as fingerlings/fry. They swim out to the ocean and after five or so years return to the fish hatchery and it all starts again.

We saw Bald Eagles catching salmon here too. They certainly knew where the food was.

Bald eagle waiting for fish

So back on the ferry for about 36 hrs which gave us time to edit photos, catch up on the diary and sort out the innumerable tourist booklets. 

Marine Ferry - lifeboat drill

A whale of a tail

Killer Whales

We also chatted with the other people on board and met a couple from Wagga Wagga, before heading for our cabin. 

Sunset from the ferry

The ferry stopped at Sitka, Kake, 

Through "the narrows" between Sitka and Kake

Petersburg and Wrangell before we arrived in Ketchikan at 6.45 in the morning.

In the stillness of the morning

We drove through town which was very quiet at that time on the morning. A few miles south of the town we saw our Ketchikan bear.

Ketchikan Bear

The three cruise ships' passengers hadn’t disembarked but we realised parking our RV was going to be a problem. Fortunately it was Sunday and no-one was taking up the Government building lot so we left the RV, had a coffee at the drive up espresso bar,

Drive-in, walk-in espresso bar

and walked to downtown. There were four ships there and they look huge when you view them from the end of the street. 

Cruise ships bring thousands of people a day to these towns along the coast.

Cruise ship

Ketchikan calls itself a linear town, ten miles long and three blocks wide.

Ketchikan boardwalk

Front Street, Ketchikan

We found Creek Street, 

Creek Street

Creek Street, Ketchikan

a boardwalk on wooden piles spanning Ketchikan Creek (the original red light area – now souvenir shops and food shops) and then found the shuttle bus that took us to the Totem Heritage Cultural Centre, our introduction to the saved totem poles of the Tlingit and Haidas peoples from this area. 

Totem poles

Inside the Meeting House

This coastal town began with gold and mining and when that waned, the fishing industry grew. 

Dockside Statue for those who came after gold

Timber and a pulp mill was the next big employer and now it’s tourism.

Welcome to Ketchikan

That night we drove north to the end of the road to Settlers Cove. It was the prettiest campground with salmon berries for the picking. 

Salmon berries

We overlooked the rocky bay (with sand) and in the morning did the hike through the spruce-hemlock rainforest. 

Settlers Cove

There were also huge old red cedars too with green mosses covering the fallen trees and small pine cones by the thousands. 

Harry Potter's Forest

Ketchikan gets an average of 160 inches of rain each year. It rains two out of three days and the locals refer to this as “liquid sunshine”. 

Ketchikan Barometer

So the thick moss and lichens in the undergrowth are like being in Harry Potter’s forest.

Walk in the forest

The day was brightening up and we were soon taking our photos in sunshine. More totem poles on the way back to town at Totem Bight. 

Totem Bight Park

These were either restored or copied by native carvers and placed in a park-like area with a clan house on site too.

Carving Totem poles - they charge $3,000 per foot for custom designs

We left the RV at the ferry terminal and caught the bus back into town to try the halibut for lunch at the Fish and Chips shack – a lovely white sweet fish.

Fish and Chips - Chowder and halibut

Another town walk up the hillside passed old fishermen’s homes, over timber footpaths and roads (originally boards – now sealed) that hang out from the cliff. 

View over Ketchikan with four cruise boats

Back to the ferry terminal by bus and we “stayed in our line”, cooked dinner and went to bed for four hours. The RV is quite self sufficient for “free camping”.

The ferry left at 4.30 am and after a pleasant cruise that morning we docked at Prince Rupert about lunchtime in the rain/drizzle. 

Foggy Morning

Lighthouse along the coast

We had a quick look around town, some shopping and a visit to the library to check the net and do some online banking. 

Museum of Northern British Columbia

Then we went back to the museum for the guided tour of the Indian artefacts – best thing to do in the rain.

Decorative crown made from bear claws

The 1300km drive to Jasper took us four days. The local information centres are very helpful and there was a huge variety of places to visit. The road (and rail) follows the huge Skeena River on a leisurely drive up the valley with huge mountains (lost in cloud) for about a third of the way. Then the road travelled through a wide farming valley where lots of hay was being baled, 

Baled hay

before coming back into big mountains of the Rockies where only half of Mt Robson (Canada’s highest at 3954m) was visible. For the whole trip we had climbed to 800m, a very scenic road.

Everytime we stopped we could hear rushing water – over rapids, through canyons or tumbling over pebbles and stones. Then we only had to look up and follow the snowdrift and the little waterfalls soon become big waterfalls that were just streaming into the valleys and river.

Rugged mountains and Bulkley River

On the way we visited the rebuilt K’San Village at Hazelton, 

K'San Village

Chief's House

Suspension bridge over Hagwilget Canyon

Old Hazelton Village

stopped to look at Moricetown Canyon, 

Moricetown Canyon

and stayed that night at Smithers. 

The camp was attached to a par three golf course so the next morning we made good use of the glorious day and played, surrounded by snow covered mountains and a few high glaciers. 

Main Street, Smithers

Of course we would wonder sometimes what it would be like here in winter.

McBride Railway Station and Visitor Information Centre

Having heard of the new heir’s birth (and name), some two days after everyone else, we stopped off in Prince George to have our photo taken under the welcome sign, along with our Yass Tribune. 

Welcome to Prince George - 22 July 2013

We thought it was very appropriate to show our interest.

More rain in the morning but we still did the walk through the old growth forest of huge cedars 

Cedar Trees

Fallen Giant

and later that day drove to Switzer Provincial Park where Morgan (a Canadian-Yass Rotary exchange student from 2006) was working.

G & J with Morgan at Kellie's Bathtub Lake

It was great to see her again having started our Alaskan adventure from here five weeks before. So after a couple of days and a strenuous walk up to the Athabasca Lookout 

G & J with Morgan at Mt Athabasca Lookout

Wildflowers everywhere

to get the heart pumping, we said our goodbyes and headed for Edmonton.