Thursday, June 29, 2017

New Frontier

This land called Alaska has been fun to explore. It is a little more rainy than I was expecting, but that hasn't slowed us down much. With 3-day weekends, we can pick the best weather day and cross a hike off of our list. Below will be a description of those hikes and I will also talk about our brief trip back to Portland. As a teaser, I will say that someone gave birth to a baby and we have a picture of it.

As I mentioned in the last post, for most of our time here in Juneau we will be staying on North Douglas Island, about 15 min from downtown. One of the exceptions was a week at the end of May when our host had family coming to town. We found a studio on VRBO about a block from the Governor's Mansion and walking distance to numerous restaurants and hikes. While Julia worked, I was able to jog up Basin Road and explore parts of the Mt Roberts trail and the Flume trail. Plus I had access to a challenging run up 175 stairs that led out of Cope Park.

Over the Memorial Day Wknd, we were able to take advantage of our location by walking to different activities. Saturday we did the Perseverance Trail, which runs along Gold Creek and into the Silverbow Basin, where they used to do some mining. During our hike we saw a few people walking back with snowboards or skis on their back. We found this a little odd, but it all made sense at the end of the hike when we ran into many more of them and asked some questions. It turns out that you can be helicoptered to the top of Sheep Mtn where there are big snow patches for you to play around on. The guys we met loved it and spent hours up there skiing down and hiking back up with skins on to do it over and over again. The adventure opportunities up here really amaze us.


























On Sunday, we booked a trip to the Taku Glacier & Lodge via float plane. This was one of the 2 major/expensive things we knew we had to do while we are in Alaska. These planes are a way of life up here and they are really cool to ride in. You feel every bit of turbulence and just have to trust that the pilot has it under control. The enormous Taku Glacier is a short trip SE of Juneau. It is the deepest and thickest glacier in the world and stretches 36 miles. The photo below gives you and idea of it's size.

We saw about 5 glaciers of varying sizes during the flight up the Taku river. The one below is called East Twin Glacier. Not much further in the distance over the mountains is a country called Canada.

The plane took us to the Taku Lodge, where we could explore the grounds and they grilled up some king salmon for us to eat. After dinner, one of the local bears they call Stewie stopped by to clean the grill. Apparently there are about 7 black bears in the area but only a few come around to eat the drippings. One of the guides stood next to us with a big poking stick in case Stewie got feisty, but it was not necessary on this day. 

During the ride back, I got to sit in the cockpit. Luckily I didn't accidentally hit any fatal buttons and the captain didn't ask me if I like movies about gladiators. The photo below is before our flight back and yes, someone is giving us bunny ears.

The day after our Taku trip (Monday), we played some disc golf with a couple we had met at Taku Lodge. The guy is working as a pilot in Juneau for the summer and his girlfriend was just stopping by before a 3 week trip to Japan. They were fun to talk to and gave us some good information about an ice cave hike we had been wanting to do. After disc golf, we took a smoked salmon picnic lunch to the Shrine of St Therese and soaked up the continued good weather. 

We moved back into our North Douglas apartment after the holiday and were glad to have our water views again. The following weekend we decided to hike the West Glacier trail to the Mendenhall Ice Caves that our new friends had raved about. The hike was great, with a variety of landscapes that kept us interested. After about 2 miles of forest along the shore of Mendenhall Lake, we broke out onto a rock outcropping that we had to go over. Using our hands, we made our way up the rock and at the top were treated with some amazing views of the Mendenhall Glacier up close. 


We proceeded to make our way down to the left side of the glacier, where the ice caves are. Luckily they were still standing as they are known to collapse as the weather gets warmer. We carefully explored the tunnel and marveled at the walls of blue ice. There were just a few other visitors, most of whom arrived using kayaks and hiking only the last 1/4 mile. However you get there, it is an awesome trip. In the photo on the right below, you can see the rock formation we traversed and the lines that the receding glacier leaves behind.





On Monday June 5th, Lucas and Tarah gave birth to a baby boy named Griffin. We knew this was going to happen and had our tickets already booked for a return to Portland for about 5 days starting on the 9th. The timing worked out amazingly well since good friends of ours were getting married that Saturday and we could see our new nephew and attend this party in one trip. 

It was a packed weekend; we saw lots of friends at a bar on Friday night, had brunch with Julia's brother and fiancĂ© on Saturday morning, danced like kids on Saturday night, had a bbq with family down in Salem on Sunday, and then stayed up in Kelso for a few days to see Julia's parents. We miss Portland and are excited to be back in August.    





Back in Juneau; the next weekend we attended a birthday bbq for the boyfriend of one of Julia's coworkers. He wrapped a large hunk of beef in cheese cloth and a burlap sack and buried it in the sand surrounded by hot coals. It cooked for over 8 hours and came out tender and well seasoned. Julia drank wine out of a brown bag and we enjoyed talking with the locals and getting some recommendations.  

The weather was dreary most of the day, but they kept the fire roaring and our jackets still smell like smoke 2 weeks later. We were told not to expect very many sunny days and that we should take advantage of the good ones.

  

 The day after the bbq turned out to be one of those rare perfectly sunny days and we pounced on the opportunity to climb a local peak. Mt Roberts sits directly behind downtown Juneau and is popular for cruise ship tourist who use the tram to take them straight from the docks up to 1,800 ft, but most don't venture much higher than the restaurant and gift shop. We started the hike from the trailhead off of Basin Rd, and slogged through the forest for 2.5 miles till we got to the top of the tram. From there the forest gives way to an alpine meadow that follows a ridge south to an elevation of 3,666 ft. We loved getting further away from the crowds with each step up and the views just got more amazing. The photo below is looking north down the Gastineau Channel, with a paraglider on the upper left, one of the many daily cruise ships below, part of downtown Juneau is middle right, Douglas Island is on the left across the bridge (we live on the north side, over the hills you see), and the Chilkat Mountains far in the distance that contain Glacier Bay on the other side. Yes... there is a lot to take in when you get up high in Alaska.   

The initial goal of the hike was the top of Mt Roberts, but we discovered that the secondary Gastineau Peak was even better and easier to get to, so that was a nice surprise. The top had us slushing through snow fields and walking along a skinny ridge line. For miles and miles, all we could see was snow capped mountains and water. It was the view we had been waiting to get since the beginning of our trip. On the way back down, one of the snowfields served as a slide for us to ride and provided a nice break for the legs. The trip totaled just over 11 miles and we felt the results of all those miles the next couple days when we tried to walk. The scene below is on our way back, looking south down the channel with the peak out of frame behind us. The official top of Mt Roberts is seen in the upper left.  


The following weekend, our tide chart and aurora forecast website were telling us that we might be able to see some things that are somewhat rare. First, it looked like Friday and Saturday would be decent times to try and see the Northern Lights. The activity level was supposed to be "Moderate" so I set the alarm for 1 AM both nights and stumbled to the window. Alas, it was too cloudy and still somewhat bright outside to the north so there was nothing to be seen. I have no idea if I will ever have the chance to see them so I will jump at even the slightest possibility. Hopefully the activity level increases later in July when the skies are darker and presumably clearer. 

The other rare occurrence was an extremely low tide that has only happened one other time in the past 3 months. We set an alarm on Sunday morning and drove about 2.5 miles further down the road from our place to Outer Point. It wasn't quite as good as the tide pooling on the Oregon coast, but there were a ton of colorful starfish, sea urchins, and spitting clams.     





























On Monday, we hiked the East Glacier Trail which departs from the Mendenhall Visitors Center. It was a nice forest hike, with some average views for the lake and glacier. We were extra cautious of bears since there have been numerous sightings in the valley reported to Julia by patients and even some attacks up in the Anchorage area. The bear spray will always be with us and we try to only do big hikes when we know there will be lots of other people around.

Now, we await the arrival of my father later this afternoon. It will be fun to show someone around town and take to our favorite sites. We hope the rain doesn't change any plans as the best things to do around here are all outdoors. As for our future; in just over 2 weeks we move out of the Douglas apartment for good (due to our host's family coming to town) and into an Airbnb place in the valley, closer to Julia's work. After 2 short weeks there, we will load up the car and slowly make our way back to Portland. We plan on posting once more before we leave to brag about the amazing hikes we do and fresh seafood we eat. Until next time.