Weather Systems

Our 12 week stint in Juneau has come to an end. As I write this, we are on the early morning ferry heading up to Haines, where we will begin our road trip back to Portland. There are many things we are looking forward to, but for now we will take a brief look back at our last month in Alaska.   

The weekend my Dad came to visit was one of the worst stretches of weather we have had. That forced us to do more sheltered activities; like museums, the salmon hatchery DIPAC, a historic bar, driving the entire length of the main road, and watching the movie Wonder Woman. We did get lucky on his last day and had a nice 5 hr window of dry weather, during which we rented kayaks and ventured out to the Mendenhall Glacier to play around in the ice caves. Julia and I had hiked to them before but they are constantly changing and seemed even cooler than last time. Just being able to get that close to a massive glacier is an awesome experience.

After my Dad left, the countdown began with only 3 full weekends left to cross things off our Juneau to-do list. First up was ascending one of the peaks on Douglas Island. With some low clouds, we opted for the easier hike starting at Eagle Crest ski area. We followed the access road along the chairlifts until they ended. From there it was a nice trek along the ridge to High East peak. The low clouds prevented us from seeing further east, which was the goal, but the view down the valley was nice. 

The following weekend we had to move out of our scenic apartment on Douglas Island, due to our host having visitors. The last 2 weeks of our stay was in a place we found on Airbnb in the Mendenhall Valley area. It is a clean side apartment, attached to a fairly new house with bikes and a bbq. Before I start talking about those last 14 days, I will show you one last picture of the main thing we will miss about our old place; the sunset view. 

One of the hikes on our to-do list was Mt Juneau, the end point of a large ridge that looms above downtown. We were running out of days so we hiked amongst the low clouds. It was a good hike, up through a thick forest to start before breaking out into a lush open meadow hillside with multiple waterfall crossings. The top was very cold and visibility was only about 80 ft, but we got some nice cloud breaks, and views of the city and cruise ships below during our descent.    

Now onto our last full weekend in Juneau. We had so much to do and so little sunshine, thus we did some things that don't require blue skies. The Salmon Creek Reservoir hike, with it's great blueberry picking and low altitude scenery, was perfect. We got some exercise, saw a large body of water, and ate some fruit.

Afterwards, we drove across the highway to the mouth of the creek to watch hundreds of Salmon fight their way up stream during low tide. It was actually a sad scene. So many of the Salmon get stuck on the shore as the tide goes out, and all that remains is the part of the carcass the birds don't want to eat. It also smells little, but I still walked around and took a bunch of photos. 

Julia's goal all summer has been to catch some fish in Alaska and conveniently her friend Nani is a boat captain for a fishing charter company. We had been checking their Facebook page daily for a last minute deal and we were fortunate to land one on our last Monday in town. Nani's boat was full, but we went with her boyfriend Wyatt on a 4hr Salmon trip. It was a blast to be out on the water and the weather was basically perfect. Julia reeled in 2 Silvers (or Cohos) and I caught a pair of nice little Pinks (or Humpys). Wyatt really knew what he was doing and it was fun to watch him work.

Back on dry land, we hit Costco on the way home to buy a vacuum sealer, and began the process of getting our 15 lbs of fillets to Portland. Luckily, one of Julia's coworkers was flying into PDX 2 days later, so we packed our goods in a flexible cooler with some gel packs and arranged a meet with my Dad. All went smooth and we are excited to feast on Alaskan salmon for the month we are home.  

Speaking of catching salmon; one of the afternoons Julia was at work, I walked down to Mendenhall Glacier to get a final glimpse. As I was strolling a boardwalk area, a ranger informed me that a momma black bear was with her 2 cubs up ahead, and that I should be aware. I soon saw a group of 20 people crowding the railings, trying to get the perfect photo. The bears took turns eating a salmon the mom had caught earlier, before she was off again to the creek trying to catch another. As the 3 of them weaved through the woods, all of us gawkers quickly walked along the boardwalk to keep up and stake claim at the next great viewpoint. Julia soon arrived after work, just in time to see the momma send her kids up a tree while she got serious about finding food. Once running under a bridge we sere standing on, chasing a salmon down stream unsuccessfully. But mostly she ate grass. Although we were standing on a protected boardwalk and in no real danger, it was still a cool experience to observe bears in the wild. 

Another thing to note at this time was the filming by BBC/PBS for their Wild Alaska Live show. They had cameras setup all over the Mendenhall area in an attempt to view wildlife in action. I was initially confused by the large cables running through the woods and many British people doing official things, but it all made sense later. Apparently they have about 70 crew members in Juneau working on the broadcast and multiple other filming locations in the surrounding forests. I haven't seen any of the footage but if any of you have and saw the black bears in the photos below, then we were not far out of frame. 

We tried to make the most of our last full day in Juneau. There is another somewhat easily accessible glacier in the area that is not as impressive as Mendenhall, and it's name it Hamilton. The trail is flat and wide, making it perfect for riding bikes the bikes that came with our Airbnb rental. We enjoyed it, and hiked the last mile to a viewpoint on a hill. The glacier view was a little obstructed but all-in-all it was a fun ride.

The rest of the story is that we packed all of our belongings back into our car (minus the TV, which we sold) and drove onto the previously mentioned ferry. The little video below shows the views from the boat. We will miss those views and all the people we met during our time there. I will save the details about everything we did/saw on our road trip back to Portland for another post. All I will tell you is that we took the long way home. 

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 fiancé 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.