Adventuring
Mark went canoeing and tramping across the lake to the bottom of glacier while I just soaked up the ever changing views and walked around the lodge area. Rainforest and mosses very green and attractive. Not good far afield without the bear spray. Weather cleared late morning for more great views.
Skagway is part of North American pioneering legend and home to gold-rush-era buildings now preserved as part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Some thousands of eager prospectors set out on their way to the Yukon, seeking their fortunes during the gold rush. Lots of history to be seen here. The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad run vintage locomotives past the famously steep Chilkoot trail and offer sweeping mountain views during a climb towards Canada. We clamboured aboard and really enjoyed a trip to White Pass Summit and back. Great scenery and an appreciation of the madness that must have gripped the gold seekers. Enjoyed exploring Skagway town afterwards and a film about the Klondike gold rush. Didn’t realise books “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang” were based on this time.
The Juneau Icefield is the 5th largest in the western hemisphere and the source of around 40 large valley glaciers and 100 smaller ones. Best known views are the Tracy Arm accessible from Juneau, Glacier Bay and Mendenhall Glacier.
Ketchikan is at the southernmost entrance to the Alaskan part of the Inside Passage – best known for salmon, scenery, rain and native culture. Ketchikan is also known as “The Salmon Capital of the World.”
Today was a sea day cruising the Inside Passage, a network of passages weaving through the islands on the Pacific Coast of North America. We woke to pretty scenes of wooded hillsides running down to the water with an occasional house and little fishing boat to be seen. At times the water was like glass, later developing to a slight swell and a little roll. The afternoon was mostly sea fog with zero view but largely in an open space of ocean anyway.
“We’re going on a bear hunt, We’re going to see a big one”
A very hot day and they were pretty much just chilling.. one sitting in the pond (Coola as it happened) and the other foraging in the swamp and dandelions. There are also bears around the area where we are but fortunately not seen up close on our walks.