Wednesday, August 2

Today was a travel day so it didn’t matter too much that it was dark and rainy. It just made me even more thankful for the glorious weather I had yesterday.

Before getting on the road I made my final visit to Denali NP to watch the Dog Sled Demo. Back in 1917, when the park was created, there was no way to get around in the winter except by dog sled. Kennels were built and dog sleds have been used throughout the 100 year history of the park – in fact, motorized vehicles are banned in winter. Each day the kennels are open to the public and demonstrations are offered. It is really a talk, as only 5% of the time were the dogs actually doing anything, but it was very informative and covered the history of mushing, the breeding of the Alaskan Huskies that are used and how the dog team is trained and organized.

After leaving the park I made the wet 4 ¹/₂ hour drive to Anchorage International Airport in order to catch a flight to Alaska’s capital, Juneau. Since Juneau is surrounded by an ice field the only way to get there is by dog sled, ship or plane. The video and map are here.

The flight was one of the most spectacular I have been on. As we approached Juneau you could see rocky, ice covered mountain tops rising out of the clouds just 5,000 feet below the plane and the hills and fjords we skirted around as we came in to land were beautiful. The low angle of the sun enhanced the contrasts. Unfortunately, I did not have access to my camera as the seat belt signs were already lit and, when I commented on the view to the Juneau resident sitting next to me, he told me we were on the “wrong side of the plane” for the best views. I will definitely have my camera out for the return flight.

The rangers, dogs and “sled” used for the demo.

Thursday, August 3

This was my first day in Juneau and what a spectacular area this is. My luck with the weather continues as today was the first rain-free day in three weeks.

Juneau is small, population 32,000, and the downtown area is only 10×10 blocks and surrounded by steep 3,500 foot hills. Most of the population lives in a narrow valley that runs north from downtown along the water for about 12 miles. After breakfast I took a stroll to the cruise terminal where, after some sightseeing, I joined a whale watching tour.

The scenery from the boat was wonderful as we passed between the large, forested islands that are scattered across the Inside Passage here. We saw 4 or 5 Humpback whales, two of them just 80 yards from the boat.

After we landed I caught a shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier which is just one of over 40 large glaciers that flow off the Juneau icefield. The glacier has retreated significantly in recent years so views are not as good as in the past but are still impressive. I took the trail to the nearby Nugget Falls which fall 377 feet (almost exactly twice the height of Niagara) into the lake at the end of the glacier. Not only are the falls impressive but they are closer to the glacier than the visitor center.

After taking the shuttle to town I walked around for a while, taking photos, before returning to my hotel to summarize my glorious day.

Downtown Juneau is very small and dwarfed by the surrounding hills.
Most tourists arrive on cruise ships and there are hundreds of tours that take them by bus or plane to see the sights.
The scenery from the Inside Passage was wonderful.
Humpbacks do not come far out of the water when they dive so you have to be quick to capture anything on camera. I managed to get a good view of the end of a dive on video.

Mendenhall Glacier as seen from the visitor center.
Nugget Falls and Mendenhall Glacier.

Alaska’s State Capitol is another office building. I did not go in.
This is the view from my hotel room. The large white house with the pillars is the Governor’s Mansion.