Alaska: Part 3

Thurs, 7/10: Red Bluffs

Happy Ted's Birthday! Today is Ted's 21st birthday. We had the serendipitous event of briefly having cell phone service as we passed near the town of Cake and so we texted Ted to say Happy Birthday. He responded with a picture of a bottle of tequila which he said was his first legal liquor purchase. Then David sent us a Snapchat of the two of them doing shots in our kitchen. And then the cell phone service dropped off, leaving to our imagination any further details the mayhem going on back at home.

The cell phone thing is kind of funny. I haven't bothered to even carry my phone around, since I don't use it much for non-connected apps such as reading or even music. I guess other people had theirs with them because all of a sudden you'd see a group of people assume the heads-down, phone-out position we've all gotten so used to at home. Whenever I'd see the telltale posture I'd get the urge to dash to my cabin to see if I, too, could go online and see what today's Groupon is. I usually resisted.

Seeing a Bear at a Distance

This morning was a time of rest and relaxation. We were cruising Frederick Sound rather than "doing operations" (the crew's very military-sounding term for the cycle of outdoor activities which would go on when we were anchored) and so there was no morning activity to hop onto. With nothing to rush and get ready for I took advantage of the time and went to the 6:30 AM yoga class. It was a misty morning and we were on the move so the day's yoga vista was a succession of misty peaks and bright sunlight diffused through the fog. Then it was down to the lounge for coffee and the early riser breakfast. I went up to the top deck and where I bumped into Dave (Claudia's husband). We chatted for a bit, believe it or not about oncology research and grants management software systems, as he is the head of a veterinary medicine research foundation. Dave was topside to join Megan and Mark in working out. I looked over at the two guides and was momentarily transfixed with jealousy as I watched Megan braid Mark's long, lush hair into a ponytail. When they started their workout I snapped out of it and headed my bald self to the bridge (guests are welcome to visit the bridge). There are displays on board showing our position on the chart and I had noticed that we had been meandering since the previous evening, so I immediately went to the charts and started asking about what we were doing, pointing out where we had been at 11 PM last night based on seeing a particular lighthouse, and where we are now. Perhaps I established a bit of cred on the bridge from being knowledgeable about the chart and our track. I got into a conversation with the captain about navigation systems, and I told him my history of designing maritime navigation systems. He mentioned having had to have learned several antiquated systems, LORAN and Omega, to pass a navigation officer exam. He's a young guy. When I was working in that business those were still current systems, though admittedly no longer state of the art.

I read down in the lounge for a bit, then it was time for brunch. Since we were cruising the morning's meal was a big buffet brunch. I toddled out of the dining room pretty full straight to my Thai massage with Nikki, a sunny young woman who is also the morning yoga instructor. It was a pretty interesting experience. Imagine someone is playing with Barbies, putting them into stretchy yoga positions. Now imagine you are the Barbie. Very different than a regular massage. I left feeling good and relaxed.

V and Karen

In the afternoon we pulled into Red Bluffs, a fjord with another big waterfall (maybe 500 feet?) and views of some big mountains. I had originally signed up to do open stand-up paddleboard (SUP), but the area was so beautiful that decided that I wanted the ability to explore more of it beyond the on-a-short-leash open SUP area. Another thing about this location is that the ship was surrounded by tremendous lion's mane jellyfish and I didn't really relish doing SUP in water that was both cold and full of jellies. So I switched to guided kayaking. I paired up with a woman named Els, a technical theater professor from the west coast. V paired up with a woman she had kayaked with the previous day, another Australian (and another nurse) named Karen. Karen was traveling with Jeff and Linda, a doctor and nurse respectively. V and Karen had hit it off as a paddling pair the previous day and we wound up eating a number of meals with the three of them. The group also included Guy and his son Dante. We had sat with them at one of the first meals but hadn't really done much with them since then. Once again, Megan was our guide. This was a group with a wide range of skills. Guy and Dante had never kayaked before but were gung-ho and both clearly pretty active. V & Karen weren't fast kayakers. They turned back shortly into the trip and joined the open kayaking around the ship instead. It turned out Els is a former high school rower and she turned out to be a good paddling partner and so she and I kept winding up way in front of the other boats. In terms of wildlife viewing V & Karen got the better show. We saw some eagles back in the fjord but nothing else, while they got an up close visit from a seal and also saw a big collection of starfish. On the other hand, paddling back into the fjord past yet another raging waterfall was pretty spectacular in its own right. I also had the audacity to give Megan a few pointers on her kayaking. She's clearly a very fit woman who could probably beat the pants off me and just about any sport (unfortunately having her beat the pants off of me was not offered as an activity) but was paddling with her arms, not taking advantage of her core strength.

As Els and I returned to the ship we noticed a large number of people lining the rails around the stern. Spectators for the Polar Plunge! We landed our kayak and as I was coming up the ladder to the 200 deck Amy grabbed me and said, "you've got to get your camera! Valerie's going to jump!" Fortunately I had my camera with me and so I grabbed it, squeezed into a spot by the rail still in full kayaking gear and watched as groups of people jumped off the kayak launch platform into the cold, jellyfish infested waters. Valerie was indeed among them; she took the plunge and came out sputtering but triumphant!! For the rest of the cruise people were coming up to me and commenting on it - I don't think they had her pegged as someone who would do such a thing.

My Wife is a Crazy Person

 After a dinner of flounder we went to Jackie's lecture on salmon. Did you know that Atlantic salmon and Pacific salmon are two very different animals, that Pacific salmon go to the ocean and return once in their lives but Atlantic salmon make the trip multiple times?

Fri, 7/11: Glacier Bay (Bartlett Cove and Johns Hopkins Glacier)

It's never clear what the ship does overnight while we sleep. Sometimes we drop anchor and sometimes we cruise through the night. All I know is that every morning I open our cabin door to find us somewhere breathtakingly pretty. This morning we started the day cruising into the entrance to Glacier Bay, making a stop at the park lodge at Bartlett Cove. This was our one docking point in the whole trip. We all went down the gangway (no shuttles in the small boats required) for a short shore break and some shore-based activities. I opted for the "fast hike", which turned out to be about an hour and a half in terrain that look similar to the Cascade Falls trail, but without the elevation change - a reasonably flat, if drizzly, outing. We also had a chance to briefly visit the lodge and to get a look at the whale skeleton displayed outside. One of the adventure guides on our ship had been part of the team that had worked to restore and mount the skeleton, so it was interesting to hear her description of the restoration process (lots of West Marine epoxy!) and then see the finished product. Boy, whales are big!! Unfortunately with the foggy, drizzly weather we didn't get any big views.

Sea Otters

At 11:30 it was back onto the boat. Our main reason for stopping at Bartlett Cove was to pick up an NPS park ranger. Glacier Bay is a protected area and so the ranger's job was both to provide interpretation of the sights for us and part to preserve the environment by making sure the boat followed the park rules. Ranger Nicole was very enthusiastic about the park, if a little conflicted about the Park Service. At lunch she gave us a quick and very enthusiastic overview of the park and its wildlife, working herself up almost to tears in her description of the park's majesty. Over the course of the day she continued this level of enthusiasm, pointing out a lot more things and telling us a little about the pleasures of her solitary life in Glacier Bay (going shopping in the "big city" of Gustavus - population 400 - is a big deal). As I write this at 10:30 at night Ranger Nicole is still working the lounge, describing what we're seeing as we sail back out through the ice field back towards the entrance of the bay. On the other hand, one on one she will grumble a bit. Apparently she works two half-year positions, summer in Alaska and winter in the Everglades, and so is considered a part-time employee, ineligible for benefits, even though she works year-round for the Park Service. She'll also tell you that the Park Service uniform hasn't exactly kept pace with developments in modern fabrics: wool pants and decidedly under-performing rain wear. She also told us that it was a pleasure to come aboard a small ship that could actually dock at Bartlett Cover. For the large cruise ships she actually goes out to the ship on a small boat and then has to climb a rope ladder up the side of the ship to the deck. Having boarded a large ship this way myself (back in my days of developing navigation systems) I can see why, as Nicole told us, a question about willingness to do so is part of the interview process for her position.

Ranger Nicole Introduces us to Glacier Bay

Another cool thing I did today was to work with guide-dude Ken to identify one of the whales we had seen. Each humpback's tail is unique in its shape and pattern of white spots. Ken had on his computer an index of humpback whales with pictures of the tails of each. I had transferred a couple of my clear photos to my iPad and we put the two side by side to make comparisons. We're pretty sure that one we say was Sorex, which had first been spotted and catalogued in the same area of Frederick sound back in 1995.

We paused as we passed South Marble Island, which was chock-a-block with life. Stellar sea lions, sea otters and birds including murres, guillemots, kittiwakes, puffins, cormorants. Did I mention the puffins? Puffins! Ranger Nicole referred to murres as the "penguin of the north" since they are have black and white coloration and similar swimming deep diving habits, but to my thinking it's the puffins. Further up, at Gloomy Knob, we saw a mother and baby mountain goat on the side of the mountain.

A Puffin in Flight

As we motored further up the bay into Johns Hopkins Cove we encountered more and more ice, calved off the glacier. This was the first time this season that the ship was going up this far since the area had been closed off until July for seal pupping season. The seals come up here to haul out and have their babies on the ice, protected by the shallow water and noise from predators. Our destination was the Johns Hopkins Glacier, which is one of the few glaciers moving forward at a healthy pace: 12 feet per year. Most of the other glaciers are receding. The easy conclusion to come to is that this is the result of man-made global warming, but in fact glacial advance and retreat seem to be governed by complex processes. All of Glacier Bay was very recently covered by a glacier. Not thousands or millions of years ago, but just two hundred years ago the glacier rapidly jumped forward over just a few decades, scattering the local natives, poking out all the way to the ocean, Just as quickly it receded, leaving behind the bay and surrounding terrain in its wake.

Johns Hopkins Glacier

The glacier itself was spectacular. This my fourth glacier: Mendenhall, Dawes, and then Lamplugh on the way up Glacier Bay, but this one was in my opinion the most spectacular. It was so large with such a beautiful blue color, plus the ice and seals around the bay in front of it. We were only permitted to stay up close to the glacier for a fairly short time. I kept saying that I had seen it and was going to go back into the lounge for a warm drink but I simply could not tear myself away from the view for as long as we were there. Really wonderful.

Since it hadn't been an active day I went up to the top deck in the late afternoon and made use of the ship's rowing machine. It really felt like I was accomplishing something, watching the scenery glide by as I rowed the boat :)

Rowing the Safari Endeavour

Sat, 7/12: Glacier Bat (Beartrack Cove)

We awoke to another day of "Alaska liquid sunshine" - in other words, foggy and rainy. Alas, any hopes of big Glacier Bay vistas were dashed, but it is still a beautiful place - at least what we can see of it.

Bushwhack Scenery

In the morning I signed up to go on another bushwhack hike. A lot of people dropped out because of the weather and so it wound up being just four of us plus Tess, who was once again our guide (there were about half a dozen guides on board but I somehow always wound up being in groups led by either Tess or Megan). The other three guest on the hike were folks I hadn't spent much time with: there was a group on board of people associated in one way or another with the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and the "Sheddheads" (my term) socialized primarily within their group. They certainly were troopers about tromping around in the rain. The terrain for this hike was different than in our previous hikes. Because this area is more recently reclaimed from glacial coverage it is not as heavily forested. After being shuttled to shore we hiked up the beach over large fields of mussel shells, and then through a meadow - the first meadow I'd seen on my hikes - before finally reaching woods. The woods themselves were pretty much pure spruce with little understory and so provided easier tread. Unlike our previous bushwhack we weren't crashing through bushes or dodging rocks. There were also very well defined game trails to follow. Since I didn't have to watch my feet I got to look around a lot more, which is nice. We saw lots of signs of bear and moose, but alas not the animals themselves. In fact, we think we saw bear scat and scratched off bark on the way out that hadn't been there on the way in - very fresh bear signs! We made a few loops in and out of the forest. The first game trail led us right back to the beach where we had landed. Our second loop led us a little further in, but again we emerged at the beach. Finally, we hiked along the beach a ways. Rather than dive back in for another exploration we wound up calling for pickup a little sooner than originally planned. While we waited for the launch to arrive we sat on the beach and Tess told us a Tlingit folk story with an earnestness that only a young white girl from the suburbs who is totally Into native culture could manage. OK, perhaps I'm being hard on her - as I've written previously I found her to be a very nice person, knowledgeable about the area, and an excellent excursion guide. While by this point I had already heard much of what she had to say about the local flora, it was on this trip that she had us try nibbling on spruce tips, which provided a refreshing piney flavor.

As always, one doesn't miss a meal on Safari Endeavor and so we were back on the boat for lunch, after which it was time to head back out for afternoon activities. Well, at least it was for the few of us stalwarts who were determined to get one last activity in. Most people had the sense to come in out of the rain and just relax, nap, and get a head start on packing. The afternoon "long kayak" group dwindled down to just Ann the nurse practitioner from Chicago and me, escorted by Jackie and her husband Brent. Ann is another person we had hung out quite bit with. She was traveling by herself; her husband had given her the trip as a present but this type of trip was apparently not his cup of tea. Now, Jackie and Brent are adventurous people but it was clear that they aren't expert kayakers (nor are they spring chickens) and I went out knowing in the back of my mind that if we got into trouble (which fortunately we didn't) I was going to have to be the rescue grownup. We kayaked for about 2 hrs in the pouring rain. Again, while we followed the shoreline we didn't see bears, though we did see a harlequin duck (Jackie got excited and pulled out her camera to photograph it), a sea otter, plus a seal that followed us for a while.

Someone Else's Photo of Paddling Near the Ship

Since Jackie was really leaving it to Ann and me in terms of what we wanted to do I didn't feel compelled to go slowly and let her be in front. Particularly towards the end I cranked it up a little bit and Ann and I (in a double) got back quite a bit ahead of Jackie and Brent. The following day Brent asked me how I moved so fast without seeming to work very hard so I had another opportunity to give a stroke improvement lecture.

Dinner on our last night was the "Captain's Dinner", with a choice of filet mignon or scallops. I had my one meat meal of the week, which turned out to be a good choice - the filet mignon was really good. After dinner we were treated to a slide show compiled from picture the guides had taken over the course of the week, then it was off to our cabins to pack.

Fun at the Final Night's Dinner

Sun, 7/13: Return to Juneau

Juneau was on the horizon as I left our cabin for breakfast. After being out in the wilderness for a week the city, which had seemed a remote frontier outpost a week earlier, struck me as being very large, urban and over- developed. Perhaps Ranger Nicole has a point about the joys of spending your life away from development.

We ate breakfast and said our goodbyes to the crew, and to the passengers I've mentioned above as well as other people we had gotten to know including Russ and Tina, who live on a large spread down in Florida, and Jim and Cindy from the Finger Lakes.

 

Juneau Airport, Ursine Pal

The rest of the day was spent in transit. Wait in the hotel lounge. Transit to the airport. Fly to Seattle. Rent a car, drive to Portland - a surprisingly un-scenic drive, save for a brief glimpse of Mt. Rainier. Stopped for dinner at a local burger joint somewhere in southern Washington state - very good, fresh burgers. We cruised past seemingly endless freight trains making their way towards Oregon. We couldn't imagine what could be in all those tank cars, though after a few days in Portland I suspect that it might have been tattoo ink.

The Multnomah Hotel, Portland, OR

 

After three hours of driving we arrived at our hotel in downtown Portland. After a week in our tiny and spare cabin and in the confined spaces aboard ship, we were quite taken with the elegance and roominess of the place. It's a grand 1912 building originally known as the Multnomah Hotel, now operated as an Embassy Suites. Elvis and Charles Lindbergh were among its many famous past guests, as was Thomas E. Dewey of "Dewey Beats Truman" fame (as well as the namesake of the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway in New York). On to a different sort of adventure ... 

Note that another guest's account of the trip can be found here. It is very nicely written but rather long, so I'll quote the best part here: Day 5 ... "I was a bit intimidated to paddle with Jesse, who is a really skillful kayaker, but I was counting on my years of rowing crew to hold me in good stead." 

I will post a link to pictures once I put them online.

Alaska: Part 2

Mon 7/7: Endicott Arm, Ford's Terror, Dawes Glacier

I woke up at 5:30 AM, and V woke up not long thereafter. I thought I was just waking up early, though when people later mentioned having been awakened by sounds of the ship weighing anchor at 5:30 in the morning. Maybe the anchor sound had been what had awakened me and I just didn't realize it. Anyway, being up early I shaved and then went to the 6:30 AM yoga session, one of four early risers to do so. Is there a nicer setting for a yoga class than the deck of a ship sailing up an Alaskan fjord towards a glacier? I think maybe not. In addition to the setting, this was the only yoga class I've ever been in that took a spontaneous break to check out harbor seals swimming by. 

Yoga on Deck

After yoga it was time for breakfast (omelette, pumpkin scones) and then getting rain gear and boots for our expeditions. I chose to use their rain pants because mine are old and yucky, but stuck with my own rain coat. I gave myself a choice of boots: I borrowed a pair of theirs, plus I had my neoprene kayak boots. Then it was into the skiffs to explore the Dawes glacier up close and personal.

Our activity of the day was a great, if low exertion introduction to the area. The ship had sailed deep into Endicott Arm and we loaded into little inflatable motorized skiffs, about sixteen people per boat to go up close to the the Dawes glacier, which sits at the head of Endicott Arm. We were lucky to have Jackie Hedgepeth, the resident marine biologist on board our skiff. We had chosen this particular week in part because there'd be a naturalist on board, and Jackie did not disappoint. She's what in old movies would have been described as a pistol, or perhaps as having a lot of moxie. She's a mile-a-minute Energizer Bunny bundle of energy. She is also one of these women who always looks "put together" in a classic way. Bouffant hairstyle, careful make-up, carefully coordinated outfit. Out on the skiff Jackie was a non-stop source of information about the rock formations, the glaciers and the marine life. She pointed out the round bowl shapes in the rock formed by the glaciers versus the V-shaped cuts formed by water. She explained why glacier ice looks blue (the highly compressed ice - it takes 100 inches of snow to make one inch of glacial ice - absorbs visible light except at the blue end of the spectrum). She passed out hot chocolate and came around with a bottle of schnapps to enhance the hot cocoa (it being eleven o'clock in the morning, I declined the schnapps). She took pictures of us with our cameras and hers. She even helped the crew with docking the skiffs.

Selfie at the Dawes Glacier

 

We got to see the glacier calve off some ice, and we got to see lots of harbor seals, just at the end of their pupping season, hauled out on the small ice floes. I spotted a harbor porpoise - a tiny little dolphin (some readers may know these creatures as "nise" - whatever the name, they're adorable) - swimming by. And we were back in time for lunch. I figured out later on that we are *always* back in time for lunch.

In the afternoon we attended an introductory safety lecture about kayaking, mandatory if you want to go kayaking. The good news about it is that it was presented in an entertaining way and was free from major errors. We also took a nap (not during the kayak presentation). At around 4 PM I headed up to the lounge with the intention of reading my book, only to stumble into a lecture on glaciers, plate tectonics, and everything else given by Jackie. I think we got a whole semester of geology in 40 minutes. Jackie finished up as we passed Ford's Terror on our way out of Endicott Arm. We all went out on deck and looked at the scenery.

Dinner was unremarkable, at least until the whales showed up at the mouth of Endicott Arm. Someone spotted some spouts in the distance, then we saw a pair of humpbacks repeatedly breaching and showing their tails and flukes. People kept jumping up and running over to the windows at whichever side the whales were on, completely abandoning their dinners. It was probably Claudia from Denver who spotted the whales first. Claudia and Dave were a couple about our age, traveling with Dave's dad. Claudia was extremely devoted to spotting wildlife and seemed always to have at least part of her attention focused on scanning the water. Dave heads some veterinary medical research foundation and so we actually chatted about grants management and cancer research. I must say that the passengers on this excursion were an accomplished lot: doctors, dentists, nurses and nurse practitioners, CEOs, professors, and a Member of Congress. Lots of teachers too. And one schlepper who does IT project management for a government contractor.

Seals Hangin' Out on the Ice

Another interesting point to tonight's dinner: we had taken on board a National Park Service Wilderness Forest Ranger and someone from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Corps (SEACC). These two guys were out kayaking for nine days, checking on the area, counting seals, pulling invasive plants and doing other eco-tasks. They were happy to be invited on board for a hot meal and to hitch a ride for a bit. They were also happy to talk with us both as a group and individually about what they were doing in the area of preservation. The SEACC guy sat with us at dinner. He had an interesting life story. He had been raised by homesteaders in an isolated cabin in Alaska (Q: "How many people were there in your town?" A:"It was pretty much just us."), went to school in Washington State, grad school at UC Davis, then returned to Alaska to do this kind of work. This was actually his first time in a kayak, and here he was out for a week and a half paddling the Inside Passage.I must mention as well that his mother had been raised in Brooklyn and wound up raising children in the Alaskan wilderness. Now, that's a change of scenery!

Tues, 7/8: Robert's Passage

One of the pleasures cruising is waking up every morning in a different beautiful place. This morning I left my cabin to find us anchored in a cove by Roberts Island in the Frederick Sound.The morning activity was a bushwhack hike on Roberts Island, led by the high energy and fun Megan. Large portions of the Tongass National Forest are undeveloped and so most hiking is by finding your own path rather than walking a defined trail. Since this is a rainforest environment the terrain is wet, lush and thick. Lovely forests of Sitka spruce and alder. The walk was a little bit challenging, including scrambling over fallen trees, climbing hills and pushing through brush, but not too bad. We didn't see any wildlife but we did see bear scat so there was evidence that there were bears about.

And what did you do on your vacation? Looked at poop.

We also were introduced to a particularly nasty plant, devil's club. It's a plant with dinner plate sized leaves, and both the stems and the leaves are loaded with thorns. If you grab one of these you're in for a world of hurt. Interestingly, apparently the plant has medicinal uses in treating diabetes. I'd see, and know to avoid, devil's club on all my hikes in Alaska. It must be a north-western plant, since the book I'm reading, which takes place in Montana, mentions a character walking through a forest of alder and devil's club. We also looked at huge skunk cabbage (an early spring favorite of bears, both because it matures early in the season and because its oxalic acid crystals help stimulate the bears bowels after months of hibernation) and saw some big banana slugs.

And what did you do on your vacation? Learned about bear laxatives. 

In the Woods on the First Bushwhack

While we were out bushwhacking others were doing shorter hikes, paddle-boarding, kayaking or taking tours in the motorized skiffs. In the afternoon I went out with a guided kayak tour, co-led by Mark, the expedition leader, and Tess, a knowledgeable and friendly young woman who is an earnest at-one-with-nature sort of person, though quick with a warm smile. The ship's kayaks are all doubles, which is generally not my preferred choice, but it would up being nice sharing a boat and being the expert helper for someone less experienced. I was paired with Claudia, who of course noticed lots of wildlife - primarily eagles. We paddled up into Roberts Cove, landed for a bit and did another mini bushwhack, where we got to look at more poop - both bear and moose this time. Mark, who is the equivalent of "Julie, your cruise director" of The Love Boat (except his hair is much longer), did a great job over the week of coordinating the activities. There were usually a lot of things going on: various long and short hikes, kayak outings, standup paddle boarding, and skiff rides. Of course, people were constantly changing their minds about what they were going to do. Mark handled it all very smoothly and always with a (only occasionally strained) smile.

After a nice dinner we went to the lounge for Jackie's lecture on humpback whales, interrupted by sightings of Dall's porpoise then, as if on cue, a humpback whale. It was a lecture with a lab class! The whale hung around for quite a while, lunge feeding at the surface. It would come up nose first with its mouth open, grab a bunch of fish or krill or whatever, then dive back down. It never fully breached and never showed its tail, but watching it out there feeding was quite spectacular.

Humpback Whale!

 

Weds 7/9: Thomas Bay, Cascade Falls

In the morning I kayaked with V in a double. This was an "open kayak" meaning that you could go wherever you wanted on your own, provided it was within a very limited perimeter around the ship. We putzed around looking at eagles and a big waterfall. We were out for about an hour overall  We received a mild rebuke upon our return from Tess for having paddled too close to shore (bear risk, apparently); we recovered from this scolding in the hot tub where we took a nice soak.I must say that V is really taking to kayaking too - is there a double in our future? If so, how many more anniversaries do we have left?

Now, the previous evening when they had announced the activities Mark had described one of the hikes, up Cascade Falls, as being a highly challenging five hour killer hike - more like he was trying to scare people away from it than encourage them on. Having heard this description I was leaning towards one of the easier hikes, the Patterson River Trail. the However, after Mark finished his discouraging description Megan came up to the people who had been on the bushwhack she had led the previous day (we happened to mostly be sitting in the same area) and whispered to us that it wasn't so bad as Mark had made it seem and talked the hike up. Well, despite this strange and contradictory description there were so many takers for this hike that they had to run two sections: the originally planned 6:45 AM group and a second group at 12:30, to which I was assigned. My group was led by Tess and consisted of me, two young Australian woman, and a (also Australian) mom with two 12-ish year old girls. The other group was coming out to the trailhead just as our boat hit the shore, and they looked pretty bedraggled. Except for Jackie, who marched out of the forest looking like she was ready to do the hike again. Only her hairstyle was worse for the wear (it was fully restored by the time we saw her again).

Our group's hike was shorter than what the early group did. They were out for six hours, while we were out for maybe 4 1/2. We turned back perhaps a little earlier than planned because the mom of the girls got to her point of having had enough. The morning group had apparently gotten into a mindset to push on and on, trying to reach a lake down the trail (ultimately they turned around before they got there). They wound up staying out for an hour longer than planned, while we were out an hour less time than planned. I later compared notes with Sean, a lawyer turned ju jitsu instructor whom I had met on the bushwhack, and by turning around when we did we indeed missed some of the more challenging elements - log crossings over more significant chasms, and the like. Still, it was indeed a challenging hike, up alongside the same waterfall we had seen from the kayak in the morning. Walking along narrow, slippery planks and logs. Scrambles up and down steep terrain. Overall elevation gain of over 1,000 feet. I'd say that some of the rock scramble hikes in Shenandoah National Park are actually more technically challenging, but this had the complication of being very wet, muddy and slippery. How muddy was it? Well, they literally hosed us off when we got back onto the Endeavor. And then hosed off our shoes some more. The hike was really worth it. Standing in the spray of a powerful waterfall. Gorgeous, lush forest. Tall cliff faces. Really marvelous sights. And a workout - my quads hurt by the time I got back and still ached the next day, which fortunately was a more restful day as we were spent the morning cruising Frederick Sound. 

Cascade Falls Group

In the evening we took advantage of a tour of the engine room with Jeff, the boat's engineer. Like many of the crew he had an interesting life's story as a serially itinerant wanderer. His story was at least as interesting as the description of the reverse osmosis desalinator and the Diesel engines, even to me.

Up in the lounge Ken, one of the expedition guides, gave a somewhat meandering lecture about the history and Tlingit lore of "ABC's" of the local islands: Admiralty, Baranof and Chicagoff. Ken's lecture had the usual distractions of a spouting whale and a gorgeous sunset. We learned that you can tell the history of the water temperatures that a salmon has lived in from its scales and that you can actually "bar code" a salmon by putting it in a known succession of water temperatures - which apparently is done for research tracking purposes. We also learned that the traditional Tlingit name of Admiralty Island is Kootznahoo, meaning Fortress of the Brown Bear. Ken is one of the older guides and clearly has devoted a lot of time over the years to learning about and developing a deep appreciation of the flora, fauna and culture of the area.

Alaska Part 1: Juneau

Thurs, 7/3

The trip starts out with the usual indignities of air travel - shoe removal, swabs for explosives, waiting like cattle as the more privileged classes of travelers board. The first really amusing thing is a shop in the Sea-Tac airport selling grunge rock paraphernalia, apparently an airport branch of a famous Seattle record store. Glisteningly clean, well-lit shelves full of Nirvana records - in LP format as well as CDs, of course - boxed sets of the best of 1990's anti-establishment music, with a smattering of selections from other Washington-rooted rockers including Jimi Hendrix and Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart.  The place was staffed by hipsters of a clean-cut sort (no creepy beardie weirdies). The store was exactly what I envision a Disney version of Seattle would be.

A genuine nice touch at Sea-Tac is a big lounge area with a giant window wall looking out over the tarmac and runways. Rocking chairs. Live folk music, which provided the setting for a surprisingly relaxing half hour of plane watching while waiting for the flight to Juneau to board.

On both flights V & I both booked aisle seats - sitting together across the aisle rather than either of us squeezing into a middle seat. On the DC to Seattle leg V sat next to a chatty 40-something gay couple and gave them the full litany: stories of Teddy and David (our GAY son), pictures of our lizards, etc., etc., etc. On the Seattle to Juneau flight it was my turn to get the talkative neighbors. In the window seat was an 80-something former Navy pilot, still doing pilot style chic in a vintage leather flight jacket and khakis, who was heading to Juneau to charter a boat to do some fishing. Into the middle seat squeezed a goofy Christian manufacturer's rep for a boat building company on his way to make some dealer visits (I only know of the Christian part based on his reading material - fortunately he did not raise it as a topic of conversation). The good news is that the two of them conked out not long into the flight, leaving me to my own devices.

V & I shared a cab to the hotel with a British couple who were taking a cruise on the same line, departing Saturday. We checked into the Baranof Hotel, a vintage hotel more shopworn than charming, though serviceable. We took a stroll through downtown, taking advantage of the (apparently unusual) lack of drizzle. Downtown Juneau was dominated by a number of towering mega-cruise ships which were in port, and many of the downtown shops clearly catered to cruise ship tourists ashore for the day. we came to realize as we stayed there for a few days that the rhythm of Juneau is driven by the arrival and departure of these mega ships. Yes, it's the state capital and so there's a lit of government business and yes, there's a population of locals, fishermen, layabouts, and the like - but the real industry is servicing the cruise ships. I suspect this is the case for all of the coastal port call towns.

Despite the dominance of cheap tchotchkes in the downtown shops we mentally bookmarked some stores for later browsing. We also stopped in at the Tourist Information Center where V exchanged life stories with the woman behind the counter (originally from New Jersey, moved to Anchorage when her husband was stationed there during Vietnam, has been in Alaska ever since ...). At this point we had been on the road for sixteen hours; however it was still only 6 PM. We wanted to see the midnight July 4th fireworks, so after dinner at a Japanese restaurant (local salmon teriyaki!) we went back to the hotel and napped. 

Juneau Fireworks

The Info Center woman had warned us that on the night of a holiday "all hell breaks loose" downtown and when we emerged from our hotel at around 11 PM it was indeed a chaotic and drunken scene, though of course on a much smaller scale than, say, Times Square on New Year's Eve. It truly felt like Saturday night in a frontier town. It didn't feel dangerous, but it's been a while since I've been somewhere with such a high percentage of inebriated people in the streets. We made our way down to the Gastineau ship channel, which was also crowded with revelers. The day's cruise ships had departed, leaving a clear view of the water and the mountains across the way. There were also some interesting Alaskan touches - like a commercial fishing boat cruising back and forth with a brass band on deck. The fireworks display itself was nice and when it was done we headed off to bed.

V Watching the Fireworks

Fri, 7/4

I woke up feeling pretty stiff and sore and spent some time stretching while drinking a cup of the hotel room coffee. Do you know what happens to coffee beans that are rejected from regular commercial sale? They get inspected again and if they fail the second inspection as well they get packaged up for use in the complimentary coffee makers in hotel rooms - at least that's what it seems like based on the uniformly weak and bitter brews I've experienced from these devices. Still, bad coffee is better than no coffee at all and after a cup, stretching and a shower I felt a lot better.

V and I headed straight to our #1 breakfast destination of choice, Silverbow Bagel Bakery. We had become aware of this place while researching the trip: a reputedly good quality bagel shop owned by expat New Yorkers, one of whom is a SUNY Binghamton alum. We both ordered sesame bagels with local salmon lox. The bagels, coffee and hot chocolate were all really good. We asked after the owners but they weren't around; alas, a missed opportunity for Binghamton reminiscences.   After breakfast we browsed the few local shops which were open (it was only 9 AM and it was July 4th) including a vintage knickknack shop (the proprietor was sitting outside dressed as Uncle Sam) and a local book shop. The woman in the book shop (originally from Hoboken via Texas) was very nice and gave us some local tips after V, of course, exchanged life stories with her.

From there we headed to the Juneau July 4th parade, which was a nice small town parade with some Alaskan twists. In addition to the Boy Scout troops, politicians and pipe bands you see everywhere there were participants like the mine safety patrol, representatives of Tligit and Filipino groups (Juneau has a large Filipino population), local fishermen and supporters of some ballot proposition regarding oil drilling profits.  After the parade we browsed a few shops and had lunch at a local bar. Who would have expected felafel at an Alaskan saloon? There was a sign above the door saying the place had been established in 1881. While the feeling inside was modern dive bar, I still wouldn't have been surprised had a prospector with a big beard and suspenders hitched up his mule outside and trundled in for a shot of whiskey. We also came to realize that in addition to cruise ships, another dominant feature of Juneau is alcohol. The town has an impressively large number of bars, which seem to be among the first businesses to open in the morning. There's also a considerable wino population hanging out in the streets; Again, not hostile or threatening, but just there as befits a remote town with months of darkness and little economy outside of the government offices and seasonal tourism.

Native Dancers, July 4th Parade

I've already mentioned that we shared the streets with a lot of cruise ship passengers on port call for the day. Locals in the shops would ask us what ship we were on, and always seemed to warm up a little bit when we told them we weren't from a ship (though we did always 'fess up to being in town to get on a small ship cruise).

We had hoped to take the tram to the top of Mt. Roberts, but the day was drizzly and foggy so instead we went back to the hotel and relaxed - read and napped. Downtown Juneau doesn't have a lot of restaurants (you have some more options if you have a car) and so after some time online searching for a restaurant that had good reviews, wasn't too touristy, and didn't feature seafood (we don't eat shellfish) we settled on a pizza place. The pizza there was almost more of a flatbread, but it had good flavor and the accompanying salad was fresh and tasty. The walk to the restaurant also took us past a spot further down the ship channel and we took the opportunity to spend some time gazing at the view out over the water to the mountains. While we stood there and gazed a bald eagle swooped in and nabbed a fish from the water, then soared off into the mountains.

We had thought about going to a local art house movie theater for evening entertainment but ultimately wound up going back to the hotel and watching a slight, though entertaining TV movie (all-star cast, TV movie script).

Sat 7/5

I am increasingly in awe of my colleagues who jet back and forth "back home" to various South and East Asian countries and show up for work all chipper with very little recovery time. Day two into a mere four hour time change and my rhythms are still bolloxed up. In addition to napping for an hour and a half yesterday afternoon I conked out for half an hour or so during the TV movie we watched last night, went to bed at midnight and popped awake at 5:30 AM. Just like yesterday, I stretched while downing a cup of the vaguely coffee-like liquid the room's coffee maker produces (shame on me for forgetting to pack my supply of Via Brew instant coffee packets!), then headed over to Silverbow for an egg & cheese on a bagel and a real cup of coffee. A good breakfast was in order since I had a morning kayaking trip to the Mendenhall glacier on tap. while I munched my bagel I overheard two local guys debating whether to go for a run or stay and watch the World Cup soccer game. I wound up striking up a conversation with them about running (one was an ultra-marathoner who had run a 100 mile race in the mountains around Juneau the previous week), paddling, and general Juneau sight-seeing. Unfortunately I had to cut our conversation short since I knew the kayak outfitter was due to pick me up soon. It was a good thing I didn't linger since the van arrived ten minutes early, piloted by a young woman named Hannah who turned out to be very knowledgable about the flora, fauna, geography and weather of the area. It was about a 20-30 minute ride out to Auke Bay including picking up a family at the Travelodge along the way. We stopped to pick up gear and boats at the "kayak shop", which was really just a shed serving as an office and a tent full of gear. The boats were already loaded onto a trailer, which Hannah hitched to the van. As we headed out I noticed a bald eagle sitting on a piling by the public boat ramp. Mendenhall is not far from Auke Bay and so we were there in about ten minutes.

The view even from the put-in at Mendenhall Lake is spectacular, offering a vista across the lake encompassing both the glacier and Nugget Falls in the distance. I was grinning from ear to ear before we even got the boats off the trailer. Mendenhall is apparently receding fairly quickly. It wasn't that long ago that there was no Mendenhall Lake; it was part of the area covered by the glacier.  We got a quick safety briefing from Hannah, including how far to stay from the glacier and a description of how to do paddle float and assisted rescues that would have been incomprehensible to anyone who didn't already know how to do these things, not to mention the fact that the 36 degree water would have made it hard to keep your wits about you and manual dexterity long enough to do any kind of rescue. Hannah gave us each a water bottle and a snack bag comprising a couple of granola bars and some Halloween style mini candies, loaded us into our boats and sent us on our way.

About that water: back home I would never, ever got out in water that cold without my full cold water regalia - dry suit and insulating layers, thermos of warm liquid, warm gloves, and neoprene hood. The folks here, on the other hand, seemed utterly unconcerned about sending people with unknown kayaking experience out into the cold - a risk that admittedly was mitigated by the warm air temperature, glassy smoothness of the lake and the use of wide, stable kayaks (Perception Carolina 14's). Still, it was unsettling for me to be paddling nearly freezing water in street clothes. I launched and hung around for a bit, figuring the six of us (family of four in two doubles, plus Eddie from Washington state in a single) might hang together for safety. I soon realized that Eddie had headed off across the lake on his own and the family was going to be moving slowly, so I started paddling around the perimeter of the lake towards the glacier.

Kayaking Mendenhall Glacier

As I've mentioned, the glacier is partially visible even from the launch site but when I rounded a point and it came fully into view it was truly breath-taking. A giant wall of blueish ice, larger than you could imagine, sandwiched in a valley between two mountains. Eddie and I got to the entry to the glacier area at about the same time and we paused to both gawk at the glacier and exchange cameras to take pictures of each other. Then we continued in closer to the glacier. Hannah had given us information about how close we could get (the risk is that the glacier would calve and we could get sucked under by the shifting ice). In addition, we were given maps that also showed the line. Being a safety-oriented person I followed the rules, but Eddie and at least one of the doubles, as well as other people on the lake, paddled much closer in. One thing of interest is that glaciers create wind. The giant mass of ice cools the air around it and the cooler, denser air flows down into the less dense air around it, creating a glacial, or katabatic wind. The wind was clearly in evidence as we approached the glacier and I was glad to have worn some layers.

After gawking at the glacier for quite a while and snapping a zillion photos I headed around past Nugget Falls and then beached my kayak to climb out and have a look. I wasn't sure if this was permitted either by the outfitter or the park, but I figured, what the heck. I was the only kayaker there and I got some strange looks as I walked around in my PFD and spray skirt - one guy even asked me what the heck was up with the gear. Nugget Falls would be worth a visit by itself, though of course it is second fiddle to the glacier. The falls are 377 feet high, tumbling down directly into the lake, and you can walk up pretty much right to the base of it. I'm glad I got a chance to see it up close. From there I wended my way through the ice strewn lake (another warning - don't get too close to the icebergs) back to the put-in, where Hannah soon arrived and whisked us back to Juneau.

During the time I'd been kayaking V browsed the downtown shops. We met back up at the room. The staff arrived to make up the room a few minutes later so we went downstairs and shared some peanut butter crackers, since neither of us had eaten lunch, then sat and read for a bit. V went upstairs to relax and I went out for a walk. First I browsed a couple of shops - the outdoorsy shop across the street and the bookstore up the block. Then I got coffee and a snack. As I was ordering my coffee I got the brilliant idea to go geocaching. I'm not that active a cacher anymore but I really wanted to log at least one geocache find in Alaska. Coffee in hand I headed out to look for caches. After brief attempts at two Nano caches (teeny tiny caches usually used in urban locations - often very frustrating to find) I found a nicely hidden cache in the garden of the historic Russian Orthodox Church (the Russian Orthodox won over a lot of the natives by offering services in Tlingit language, while the American missionaries insisted on English). While I was there I finished my coffee and took some pictures.The church is in a cute residential neighborhood a little outside the hustle and bustle of downtown and so I decided to continue exploring and strolled up the mountainside through this funky neighborhood. When I got tired of walking uphill I decided to try for another geocache and headed down out of the neighborhood. This whole time I was carrying my empty coffee cup. It's hard to find places to throw things out; because of the large bear population in the area people keep their trash locked up tight. Even the trash cans in the downtown area use bear resistant lids. As I'd see firsthand the next day, this concern about bears in downtown is not an idle one.

I did successfully find the second geocache, chatted briefly with a guy working on an old 1960's vintage Jaguar "saloon", then headed down one of the incredibly long flights of alleyway stairs in this mountainside town, back down to Franklin Street and our hotel.

We have a long tradition of eating Chinese food wherever we go in the world and so for dinner we chose to go to the closest Juneau had to offer, a multi-Asian restaurant with a menu that included Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese dishes, which in itself should have been a warning. The New York Times in its,"Thirty six hours in Juneau " write-up remarked that Juneau is not a place for five star dining. Well Let me tell you, this place deserved negative stars. It was the worst restaurant meal I've had in a long time. The food was like the packaged Chung King Chinese dinners we'd eat as kids. Egg drop soup that I'm pretty sure was Campbell's chicken soup with eggs added. Ketchupy, gloppy Pad Thai. The Chinese dish we ordered, tofu and vegetables, was marginally better, but still frozen dinner quality. Juneau just isn't a restaurant town.

After dinner we went to a local theater production, a two-man show based on the book The Blue Bear, about the friendship that develops between two men as they search for the elusive Alaskan blue bear. The story takes place locally, and the author had lived in the area (the bookstore owner had recommended the production). It was surprisingly well done and we really enjoyed it. Then, it was back out into the 10 PM light, and back to the hotel and bed.

Sun 7/6

The folks at the information center had recommended a restaurant called the Sandpiper for breakfast. After our mixed experiences with Juneau restaurants we were suspicious but decided to forego a last day of bagels at the Silverbow and give it a try. During our walk over I looked across the street and saw a black bear in someone's yard! It was quite a tableau: the bear on the front lawn, a woman (who I assume walked out of her house to find a bear there) cowering behind her van, and three lauabouts hanging out in front of an office building across the street laughing and getting the biggest kick out of the whole thing. V and I scrambled for our cameras but by the time we got them the bear had disappeared.

The Sandpiper itself was smaller and more of a typical diner than I had expected (from the description I expected a breakfast heaven) but the food was, in fact good - even if the service was typically Juneau indifferent. We had a good breakfast of french toast, augmented with Yukon Gold (of course) hash browns and (for V) bacon.

From there we went up the tram up to the top of Mt. Roberts - a spectacular view of Juneau and its harbor. I convinced V to go on a half mile hike up at the top. A half mile doesn't sound like much but there was quite a bit of elevation change along the way. The hike provided us with yet lots of vistas to ooh and ahh at. I kept putting my camera away thinking I had snapped enough pictures of snow-capped vistas, only to pull it out again around the next bend. Truly a beautiful place. We of course browsed the gift shop and we also watched the demo of a native carver working on a totem pole. He was carving a big trunk of western red cedar and was a little surprised when I said, "oh, that's the same wood I use to carve Inuit kayak paddles." When we got back down to town we grabbed lunch at an out of the way sandwich shop called Grumpy's, which turned out to be a surprisingly good meal.

Juneau from Mt. Roberts. Out ship is one of the two teeny ones tied up next to each other near the center of the photo

In the late afternoon, after yet some more browsing, we headed for a meeting room at the Baranof, the gathering place for the group heading out that day aboard the Safari Endeavour. We started chatting with some of the folks who were going to be our boat-mates for the week. As always, we found ourselves in a baby boomer crowd, that is, most of the people were older than we were, though there were a few couples our age and here and there some younger folks. One of the first people we got to talking to was David, a dentist from Connecticut. As we talked V, who has the skills of a top-notch police interrogator, slowly dropped bait into the conversation until she was able to hook him and reel in the fact that he and his wife were Jewish. Aha! Not the only ones on the boat. 

We got a warm welcome from the crew as we boarded the ship and our evening was spent in a whirlwind of unpacking, socializing, briefings, life boat drills, more briefings, a beautiful sunset, dinner (choice of prime rib, salmon, or a vegetarian dish), cocktails and more cocktails, and meeting more people. We told one woman we spoke with that the trip was for our 25th anniversary, to which she responded, "Mazel Tov!" Her Jew detecting technique lacked V's subtlety, but I have to admire her bluntness; we confirmed that this was indeed an appropriate choice of words. 

Our cabin

Our tribal bonding completed for the day, we moved on to dinner, which was quite tasty, and the service was very attentive, though there was a minor glitch in that they forgot to serve us dessert - a minor oversight which turned out to be typical of the attentive but imperfect service on-board. We turned in at around midnight, looking forward to our first full day on the ship.

Sunset, Day 1

SUP Experiment in Georgetown

So, I've been meaning for some time to try SUP. "What's SUP?" you say? Nothing much, what's SUP with you?

<Rimshot />

SUP is stand-up paddle boarding, and it's been all the rage for the last couple of years. A lot of people who would have been casual kayakers in years past are now up SUP-ing instead. It's never seemed very appealing to me, to tell you the truth. You're paddling along standing up on a wide surf board. It's supposed to be a good workout, but it seems rather uncomfortable and limiting. 

Anyway, one Sunday Ted and I headed into Georgetown to try SUP rental, but it was so crowded and hard to park that I just gave up and went home. I hate to be thwarted, so the next day, my telework day, I planned for a long lunch break and headed for Key Bridge Boathouse. I was there and parked in under 15 minutes, as opposed to 40+ just to get there on Sunday. 

KBB is, unfortunately, no longer Jack's. It's like running into someone you know after the zombies or the Borg have gotten to them. Yes, it's still recognizable by sight, but its spirit different. The old school connection to the river is gone. Frank Baxter and the various river rat hobos who worked the place (or just spent time there) - all gone, replaced by college kids in matching t-shirts and an impersonal, efficient rental process reminiscent of a fast food restaurant. 

All that notwithstanding, I was soon standing on a paddle board, heading upriver towards the Three Sisters Islands. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had no problem with balance on the thing. I got up and down from my knees several times without incident. I shouldn't judge first time paddle boarding against kayaking skills honed over the years, but boy, paddle boarding is SLOW. It took me about 30 minutes to cover the short distance from Key Bridge to the islands. I had a little current against me, and every time the wind blew it brought me to a standstill, as when you're on a board you act as a pretty big sail. 

As expected, the trip back downriver was faster as I had the wind and current with me, and I paddled back to Key Bridge Borghouse -- oops, Boathouse -- without incident.

Can you sense a lackluster response on my part to my SUP experiment?

Provisional Verdict: Meh. Better than not being on the river, but much less sensible than a kayak.

Long-term prognosis: I'll likely try it again so as not to make a snap judgement.