Whitehorse to Sitka

Hi All,
On Sunday, July 9, we drove from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory back across the border to Skagway, Alaska. I only wish the weather had cooperated. It rained the entire way and at our highest point we were driving in the clouds. What scenery we could see was very interesting but we really didn't get to see much.

We were in Skagway for a couple of days before boarding the ferry for the first part of our trip on the Alaska Marine Highway System. Other than walk around downtown Skagway we didn't do much there. At this point we were getting pretty tired of the rain.

Tuesday afternoon we drove the truck and trailer onto the ferry for the six and a half hour ride (with a quick stop in Haines) to Juneau.

Our ferry ride took us by a lighthouse on the way to Juneau

Juneau is the only US state capital that is not accessible by road. The only way to get there is by air or water. We stayed at a US Forest Service campground on Mendenhall Lake.

Looking into the woods from our campsite

At the other end of Mendenhall Lake is the Mendenhall Glacier

While there we visited the Mendenhall Glacier, taking a hike to Nugget Falls to get closer to the glacier.

Our last day in Juneau we went into town and made a visit to the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. The salmon are starting to show up as they've made their way back from the Pacific Ocean where they've been for the last two to five years, depending on the species. In a few more weeks they'll harvest the eggs and sperm from the returning fish. At last count they only had 47,000 fish so they need to wait a bit for more to arrive.

A window into the fish ladder

And they're not all here yet

Friday we were back on the ferry for a five hour ride to Sitka, which is where we are now. Our first day we were blessed with some sun and warm weather. It was over 60! We took advantage of the nice weather and took a hike in the morning and did a little fishing in the afternoon.

The view from our campsite in Sitka

I'm not sure the pictures do it justice but it was very much Jurassic Park like

Duncan kept running ahead and then looking back at us "Are you coming or not?"

Between us we caught several logs and the bottom

Today, Sunday, there has been a light rain most of the day, but undeterred we visited the Alaska Raptor Center and Fortress of the Bear, not to mention the Bayview Pub for a great burger.

Meet Kylie, a 22 year old Harlan's Red-Tail Hawk. His handler, whom we met in the parking lot as we were walking in, is from Tyler Texas

The Alaska  Raptor Center takes in wounded raptors, rehabilitates them and releases them back into the wild when possible.

Kylie was taken from his nest for a "pet" and after two unsuccessful attempts to return him to the wild, he is now a permanent resident

 Watch the video and you might be able to hear Kylie's wing as it touches Susan's phone.

A juvenile bald eagle. They are full size at 4 months but don't have the white "bald" head until they are five years old

In Alaska it is illegal to return a captured bear to the wild. Bad news part II, when a mother bear is killed for whatever reason, the cubs are killed as well as they will not be able to take care of themselves and they can't be taken in and then released. Fortress of the Bear takes in orphaned bears and keeps them. They currently have five brown bears and three black bears.

These guys are not quite three years old and weigh between 300 and 350 pounds

Here's 1,000 lbs of brown bear

Eagles hang around because the bear handlers occasionally throw some fish up for them to eat 

And here is the route this post covers. mostly by ferry.

We'll be in Sitka for a couple more days before taking the ferry to Petersburg. This will be our longest segment, taking just under 12 hours, from 6 PM to 6 AM. We're far enough south now that we're getting a whopping seven hours between sunset and sunrise. We might even be able to sleep some!

Take care.

Made the turn

Hi All,

Our last post was in Hope, Alaska. The population of Hope is 212. During the summer. During winter it’s just shy of 100. Hope has two restaurants and one bar. We decided the bar looked interesting so went in for a beer. Between a gold prospector and a group of kayakers from Scotland, we had a blast.  I haven’t posted any pictures from Hope so here are a few.

From Hope we drove to Kenai, spent one night and then drove on to Homer where we visited a longtime friend of Susan’s, Bridget. Bridget has lived in Homer for several years and thoroughly enjoys it. It is absolutely gorgeous, but then so has been most of Alaska. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were there but we still had a good time. Homer is where we made the turn for home. Other than a little back tracking we’ll generally be heading south or east from here on. Gun Barrel City, Texas to Homer, Alaska, 9,000 miles by the route we took.

The view of Cook Inlet from the Welcome Center as you enter Homer

No color on a cloudy day like this but still pretty dramatic

Duncan wants to go fishing. Just for the halibut.

One of many float planes around Homer

Bridget and Susan the morning we left

From Homer we drove to Seward for the Fourth of July and as luck would have it we were there for the Mount Marathon Race. What a race it is. It starts in town and goes between 3.1 and 3.5 miles, depending on what route you take. Yep, there are multiple routes. The start is at 30 feet above sea level, the turnaround point is 3,022 feet above sea level. This race is not run on a road or street, except for the few blocks at the start and finish that are in town.  You get up and down any way you can- on your butt if necessary.

The starting line with the Women's race about to start

Wave one is off!

Wave two is off! Probably about 400 women and 400 men ran the race.

Way up there at the top is the turn around point. The women's record is 36 minutes to the top, 11 minutes back down.

Here's the winner of the women's race. We were about two blocks from the finish line and she went by us at 50 minutes. She blew the rest of the field away. It was several minutes before second place came by.

Notice the bloody knee. This was not uncommon. This is a mountain race. (this was not the winner, this is somewhere between tenth and fifteenth place)

Made us think of the 60's. Nice dress!

The first wave of men are off

And here's the winner, about 46 minutes later.

Gumby runs the race every year and is a perennial favorite.

A Roman chariot driver took a wrong turn somewhere.

Zoom in and learn some interesting facts as well as see how treacherous the course is

From Seward we spent the night outside Anchorage after visiting the Ulu Knife factory and the Ship Creek Fish Hatchery.

Just some of the scenery between Anchorage and Tok.

It just keeps getting better and better

The best I could do for getting a picture of a salmon in Ship Creek. Yes, we were up Ship Creek. Neither one of us had a paddle.

318 females and over a million eggs. Wow.

From Anchorage we went back to Tok for a night. From Tok we took two days to drive to Whitehorse. The trip from Tok to Whitehorse was the part of the Alaska Highway we missed by taking the Top of the World Highway. We can now say we have driven every mile of the Alaska Highway. Cool!

Not far from our campsite outside Destruction Bay, there was a grizzly bear eating along the highway

As close as I ever want to be.

The route covered by this post

Tomorrow we drive to Skagway and on Tuesday we get on the ferry and start the water portion of our journey. That’s it for now. Take care.

Brian