WalleyeLJ
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Last post for our day of adventure at and around Icy Strait Point. There are a number of things to do right in ISP, or from it (like the whale watching & kayaking). There are also some cultural events that are held in the complex that we’d like to see some day. Most of those are held at the Huna Tlingit Heritage Theater – including the dance performances. It’s good to have a reason to come back! After our tender ride back, we went back to the room, where Bev elected to just rest for a bit, while I decided to take advantage of the Thermal Suite in the spa for a little while. I was great to rest the weary bones and muscles on the heated tile loungers and watch Alaska float by out the window. I would probably not have a big interest in the Thermal Suite in the Caribbean, but even though was toasty warm on the ship, it just felt good to be able to go in there and relax for a bit during the week. In all we used it three or four times. If you have an interest it, I would definitely recommend it.
A quick shower after that and we were off to dinner. After dinner, we spent a little while in the casino to try our hand at the only game we feel comfortable with – blackjack! Thanks to a nice little run, we doubled what we had each brought with us ($50 into $100 – big gamblers we are not!), and then retired back to the room, exhausted but happy. Tomorrow morning we were arriving at Hubbard Glacier. On the northbound Radiance trips, that’s a 6am-10am “stop”/visit, and I was determined to get a good spot to hopefully see some epic glacier calving!!!
The Huna Tlingit Heritage Theater, along with some totem pole detail shots
A look back as we were leaving at the postcard shot for ISP…
Our towel buddy we found waiting for us when we got back to the room. Not in keeping with the Alaskan theme, but very cute!
L.J.
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As we made our way past Radiance we got another chance to check out Hoonah from the water, as well as see more activity in general, from more fishing trawlers heading out to a kayaking excursion making its way back to the Cannery. Once we got back to the dock where we were picked up in the morning, Capt. Larry tied off the Mystress and it was picture time! As he was pulling alongside the dock, I was able to get some shots of a Bald Eagle sitting atop on the dock pilings. After a few photos, we made to the Hoonah fishing processing facility and made arrangements to get our Halibut (and the Glow in the Dark Canary Rockfish!) back home. Then it was into the minivan and back to ISP. We checked in at the security gate, made our way through the complex, checking out the gift shops in the Cannery building for a few minutes, and then caught that last tender back to the ship. No one can say I didn’t use every minute I could in Alaska!!!
Kayakers that had finished checking out Hoonah from the waterside, heading back to Icy Strait Point…
Bird (BIG bird) on a wire…
A couple shots with our catches of the day – many thanks to Capt. Larry & Margie for a great day of fishing AND whale watching!
A look at the Hoonah waterfront – pretty much everyone has a great view!
L.J.
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excellent photos,,, how close were the whales you saw while out on your fishing charter? and which lens combo were you using?
Hey aquajon,
The whales were as close as 150 feet a couple of times, but hung out on their own most of the time between 200-400 feet or so (the mother and calf). The others were a few hundred more feet to a 1/4 mile, but were pretty much saw a whale (or spout) every few minutes if not constantly most of the day. Most of the photos were taken with a Canon 100-400mm IS lens, but on occasion, I would need to go wider with an 18-200mm.
L.J.
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We booked with Harv and Marvs (6 people per boat) for the whale watch. Afterwards, they brought us by the glacier then back to town. Had plenty of time for town. If you want to spend more time at the glacier, you can shuttle back to town.
Same. One time we went back on the shuttle bus after Harv & Marv dropped us off, the other time we just stayed the 15 minutes or so and continued back into town. Two birds, one stone!:D
L.J.
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After several hours of fishing, and then several more whale watching (including and extra hour beyond what we were supposed to get), Capt. Larry pointed the Mystress towards Hoonah and we made our way back into port. We had a terrific time with Patrick and Shannon!!! I was so glad that he reached out on our pre cruise thread to see if we wanted to split the charter since neither couple could go out on their own without playing double per person. Margie and Larry were great hosts as well – nice boat, fun to talk to, and of course the food treats were awesome! Unfortunately they’ve moved back to the Lower 48, but if you run into them down there, we can highly recommend them! While the weather had been a bit cool with the occasional scattered shower, in reality it was quite nice most of the day – the best part being the calm seas! Once we got going, it allowed me to still take some photos on the way back to Hoonah…
Shannon & Patrick were all smiles after a great day on the water, and so were Bev & I
The two sides of the weather were on full display as we headed back. On the far/Glacier Bay side of the Strait, where the sun wasn’t out it was at least dry and pretty clear. In comparison, on our side, there were storm clouds brewing up on the mountains of Chichagof Island, either rain showers, snow showers or both. In any case, I increased my shutter speed to get the silhouette effect of the tree line on the near hillside with the looming stormy weather beyond. Believe it or not, it’s actually a color photo – not black & white like it might first appear. In any case, it’s one of my favorite photos of the trip, and each time I see it in my office it brings me back north…
My Alaska!
There’s Radiance – waiting for us to return and take us to our next adventure!
A local trawler heading out in search of a catch of fresh Alaskan seafood
The Icy Strait Point Cannery and Pier complex to our port/left as we enter the bay…
L.J.
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So, as through we didn’t have enough good fortune with all the various whales around us near and far, we had the good luck to have another mother and calf swim upon us and entertain us for quite some time. While it would be nice to think they just wanted to spend some time with us, it was really the big floating kelp bed that they were interested in. Both mom and baby had a grand old time rolling around in the big mass of kelp (spa treatment maybe?!?), showing both their pectoral fins and even their bellies as they lounged around upside down for a bit! No breaching today, but a great time getting to see the two up close for such a long time, along with all the others…
Here’s comes Mama Humpback and her little one…
Who knew whales liked to float upside down?!?!
Prepare to dive!
Big things near and far – they’re everywhere in Alaska!
Never get tired of seeing whale spouts – here’s another lone wolf traveling along the shoreline… We didn’t have the fortune to witness bubble net feeding, but I know some folks did on the run down to Point Adolphus
One last look at Mama’s tail before she sounds one last time, and we start back to Hoonah…
L.J.
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Better views on the driver's side heading out on the road.
Agreed - just be aware when going through Polychriome Pass that it can be stressful if you are afraid of heights as the road is quite narrow and the drop into the valley below can give some folks quite the adrenaline rush...:D
L.J.
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Fishing continued on for a while longer, steady picking for each of us. In addition to the Arrowtooth’s and the occasional halibut, we also caught a number of rockfish of different sorts. Apparently there are a number of different types, but we didn’t keep any of them until Bev hooked the one and only Canary Rockfish of the day. It was a brilliant reddish orange. Capt. Larry said that they were as good or even better eating than halibut, so we added it to the keeper list for the day. Considering how many fish we caught overall, the halibut fishing itself was pretty slow. Capt. Larry said we were on the early side of the season, and that the fishing would get progressively better into June and July. He was proven right by the ridiculously great fishing for halibut we had in July 2012 at nearly the same location. As we fished, Margie was a great hostess, and brought out some homemade treats she had brought for us. First up were some homemade blueberry muffins (fantastic!), and then at lunch time we had ham & cheese croissant sandwiches, more homemade baked goods – chocolate peanut butter cookies(!!!), with soda, soft drinks and some Alaskan beers.
As the fishing slowed and the whales continued to show more of themselves, Capt. Larry offered to turn our fishing trip into a whale watching trip if we wanted since the halibut were slow going. We left that up to Patrick and Shannon, who were all for it. They didn’t have a whale watching trip scheduled during the cruise, so this ended up being a great opportunity for them to end up with one after all since we had booked a full day. When you aren’t use to it, bottom fishing is hard on the arms, so this was a nice break for all us. While Point Adolphus was the place to go for whale watching in Icy Strait (another 8 miles or so northwest of us), we had such a good show going on around us that a couple of the dedicated whale watching trips spent a good amount of time around us!
One of the “unknown” rockfish – interesting looking critters eh?
The first of several great whale tail shows of the day!
The big triple decker boat from the ISP Cannery dock packed with folks off of Radiance checking out the whale show…
Bev proudly holding her glow in the dark Canary Rockfish
Smoochin’ - looks like love at first sight!
Next up – time to meet the new kid on the block!
L.J.
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I pack 3 SDLRs - a Canon 7D (8fps fpr wildlife, calving, etc), a Canon 50D, and a Canon XTi for back up. We also have a Canon SX40HS, and usualy at least one waterproof Olympus P&S. For lenses, I carry a Canon 70-200mm IS f/2.8 "L", Canon 18-200mm IS f/4-5.6, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3, and a 1.4x teleextender for the big Sigma, plus sometimes a Canon 50mm f/1.8, Canon 70-300m f/4-5.6 IS, and a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro. I have hundreds of photos in my Alaska trip reviews (1 complete and one in process) if you want to see if it's worth carry the extra firepower:D
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1679447 (completed)
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1844695 (in process)
L.J.
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I am hesitant to book a tour that is not with the cruise line. How safe is it to do that and how many of you have done it that way?
We've been on two Alaska cruises and I booked all our excursions independent of the cruise lines. We usually do the same in the Caribbean as well. If you reseach here on CC and Trip Advisor, you can get a good idea if a tour operator is safe, fun and reliable. Lots of people book onshore - I just love to plan (it's half the fun for me), so I book months or even a year plus in advance to make sure I get the tour and time we want. Have a great trip!
L.J.
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I have a question for you. We have never been to Alaska before and are considering a R/T Seattle cruise in 2015 mostly because we want to visit Sitka. Seems like a very neat town. How "scenic" is the inside passage and if the itinerary is right and the price is right are we giving up to much to go R/T Seattle vs Vancouver? Thanks!!! And beautiful review. I loved reading about your adventure!
jormot,
Thanks for checking out our adventure. There are many folks here on the board that have a lot more Alaska crusing experience under their belts than we do, but personally we LOVE the Inside Passage - as long as you actually go through it versus around it. I know that some of the Seattle trips take an outside loop into the open ocean around the lower part of the Inside Passage, not going in/out until approaching or just leaving the Ketchikan area. We haven't made it to Sitka yet, but as I just mention in my last post it's high on the list for Bev & I the next Alaskan cruise we take. We've seen several television shows featuring Sitka, and it looks like a great place to visit. We'd love to see some some photos and hear about your Sitka experience when you get back.
L.J.
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We head out of Seattle on June 1st. At Juneau, we are going to do the glacier seaplane flight/Taku Lodge feast and then hope to get over to see Mendenhall glacier. Skagway is the next stop and we have the Yukon Rail & Bus trip booked with Chilkoot. Thinking about also doing the Skagway Town tour w/ Dyea Dave so we can get out to see Reid Falls. The next day will be the Glacier Bay cruising. Friday we will be at Ketchikan - it's a pretty brief port so the only thing booked is the Bears of the Fjords tour with Alaska Seaplane Tours....a little early in the season, but really hoping we get to see some bear. Final stop will be in Victoria (6 pm to midnight) and we have nothing planned yet. Probably end up doing a horse carriage tour, or something similiar....open to suggestions if you have any!
Again, thanks - i've really enjoyed your report!
Sooner Fan75,
Sounds like you've got a great trip planned! We haven't been into Glacier Bay or stopped at Victoria. Sitka's on the to do list as well:). It may be a bit early for bears as you mentioned, but when we did our trip into Misty Fjords Michelle had us keep an eye out for a Brown bear that had been seen in the area, and we found a huge bear claw in the rocks along the beach to back that up, and that was the end of May. Nothing like seeing a wild bear! Ketchikan is a great shopping port, and if you can make it to Creek Street it's a nice place to check out. Have agreat trip:D.
L.J.
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Once Capt. Larry had the Mystress where he wanted, he came to the back of the boat and set up our rigs. We had short, stout rods with heavy duty line, and our bait rigs consisted of a 16 oz. sinker with a heavy duty three-way monofilament harness that left a circle hook with some chartreuse tubing over the hook eye, dressed with some partially frozen herring bodies. If anyone wants to see what the rig looks like let me know and I’ll post a pic. We were set up in about 290-300 feet of water, and halibut are bottom feeders, so it takes a little while to get down to them. Capt. Larry told us once we made contact with the bottom, you want to take up the slack so that we could lift the rig up a foot or two and then drop it back down in free fall to the bottom so it would sort of “thump” when it hit. Capt. Larry said halibut often swim over prey and then thump them with their bodies or tails to stun their snack before feeding. He said the theory was that it would attract other halibut to our bait, curious to see what the ruckus was all about.
Just a few minutes later, Bev hooked up first. Several minutes and 300 feet later, into the boat comes…an Arrowtooth Flounder. Capt. Larry called them “Uglies”, and said they were a trash fish – no meat value. Ugly was a good name for them, as was their given name. Flatfish aren’t exactly pretty to begin with, and these squirrelly eyed fish have one vicious mouth full of razor sharp teeth – like arrowheads. So, back in the water he (or she) went. Patrick and Bev vied back and forth for who had the most fish, but while Patrick caught a couple of halibut (1 small and 1 keeper) along with a mess of Arrowtooth’s, Bev just kept catching those “uglies”. Shannon and I took a little long to get on the halibut board, but I got one, and she ended up leading us all for the day with 3. We weren’t too far off shore, so we were able to see eagles flying by on occasion as the moved from tree to tree, scoping out their next meal.
Before long, we realized we had a party crasher, and I had to stop fishing and pick up the camera! A curious Sea lion appeared off our stern, apparently hoping for a free snack, either a hand out from us, or to steal one of ours. He entertained us for a few minutes, but once he realized he wasn’t going to get any easy pickings, he moved on. Still, it was wild to have one come so close to us, especially since we didn’t get to see them on the buoy in Juneau. While it was still mostly cloudy, there were occasional brief breaks of sun, the water was very calm, and we began to see Humpbacks appear all around us. A couple fairly close, some off in the distance – out in the middle of the strait and in near shore. While the fishing was fairly steady, the bonus whale watching was a great way to fill the time between catches!
Patrick is ready to rumble with the leviathans of Icy Strait!
Me with my first ever halibut! Not very big as far as halibut go, but it was a keeper and a trophy!!!
Bald Eagle taking flight!
Our Sea lion buddy making his way towards us
Our Sea lion looks like he’s ready for us to toss him a dog bone – or better yet a fish bone!
Ahoy there – the first Humpback of the day – the first of many!!!
L.J.
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Thanks navy, thanks elise! At least I finally made some headway this weekend!
L.J.
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The reason we had to exit the Icy Strait Point visitor’s area is that it is owned by the local Tlingit residents, and because of that, non-ship tours must meet their rides off property. It’s just a couple-three minute walk to the gate and the parking area. We got there a few minutes early and spent our time taking in our surroundings, including an eagle on a piling out in the bay, and the tenders running folks in from Radiance. Margie showed up in the van a few minutes later, right on time. We hopped in, and made our way the mile and a half or so into the town of Hoonah. The roadway follows the edge of the bay, so while the ride was short it was very scenic. We didn’t see any whales on our short ride into town, but I did forget to mention that while we were having breakfast in the Windjammer that we saw a humpback right in the bay. We saw one breach right near the ship on our 2012 trip as well, so it’s no wonder why it’s such a great place to go whale watching! The population of Hoonah is around 600-700, so the town is pretty small, but spread out along the shoreline so it looks like most folks at least have a million dollar view no matter how big or small the homes are. The nice thing is that since this is usually a single ship port, it has yet to be overly developed and colonized by the cruise ship company stores like several other Alaska ports of call. Margie parked the van in the parking area right above the small boat harbor, and we all climbed out and headed down to the dock to meet Capt. Larry (who is also Margie’s husband) and their boat “Mystress” as he motored up to meet us. A couple minutes later, we were all aboard and heading out for our first ever fishing experience in Alaska!
Our view from the edge of the parking area of the historic Cannery and Radiance
A close up of Radiance – it looks like she’s ready to come ashore herself!
A couple of fishing vessels tied up at the Hoonah (actual working fish processing) Cannery on the shores of Hoonah
Captain Larry in the “Mystress” on final approach to pick us up…
A quick 15 minute run later and we were ready to see what lurked in the cold waters of Icy Strait…
L.J.
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So happy your surgery went well
I started reading your reviews last year in preparation for our trip this year. Thanks for all the information and beautiful pictures.
Thanks Kimahri - I hope you had a great trip. The knee is still a little behind where I'd like it (my shoulder is almost fully healed and it was only 9 weeks ago compared to 6 months for the knee), but I did take my mountain bike out on one of our local greenways for my first ride since before the knee injury and made it 20 miles - so I was pretty happy! Need to get it fully ready fro Alaska 3,0 in 2015:D!
L.J.
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As dawn broke on another day in Alaska, I found myself alone in my favorite spot at the back of deck 11. The day was shaping up a lot like the day before – cool, gray, and intermittent rain showers – so I was glad for the overhead cover. One good sign was that it was pretty much flat. Easy fishing and even better for wildlife spotting! I went back and got Bev and headed back to the Windjammer to have a big breakfast so that we had enough energy for our big day of fishing! We made our way down to Deck 2 to catch a tender to shore. Unlike all our Caribbean experiences with tenders, where they were locally owned and operated shuttle boats, in Alaska the cruise lines use some of their own lifeboats to fill that role. I never thought it would be cool to end up in a lifeboat – but they’re pretty cool when you try them out from a perfectly good ship! Since our charter was an all-day affair, the folks at Dreamfish Charters asked us to get on the first tender of the day if possible as our pick up was scheduled for 7:30am just outside the gate to the Icy Strait Point Cannery/visitor’s complex. We indeed made it onto the first tender of the morning – and we had the tender mostly to ourselves. We headed up on top to the second deck to take in the fresh air and the views as we made our way to shore. The trip took only 4 or 5 minutes, and we were heading up the gangway, through the complex and out to meet Margie and the van!
Misty Morning in Icy Strait…
Our lifeboat/tender sliding up to Deck 2
Bev, Shannon and Patrick checking things out as we head for shore
It almost looks as though Patrick is say “So THAT’s where our ride came from…”
On final approach to the ISP tender dock. One of the big whale watching boats for the cruise ship excursions all tied up and ready to go…
Fast and efficient – the tenders looking like giant water bugs (everything’s bigger in Alaska), and the next couple were a lot more full than ours was!
L.J.
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I didn't get an opportunity to visit Denali on this trip but I am looking forward to doing this on my next trip to Alaska.
After reading your review and others we booked a flight with Michelle of Island Wings out of Ketchikan soaring over the Misty Fjords. Again your pictures gave us perspective on what we would be seeing on this trip.
In Skagway we used Chilkoot and booked their Scenic Bennett Journey. I ended up spending most of my time on the viewing platform. Every one rotated on the platform so that everyone who wanted to be outside go the opportunity. The scenery in the Yukon was breath taking. We were able to see a mother bear and three cubs. The train did stop when we said there was a bear siting.
I wish we had more time in the port of Juneau. We were able to do the Temsco Pilot Choice tour which is a double glacier landing. This included a little time to get out and walk at each landing. The first landing was on the Gilkey Glacier and the second landing was on top of the Juneau Icefield with snow and views of the mountain tops.
When we returned to port we took the blue bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and walked to the waterfall. You could hear the roar of the rushing water from a distance. The visitor center was worth a visit as well. I would have booked a tour from the ship but everyone on cruise critic said how easy it was to do this on your own--and it was easy.
We had great weather the entire trip.
I will be planning trip number two shortly. Next time I am thinking of sailing with RCCL instead of Princess due to better entertainment and activities on board the ship. My priority on this trip was seeing Glacier Bay and Hubbard Bay.
It sounds like you had a blast. If we get back to Skagway again we'll have to look at trying out the train. How was it walking ont he glaicers in Juneau!? It's another on of the to do things that we haven't done yet - just hate missing those whales:D. The one drawback with RCI is that they don't go into Glacier Bay - it's the one thing that might get us to jump lines at least once if we take another Alaska cruise!
L.J.
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Our time almost up in Skagway (8pm all aboard), we made our way down and into the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion was opened in 1897 and quickly became one of the busiest and most successful bordellos in town. Today, it’s a highly successful bar and restaurant (and museum if you want to revisit the old days). We didn’t have time to check out the museum, but we did stop and have a soda, and I also picked up a logoed pint glass for my travel collection. I don’t drink beer, but I love collecting pint glasses during our travels. Bev was ready to head back to the ship, but I wanted to continue my ever present quest for t-shirts, so she headed for the Ore Dock and bounced in and out of the few gift shops and t-shirts stores that were open. While I didn’t find a shirt that appealed to me, I did come across and old White Pass train with the biggest snow blower attachment I have ever seen. It makes sense though as the railroad was the main land link to the rest of the world for many years. I can only imagine what it would look like in action! I realized I was quickly running out of time, so I put away the camera and started trotting towards Radiance. I made it on board with about 5 minutes or so to spare – there were only 8 other people still off the ship! Bev was a bit worried to say the least – she passed me on my way up to the room on her way back down to security to check to see if I was going to be left behind in Skagway. I’ve learned my lesson and now make sure I am always back on the ship at least 10 minutes before departure…
The AB House and the Red Onion Saloon really are just a few steps from each other
The front of the Red Onion
Fun times – a look inside the Red Onion!
The biggest snow blower I have EVER seen!
Our little towel buddy that greeted us before we turned in for the night. We were going to be up bright and early to head out with Patrick and Shannon for our fishing (and other) adventures in Icy Straight Point tomorrow!
Aardvark, Armadillo, or Anteater???
L.J.
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As we reached the bottom of the pass and were just about back to Skagway proper, we kept an eye out for Dyea Road on our right. This road leads to an overlook that lets you get a nice view of Skagway and the ships in port – including the lovely Radiance. The rain was ever present, but really, a trip to coastal Alaska without any rain really wouldn’t be a true Alaska experience! I even got a fun shot of Bev wearing my rakish waterproof boonie hat (a GREAT investment)…
The view from the overlook (Radiance is all the way to the right)
A shot of the two Princess ships (Railroad Dock) and a Holland America ship (Broadway Dock)
Bev sporting my boonie rain hat…
We hopped back in the car, backtracked to the Klondike Highway, turned right and made our way into Skagway. I hit the gas station in town, topped of the car, dropped it off at Avis, and made our way into downtown to check things out with the hour or so we had left. Things were pretty much wrapped up for the day, but it was still fun to walk around and check out some of the unique buildings. The last planned stop of the day was to try and check out the Red Onion Saloon!
This “Welcome to Skagway” sign greats you as you reach sea level and enter town…
Downtown Skagway shops
The Arctic Brotherhood Building (the exterior is covered in pieces of driftwood) on Broadway is a favorite photo op and is a few blocks from the cruise docks…
L.J.
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Right after the 8 foot snow pack shot, we crossed back into Alaska. As we descended back down the pass into Skagway, the intermittent snow changed back to just rain, but it was still only in the mid to upper 30s. We were still ok on time, so I took the opportunity to snap a few more shots, some from inside the car to keep the camera gear safe. There were a number of waterfalls along the way, some near and some far, and the actual border crossing back into the U.S. was a bit after we passed the “Welcome to Alaska” sign. Perhaps one of my favorite sights from the day was making our way down from the border to the border crossing, dropping sharply towards the coast and Skagway, and seeing the red and white markers high above the roadway. These funny looking, 90 degree candy canes, which bent over the roadway itself, are placed there because the snow gets SO high during the winter, that they use those markers to be able to stay on the roadway when plowing snow from the road. Absolutely fascinating!!!
“Welcome (back) to Alaska!”
Roadside snowmelt waterfall in the misty rain (on the right side of the road heading back to Skagway)
Heading down the Candy Cane Highway…:D
More waterfalls across the valley to our left (if you look in the upper right quadrant you’ll see one of the bridges that the White Pass train takes on its climb up to the summit and into Canada)
The border crossing – luckily there really isn’t a lot of traffic on the road. Reminded me of crossing back from Quebec into northern Maine…
L.J.
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I have just finished reading both trip reports - wow. We are going to Alaska for the first time and our first cruise in 2015. You have inspired me to take a photography course and update our DSLR so that I can take full advantage of the scenery. We are also looking at spending a night at Silver Salmon Creek so please let us all know how that goes. In fact let us know about all your travels - the photos plus commentary strike the perfect mix.
I'll second the recommendation about Tasmania - definitely on my wish list but then so is a lot of Australia - and I live here :)
deddans,
Thanks for checking out our stories - I'm glad you've enjoyed them! Bev keeps up a travel blog on TravelPod (ljandbev is our username) when we're actually traveling, and then I slowly :) work on the detailed posts here on CC. We've been very fortunate to have to wonderful experiences in Alaska. Understanding Exposure and Understanding Shutter Speed, both by Bryan Petersen, are two great books you could check out for some photography self learning.
As for our trip to Silver Salmon Creek, we're going there August 16th-19th 2015, so you may very well get there before us - but I am so looking forward to it. If your trip is before that, we'd love to hear about your experience there - and all your other adventures!
As for Tasmania...it's on the to do list - along with Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Bora Bora, Africa (photo safari), Venice, Tuscany, Rome, the Amalfi Coast... (I'm going to have to live a long life to check all these off...:D)
L.J.
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So, as we headed south down the Klondike Highway back to Skagway, we left the warm and mostly sunny Yukon and made our way into the cool gray, rainy weather near the coast. There were several pretty valleys and lakes that I wished we’d had time for me to shoot on the way out when it was sunny – but you can’t do it all. That’s why you have to make another trip! We did make a few scenic pit stops (Bev drove so I could jump in and out to take photos) along the way, and our first one, before we got back into the rain, was to check out the Mountain goats way up on the mountainside – our first ones on the trip! Looking high up on the slope, we scanned the scree slope for the goats that a couple other cars were watching or looking for. It took a few seconds to see the little white spots high above us, and then it took looking at them through my camera at 400mm to confirm that they were indeed goats and not little residual piles of snow. The shots would likely have looked a better if I was shooting off a tripod, but at least you get an idea of what they looked like. Remember that this as after zooming in all the way to try and make them out. To the naked eye, they were just little white dots - but a blast to see them nonetheless!
Goats on the Mountain (naked eye view)!
Goats at maximum zoom (still a long way to go…)
We continued back down the road for a while until we got to Shallow Lake (on our left headed back to Skagway). It was down in the 30s again as we had climbed up a ways towards the White Pass Summit. Since it was late May, the high alpine lake was starting to ice out. The combination of the little island in the middle, with the open water, snow, ice and misty fog made for a wonderful view. It was dead quiet – like we were alone on the planet (or at least this part of it). The precipitation had started up by now was a mix of light rain and wet snow flakes, making photography a bit of a hasty pursuit. I’ve since got rain gear for my camera for such occasions, but today I was winging it. This shot below was my favorite shot, the one that best captured the mood…
Late spring at Shallow Lake, British Columbia, Yukon Highway
A friendly roadside reminder to adjust your watch between time zones…
Fortunately, despite the cold, the roads stay wet and clear, so the drive back wasn’t a problem. If it had been, we might still be there! AS we made our way to the highest elevations, the snow that had been mostly up on the hillsides above us made its way all the way down to the roadway – and there was a ton of it! It was the most snow we’d ever seen – and it was almost June!!! I can’t imagine what it would like in the middle of winter. I went over and stood next to the snow pack and Bev took a shot of me to give a good sense of scale. My reach in the photo is just a little under 7.5 feet (2.286m).
Rolling down the Klondike Highway in a winter wonderland…
Almost 8 feet of snow – the last week of May!!!
Next up – we return to Alaska!
L.J.
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Carcross was a neat little town. It was all out in the open along the banks of both Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. The population is a little less than 300, but there are some neat things to see in town. It’s one of the stops on the White Pass rail tour. There had been an avalanche a few weeks before that had caused some damage and interrupted service. There was a team working on getting some rail cars back onto the tracks that they had trucked in with semis pulling flatbed trailers. It was obvious they had done this before, but it was pretty cool to watch.
“The train on the truck goes up, up, up…”
We checked out the middle of town, watching groups of tourists check out the sights. They had a pretty big visitor’s center, but since we were getting pressed for time, we into what seemed like the main attraction – the Matthew Watson General Store. It was chock full of all sorts of things – arts & crafts, fun trinkets, gold pans, collectible dolls, post cards jewelry, clothing, TONS of magnets (we like to collect those!), and, most importantly…
ICE CREAM!
The snack shop was full, with ice cream the most popular item to order. Two scopes and a can of soda later, we made our way back to the car to make the run back to Skagway…
Welcome to Carcross!
The front of the Visitor’s Center
Folks on their way into the Matthew Watson General Store
Lots of stuff to check out in the General Store!
One last look back across the lake at Carcross…
L.J.
Glacier Bay or Icy Strait??
in Alaska
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