On The Road Again......: August 2013

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Salmon, Bears, Northern Lights, Skagway, Juneau, and WHALES!!

As good as it gets!

August 19-24, 2013

Our free day in Valdez was good. We did clean the inside of the coach. "Clean" is a relative term up here. I can't begin to tell you how many times Chuck has washed the outside of the coach and our car. Every time he does, he swears he isn't going to do it again until we get home. Of course the dirt gets so caked on he has to clean them. The rain isn't helping anything. Alaska seems to be having its normal weather now--overcast, rain, cool to cold--mostly in the 50's maybe a 60 and a few minutes of sun. I need sun, so don't think I will be moving to Alaska soon. Loving the visit however. Today in Juneau they told us they normally have about 6 days of sunshine during the summer. This has been a very unusual year for them. Well, I wish the weather would go back to being unusual at least for a few more days.

Part of the reason our vehicles get so dirty is there is so much rock and gravel here--roads, RV parks, etc. The reason there is so much dirt is as the glaciers recede rock is left behind. The first things that grow on this rock are lichens and moss. After them comes the fireweed (I mentioned fireweed before being the first thing that grows after a wildfire), then willows--not weeping willows and alders. All of these things are breaking down the rock to some degree and adding nutrients to the new soil. Next will come Black Spruce and maybe Hemlock and Cottonwood trees. It is great to see the progression of the soil and plant life. You can just look up a mountain and see what stage it is in.

After we cleaned the coach, we visited the fish hatchery and watched the salmon work their way up the fish ladder. As the strongest make their way through, they are taken out of the ladder and the roe and sperm are "harvested" to use in the hatchery to produce the next generation of salmon. These salmon are raised until they are ready to be released into the ocean. They make their way out into the ocean for 1 1/2 to 6 years depending on the species of salmon. The reason they come back to the hatchery when they are ready to spawn is because this is where they were born. The whole salmon cycle is amazing. How salmon make it back to where they were hatched is miraculous. The whole hatchery system supports the commercial fishing industry since many of these millions of salmon are caught by the commercial fishermen and sent to you in restaurants, groceries, cans, etc. Big industry here in Alaska.

We had hoped to see a Black Bear or two at the hatchery fishing for salmon, but we didn't. However we stopped at an information kiosk at the side of the road to watch some salmon spawning in a stream. We started to leave, but Chuck wanted to read one more sign. As we were reading the sign a Black Bear came out of the tall grass, looked over a few salmon, made his choice and disappeared back into the grass. Right place at right time.

Leaving Valdez we had some one night stops. We know the Northern Lights are starting to show in some areas on clear nights. Phyllis stayed up very late one night hoping for clear skies and a chance to see the Northern Lights. It was clear (and cold) saw the almost full moon (haven't seen the moon in quite a while) and the big dipper, but no lights. The next night we had moved back to Whitehorse, YT, and didn't expect to see the lights, so went to bed. Luckily Phil and Karon's dog needed to go out in the middle of the night, so Karon saw the lights and woke us up to see them as well. They were pretty cool. It is early in the season, so they weren't really spectacular but we did see them. Has rained every night since. Maybe we will get another chance.

Making our way to Skagway, we went on another boat cruise. This time we were headed to Juneau which is the capital of Alaska. We had to take the boat to get there since Juneau is the only state capital you can't get to by roadway--need to either go by boat or by air. Both Skagway and Juneau are big cruise ship destinations. We really don't enjoy all of the shops that are owned by the cruise ship companies. We did see the Mendenhall Glacier while in Juneau.

The BEST thing though is on the way back to Skagway on the boat, we saw a pod of Humpback Whales. We were able to watch them for quite a while (not long enough for Phyllis). Saw many flukes as they dove, some spy hops, and some feeding activity. Yes, we are happy campers now.

Tomorrow we take the White Pass Train. Wonder what we will see.

Salmon that have come back to hatchery area to spawn

Fish Ladder

Black Bear with lunch

Eagle pair waiting for us at boat dock in Juneau

Finally some King Crab that didn't have a ridiculous price

Young Black Bear in a tree at Mendenhall Glacier NP

Mendenhall Glacier and high volume waterfall from ice fields

Humpback Whales (4) and a fluke

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Seward, Glaciers, Valdez

August 13-19, 2013

We have been out on the water several times lately from Halibut fishing in Homer, then a three hour dinner cruise in Seward, to a nine hour boat tour of the Prince William Sound to see wildlife and glaciers. You would have thought we would have seen a whale or two by now--no such luck. We have seen Stellar Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Dall Porpoise, sea otters, salmon, sea birds like Puffins, and Eagles. Guess we shouldn't complain.

Can't complain about not seeing much of a glacier in Glacier National Park now that we have seen glaciers on foot, from the air, and from the sea. Saw icebergs a plenty today. We have no clue how many glaciers we have seen. They seem to be everywhere in this area.

In Seward, we had signed up for an optional activity of visiting an Iditarod Champion's Kennel (Mitch Seavey and son Dallas Seavey) . Chuck has come down with the cold that has been traveling through the caravan and didn't feel like going. PJ went with the wagonmaster's wife and enjoyed the tour. These dogs love to run and get so excited when they are getting connected to a sled or in this case a cart. We were able to go on a two mile ride with 16 dogs pulling 9 people effortlessly in the cart. Being in the low 50's, it was a little warm for these dogs who like to run in the below freezing temperatures. They were stopped and rested during the run because of the "heat". We were able to hold some 3-day old puppies since they begin socializing the puppies almost immediately. Alaskan Huskies have been bred from several breeds of dogs and are mostly bred for endurance. While some of them do have blue eyes, most of them do not look anything like a Siberian Husky.

After I returned from seeing the dogs, Chuck was feeling good enough to take a flight over the glaciers and the Harding Ice Fields. The planes are getting smaller; this plane was a 4-seater Cessna. Like so many people we have met up here, the pilot came up on vacation one year and never left. Will let the pictures tell the glacier story.

Exit Glacier by foot--yes we went all the way to it

Stellar Sea Lions seen during dinner cruise

Dog Team -- PJ in cart

Harding Ice Field--glaciers flow out of ice fields

Exit Glacier by air--we were at the bottom when hiking

Chuck, Phil, and the pilot

Horsetail Falls

Sea Otters playing

Iceberg from Columbia Glacier--saw it turn over

Us at Meares Glacier

Meares Glacier

Harbor Seals on iceberg from Meares Glacier

Oil pipeline terminus in Valdez

Happy tomorrow is a free day!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Homer, Camping on the Spit, and Halibut Fishing

August 9-13

While the view at Kenai on Beluga Point was beautiful, we didn't see any Beluga whales. We did see several sea otters and bald eagles. Three of us hosted an evening social celebrating the half-way point of the caravan. Luckily the campground had a very nice heated pavilion, so we could enjoy being together even in the cold rain. Beluga Point was just an overnight stay.

Homer, the Halibut capital of the world, has a population of around 5,000. Homer is named for con man Homer Pennock. He set up a base camp on the spit for hopeful gold miners. There is mystery surrounding him, and since he avoided being photographed there is some question whether it is his likeness that hangs in the visitor center. Many of the towns in Alaska seem to have been camps either for gold miners or construction camps for the railroad, roadways, and the pipeline.

What is "the spit"? We camped on the spit which is a glacial moraine that is constantly reshaped by ocean currents. A glacial moraine is the area where a glacier has terminated its forward thrust before beginning to recede. Today the spit is a 4.5 mile strip of sand and gravel which would have been washed away years ago if not for human intervention. We could have been under water at high tide if the tide was exceptionally high. The tides are around 18 feet in this area. Tidal currents are swift as we learned while fishing.

The highlight of our stay on the spit was a day on the water halibut fishing. We truly had an Alaska adventure as Chuck says to make the cold and rain more tolerable. Thankfully we had a beautiful day the day we arrived, or we would not have realized we were surrounded by mountains and glaciers. Our caravan had enough people who wanted to fish to reserve the whole boat. Nineteen of us went, and sixteen fished at any given time. We did a pretty good job of not getting all tangled up with each other unless a fish thought otherwise. The limit on halibut in this area is two per person, and we limited out the boat. Since we had decided to put all the fish in a pool, we all netted out about 16 pounds of halibut per person. Chuck was the s*** a** which is our family's term for the person who catches the first fish. He caught the first on the whole boat. And as is customary, Phyllis caught the biggest fish...sort of. I had my rod, and Chuck brought me a sandwich, so I handed him my rod to tend while I ate. Well he hooked a fish which it took both of us and the deck hand to bring in. Since Chuck already had his two fish, and it was my rod, and I helped bring it in, I got credited with the fish, which turned out to be the biggest of the day. We were all exhausted after the trip not to mention the sore muscles. We boarded the boat at 0630 and arrive back around 1430, and that evening we had a hot dog cookout. Loving this adventure.

Chuck with the first halibut

PJ with the biggest--35# halibut

The biggest four caught

Driving into Homer--nice glacier view

The Spit--we were camped on little strip of land out in water.

Eagle on light post right behind our RV

Caravan Camping on the Spit and a sunset to boot

Fun around campfire

Sea Otters are big

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Denali National Park

August 3-8, 2013

Denali National Park is breathtaking. In 1908, Charles Sheldon had a goal to make a wild dream come true. He was in the mountains viewing what could one day be a premier national park, the Yellowstone of Alaska which could be preserved and protected for one reason above all others: to celebrate restraint as an expression of freedom, our rare ability to save a place so it will one day save us. (From Denali National Park and Preserve publication by the National Park Service) After 10 years of campaigning, Sheldon saw his dream come true, and Mount McKinley National Park came to be. The park was 2 million acres. However, after study and more campaigning to protect the ecological integrity of the area and to accommodate the increasing traffic to the area, President Carter in a final act of his presidency signed a law increasing national parks. Mount McKinley National Park went from 2 million acres to 6 million acres and became Denali National Park and Preserve.

Mount McKinley or Denali is the highest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet. Denali is the Athabascan name meaning "the high one". Mt. McKinley most often is referred to as "the mountain" or Denali.

We stayed here for three nights. Private vehicles can only travel fifteen miles into the park on the only road into the park. From that point, shuttle buses or tour buses are the only way to get into the 92 miles of the road. We took a tour bus into mile 62. Words can't describe this wilderness. We saw 16 grizzly bears, 6 moose, 9 Dall sheep, 4 caribou, 3 Spruce grouse, 1 red fox, and a family of Willow Ptarmigan (Alaska's state bird).

In addition to all of the amazing wildlife and scenery, we were also fortunate to see partial viewings of Mt. McKinley including the peak. Only about 30% of people who come here to see the mountain actually get to see it. The mountain makes its own weather including many clouds. We also saw the mountain as we left the area on our way to Anchorage.

White water rafting on the Nenana River provided another thrill. We took the easier way and went on an oar raft. The guide does all of the work since we aren't paddling, and we just have to hang on. We wore dry suits which helped to protect us from the 37 degree glacier fed river. Yes, it was cold. After rafting, we decided to go for a hike at the 15 mile point along the river. On our way to the hike, we spotted our first bull moose. This moose was a young bull, but a few minutes later we saw one with a great rack. This fulfilled one of our quests.

Arriving in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, we stayed for three nights. The population of Anchorage is around 300,000 which is about half of the entire state's population. While touring the city, it was interesting to see moose crossing signs. Yes, there are moose and bear roaming around the city. In addition, we found out the salmon have begun their spawning runs, and saw a decent sized silver salmon being caught. Found out silver salmon is the same as coho and red salmon is sock-eye.

On to the Kenai peninsula tomorrow. Tomorrow will be our half-way point of the caravan being day 24 of 48 days. Hoping to spot Beluga whales tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the pictures.