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