Juneau, Alaska

Wednesday- September 7- Juneau, Alaska

We were up by 7 A.M. It was cloudy and a very cool 53 degrees out, with a light mist of rain falling. We had breakfast in the Horizons cafe, on deck # 14, and then disembarked for our 9:30 A.M. Juneau History and Mendenhall Glacier Tour.

Juneau, the Alaskan State Capital is reachable by sea and air only. It sits in the Mendenhall Fjord, ringed by mountains, with a thin 30 miles of roads strung around its periphery. The area gets over 90 inches of rain and 100 inches of snow yearly. It is gray and overcast most days. The temperatures can rise to 90 degrees F in July or sink to -22 F in February. Some 30,000 souls live here year round. Lobyists, interest groups and government employees fuel its year round economy.

There actually was an individual named “Joe Juneau,” who with his partner Richard Harris, came to the Silver Bow Basin area in 1880, looking for gold. Their quest was based on rumors fed to a financial backer by a Native Alaskan Chief named Powie. Juneau and Harris found nothing on their first two trips. On the third trip, they struck pay dirt near Lemon Creek. Their financial backers caught up with the two lucky partners, as they boarded steamers for Seattle, intent on heading for the hills. The city was first named Harris because he was the only one who could read, write and leave records. Later miners named it Rockwell, during the gold rush. Finally, the settlers named it in honor of Joe Juneau. Like a lot of miners, Juneau died broke in the Yukon, prospecting for another claim. The territorial Government was transferred ti Juneau in 1906, from the old Imperial Russian Capital in Sitka. It has remained the political center of Alaska ever since.

The several square blocks, of the downtown area, appear much more upscale than those in Skagway. The Alaska Shirt Company, The Red Dog Saloon and other commercial establishments have the same pitch, but are just a little nicer in appearance. Four other cruise ships were in port today. The small shopping area was over run. Float planes and helicopters buzzed above us. They were headed on tours for over viewing of the surrounding glaciers. They were already busy with the days commerce.

Our bus ferried us the few short miles from Juneau to one of the major attractions in the area, The Mendenhall Glacier National Park. We got off the bus and walked to “ Steep Creek.” It flows from the wooded hillsides into the fjord. We watched for a time, as a stream of bright red salmon swam up the creek. They looked like big suckers. We could see Salmon skins all along the far bank, where bears had come to feed and stripped the skin from their dinner before eating. The wooden walkway led up towards the Glacier Visitor center. A spur of it was blocked off. A sign hung from a rope, “Closed due to bear activity.” None of us, who had just seen all of the fish skins, challenged that sign. Most foks respect the size and power of a bear.

We walked out onto a raised point of land that faced the Mendenhall Glacier. Impressive in size, the enormous wall of ice stood impassively as a hundred camera flashes recorded its rugged and imposing beauty. The shining, light blue turquoise auras glistened from within. The surface of the glacier is erose from sun warming and continued movement. Scientists had measured the Glaciers flow and found that the center of the mass flows faster that the sides, which scrape up against the rock walls of the gorge. The water, in the deep green fjord below the glacier, was adorned with ice floes of various sizes. No floes of any size lasted long in the August rain and heat. The Glacier itself retreats 200- 300 feet per year. At the present rate of warming, it too may be just a memory in a scant few hundred years.

A few hundred yards along the rock face, Nugget Falls spewed a continuos stream of icy white water down the graanite walls of the gorge.The mountains surrounding the area feed the rivers and streams continually from their perpetual ice coverings. We watched and enjoyed this massive wall of ice. No significant calving occurred while we walked the paths around the park area. Rangers said that some knuckle heads, in the Winter, walk across the frozen surface of the Fjord to the glaciers face. One good calving and they would be crushed in an instant. That sums up a city kids view of things here in Alaska. We treat the wilderness like an amusement park. The reality of nature here in Alaska is that it is totally unforgiving. Mistakes here end in your imminent demise. As tourists, we had lost that sense of “danger in the wild.”

We walked up a winding hill path to the enclosed nature center. A small fee for admission lets you into a heated observatory. Films of glaciers and the Alaska wild are shown periodically. A small gift shop sells items from China and Indonesia. We viewed the glacier through the telescopes and read the dioramas explaining glaciers and other exhibits. Their is an interesting process that occurs, as the glaciers retreat, called “Deglaciation.” We had viewed various stages of it in the College and Glacier Fjords. First a “bullseye lichen” covers the bare rocks with a furry green fuzz. Then, bird droppings and other detritus begin to cover them, creating soil. Dwarf fireweed takes root in the shallow soil. Then, as more and more vegetation accumulates, shallow rooted Sitaka Spruce and Cottonwood tress take root and soon cover the hillsides. Bear, sheep, and other animals come to feed on the brush and berries. You now have a functioning ecosystem where once there had been but ice and rock. Maybe we should start inquiring about land for Summer cottages along the Nome Coast of the Bering sea?

Our bus returned by 1:30 P.M. and ferried us back into Juneau. Mary and I found the “Red Dog Saloon.” It is a functioning old time saloon, complete with saw dust on the floors and a piano player singing for his supper. The place was awash with visitors, but warm and cozy. We managed to grab two seats, at a corner of the bar, and ordered up two glasses of Alaskan Amber Ale. It was pretty good tasting. For $6 a glass for draft beer, it should be. Still, you got the flavor of a gold rush saloon for the price of a beer.

From the saloon, we walked through a few gift shops. They were nicer than Skagway but sold most of the same Asian bric a brac. The real “Alaskan” carvings, of totem poles and other works, are both beautiful and exorbitantly expensive. The artists must live well selling at those prices. An internet shop gave us a chance to check for messages and get a look at the world outside of Alaska for a brief glance. We then walked the half mile back to the Sapphire Princess in a light rain. It was damp and cold. We had seen enough for the day. Back aboard the ship, we had salads in the Horizons Cafe. Then, we suited up for a 90 minute work out and sauna in the gym. The intense heat (assayo atsui) felt wonderful after the damp chill of a raing day in Juneau.

By 7:30 P.M. we were again seated in the deck 15 “Skywalk Lounge.” We savored a glass of Mondavi Cabernet and enjoyed the view all around us, high above Juneau. You can get used to comforts like this. We had decided to try another dining room this evening. We walked down to the deck 5 “Vivaldi’s.” Crab cakes, rockfish chowder, Alaskan crab legs, already shelled, and a black forest torte made for another memorable repast. You get used to dining like royalty all too fast.

It was 40 degrees out ,chilly and wet. We returned to our cabin to read for a time and then surrendered to the misty realm of tomorrow. Over night the great ship left Juneau and motored down the Gastineau Channel, through the Stevens Passage, across Chatham Straight and Chatham Sound and finally through Snow Passage and into Clarence Straight towards our last stop on the cruise, Ketchikan, Alaska.