Category Archives: Alaska

Alaska 2023: Day 10 & 11 Denali

Day 10 began early at the dock in Whittier, Alaska. It was cloudy with a light drizzle as we boarded our transport bus to the Anchorage Airport to collect our luggage.

The road leaving Whittier is routed through a 2.5 mile tunnel. This tunnel is shared by both cars and train, and it is one lane. Automated traffic controls dictate who has the right of way and there could be a thirty minute wait to pass through the tunnel. Along the way we saw a caribou or two, but the hour long trip was more or less uneventful.

We collected our bags at the airport and picked up our rental…a 2023 GMC Yukon Denali! How appropriate! It was huge! There was plenty of room for the five of us and all our baggage. Of course, Phil’s backpack with his laptop decided it wanted to hang out in the Anchorage Airport instead, but it was quickly located by airport staff and retrieved when we returned the next afternoon. (Yes, apparently our group had a lot of baggage issues this trip).

We stopped to eat at the Moose’s Tooth in Anchorage. They mostly serve pizza, but they did have a few other items on the menu. The nachos plate included pulled pork and was enormous. I totally loved it!

Well-fed and comfortable in our gas-guzzling SUV, we hit the road north. We arrived at the Denali Park Visitors Center just after they closed at six o-clock. One of the rangers was restocking the flyers on the outside of the building and gave us some guidance on where we might see our ultimate destination–DENALI.

Inside Denali National Park and Wilderness Preserve, we followed the Park Road to about mile marked thirteen. There is a pullout with the graphic diagram shown in the picture above left. Obviously, the clouds were NOT cooperating and we were not able to see Denali. Disappointed, we crawled back into our tank of an SUV and went in search of our hotel.

The Denali Bluffs Hotel is just a few miles down the road from the entrance to the Denali National Park. It sits on a bluff and has great views looking out toward the park. Because it was getting late, we ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, the Mountaineer Grill and Bar. Parking is a bit limited and might require a bit of a hike if you end up in the lower lot. The mosquito sign at left really is posted in the parking lot, and the mosquitos are huge! We encountered a few in our short stay; I can’t imagine how bad they would be later in the summer.

The forecast for the aurora borealis was supposed to be favorable during our stay. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really get dark at night where we were during this time of the year. The sun goes down around 11:00 p.m., but it stayed twilight until sunrise at 4:00 a.m. No northern lights for us!

We started Thursday morning with a trip to the Denali Visitor Center…during their operating hours! They had two short movies that we watched before we went to see the sled dogs. Because Denali is a wilderness preserve and accessibility to remote areas can be difficult by motor vehicle, the park uses sled dogs for transportation in the winter. They breed, raise and train around thirty dogs at the park. We were able to see the dogs and pet them before watching a demonstration of a team in action.

On our way back to the parking lot from the sled dog compound, we encountered several moose!

With our time in Alaska running out, we headed back to Anchorage. We once again encountered light rain and clouds as we left the national park and entered the Denali State Park. As we drove through the Willow, Alaska area, we encountered what remains of the 2015 Sockeye Fire which burned 7220 acres and destroyed 55 homes. Our last opportunity to see Denali was made at the South View Point in the state park. As much as I’d like to believe we saw the great mountain, I don’t think we were successful. Once again, the clouds obscured our view.

It was an amazing trip. Definitely something I have wanted to do for years. If I were to do it over, I’d wait and go later in the summer when it was warmer and the days are a bit shorter.

Until the next trip…

Alaska 2023: Day 9 College Fjord

Our last destination on the cruise was College Fjord. We had a lot of water to cover–first in the Gulf of Alaska and later in Prince William Sound–and it took twenty-four hours to make this leg of the trip.

The fjord was discovered in 1899 and the glaciers were named for Elite East Coast Colleges, hence the name “College Fjord”. Professors from Harvard and Amherst were both a part of the expedition and apparently took great delight in excluding Princeton when they were doling out the glacier names.

Alaska 2023: Day 8 Glacier Bay National Park

The day started early as we entered Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, picking up our park rangers on the way in. The weather was chilly with some clouds as we watched for wildlife in the park. Sea otters were plentiful, sometimes in groups numbering as many as twenty. We even were witness to a few whales as we spotted water spouts off in the distance. As we moved further into the bay, the clouds gave way to sunshine–a welcome sight after the previous days’ dreariness. The three glaciers deep in the park we observed were the Grand Pacific Glacier, the Margerie Glacier, and the Johns Hopkins Glacier.

a slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.

Dictionary.com

(of an iceberg or glacier) split and shed (a smaller mass of ice).

Dictionary.com

As a glacier makes its way down the mountain, it picks up rock and silt called glacier flour. The blue tinge to the ice and the turquoise color of the water at the base of the glacier is due to its highly compacted nature and the glacier flour. Only the blue wavelengths are reflected back for us to see. As the glacier makes its way down the mountain, sheets of ice break off in what is known as calving. We experienced three calvings of the Margerie Glacier during our visit to the park. According to our ship’s captain this is a rarity!

After our day at Glacier Bay, we headed out to the Gulf of Alaska to our final destination and day at sea.

Sunset. Taken at 10:30 PM

Alaska 2023: Day 7 Skagway

Our day in Skagway started early, with us disembarking the ship just after 8 AM and heading to the train depot. We traveled the White Pass & Yukon Route twenty miles to the White Pass Summit turnaround just inside the British Columbia border. Along the way, we viewed numerous glacier fed waterfalls as we wound our way along the Skagway River. The White Pass actually runs a full sixty-seven miles, ending at Carcross in the Yukon Territory.

  • Gold Rush Cemetery
  • Obelisk marking the border between Canada and the United States.
  • Trail of ’98 marker. This identifies where the original trail from 1898 ran.
This is a picture of the Skagway River Phil took from the train on the way back down the mountain. The image on the left is the original he took with his iPhone 13. The right has been color enhanced on that same phone.

Upon our return to the depot, we explored downtown Skagway and had lunch at the Skagway Brewing Company. Stampeders of the past were commonly afflicted with scurvy, which is a vitamin C deficiency. This area is not conducive to growing fruits like oranges and lemons; however, spruce tips, which are abundantly available, is rich in vitamin C. The stampeders would brew the tips into a tea and later incorporated the extract into a beer. It has been said that a spruce tip ale has as much vitamin C in it as a glass of orange juice. After lunch and some last minute shopping, the wind picked up and we returned to the ship.

Alaska 2023: Day 6 Juneau

We arrived in Juneau at 8 AM to light rain and fog. Since our excursion wasn’t until the afternoon, Phil and I explored downtown Juneau and did some shopping. We also sat on our balcony where we spotted several bald eagles and a golden eagle who flew right past our room! Later in the day we would catch sight of this eagle perched at the pier in a rare photo opportunity.

At noon, the weather cleared and we headed to the Juneau Airport with our excursion group to prepare for our helicopter trip destined for the Mendenhall Glacier. We watched a safety video and donned glacier boots before take off. We were in flight about ten minutes before we landed on the glacier surface. We spent about twenty-five minutes on the glacier, learning various facts about glaciers from the Juneau glacier field. The glaciers range from 200 to 2000 feet deep. The glaciers carry down silt as they move down to sea level. The water that melts runs about a million gallons in twenty minutes. The entire experience was awe inspiring!

  • Glacier with Mendenhall Lake in background.
  • Running water on the glacier.
  • Mendenhall Lake

After returning to the pier, Phil and I opted to have a late lunch at Tracy’s King Crab Shack. We ordered the #1 Combo which consisted of a cup of crab chowder, 2 King Crab legs, 4 mini-crab cakes and a roll. When we were done, we were full and returned to the ship to recover.

As the sun set in the western sky, we departed the capital city of Juneau for our next destination.

Alaska 2023: Day 5 Ketchikan

We rolled into Ketchikan at 6 AM to a cool 50F and low clouds. The town is built into the mountainside along the coast. There are some houses that are not near an actual street and the only way to access is via stairs. Several flights of stairs. Those residents have to be very conscience of what they are buying at the store because they will need to pack everything up to their houses on foot. It reminds me a bit of Jerome or Bisbee in Arizona. Everything has to be shipped in by water or air as there are no roads that connect the town to the outside world. Cars must be brought in via barge or ferry from Seattle or Bellingham. Travelling between towns up and down the Southeast Coast is done via ferry. A trip to Juneau typically takes 21 hours by ferry. Ketchikan is located on the Revillagigedo Island and has a population of about 8000. The town’s economy is dependent on the fishing industry and tourism. On any given day, there may be up to 20,000 tourists visiting the town. Ketchikan is located in a temperate rain forest region and averages over 13 feet of rain per year.

The downtown area of Ketchikan has many tourist shops, jewelers and restaurants. It also boasts a large carving of a eagle symbolizing the thundering wings of the eagle as well as a statue entitled “The Rock”. The Rock represents all many hardworking individuals who helped to build the town. Totem poles are scattered throughout the downtown area as well as other artwork available for purchase.

Our excursion for the day was a boat tour provided by Lighthouse Excursions entitled “Lighthouse, Totems, and Eagles”. It lasted a couple hours and originated out of Ward Cove. From our cruise ship, we took a bus to Ward Cove and boarded the boat. As we navigated the area waters, we spotted approximately ten bald eagles. Points of interest included in the tour was the Totem Bight State Historical Park and the lighthouse on Guard Island. The lighthouse is about 12 miles from Ketchikan and was first put into service in 1924. After visiting the lighthouse, we circled back to Ward Cove along the coast of Gravina Island. Gravina Island sits to the west of Ketchikan and is home to the Ketchikan Airport. A ferry or other nautical vehicle is required to travel between the two islands.

We finished out brief stop with a little more shopping and lunch at The Alaska Fish House. Phil ordered the Alaska Sampler fish and chips which included one piece each of fried salmon, halibut and cod with coleslaw and fries. I opted for the salmon chowder which was quite filling. Then it was back to the ship for an early departure to our next destination.

Dinner was in the Pacific Moon Restaurant onboard the ship. Parmesan crusted Cod was the main course with cheesecake for dessert. We followed it up with a comedy show featuring Greg Schwem before turning in for the night. We are currently making our way through the Inside Passage, winding our way through the islands south of Sitka, AK.