Alaska cruise, Post 5: Glacier Bay

On Sunday, May 6th, we spent the day "scenic cruising" in Glacier Bay National Park. Along with our day in Juneau, this turned out to be one of the two main highlights of our trip.

Glacier Bay National Park preserves nearly 600 000 acres of marine ecosystems. No roads lead to the National Park, yet over 400 000 people visit each year - the vast majority of them by cruise ship. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve contains nine tidewater glaciers, four of which actively calve icebergs into the Bay.

As we entered the National Park, a few park rangers came aboard via a tender, and throughout the day they made loudspeaker announcements and held slideshow presentations so that we could learn more about Glacier Bay. We went to a presentation by Park Ranger Randy.

In the morning, we passed a couple of glaciers, but they didn't look particularly spectacular to us. They were at a distance and covered in a layer of snow, so they really just looked like hills between the mountains, sloping down to the shoreline. There were pieces of ice floating in the water though, and it was very cold outside on the decks!

In the early afternoon we were relaxing in our room when I looked out of our window and screeched to Ben that we'd better get outside right now! We had arrived at Margerie Glacier, and this one was worth getting cold for.

For the next hour or two, the Volendam sat a mile or so in front of the face of Margerie Glacier, slowly rotating so that the passengers could see the glacier from all sides of the ship. It was a spectacular sight - one of the most impressive things I have seen in my life. From our perspective in the Bay, Margerie looked like a giant wall of ice... a jagged, blue-tinged cliff a mile long and 250 feet high.

As we stood out on the deck, rugged up and talking to our fellow passengers, I saw the glacier calve nine times. Calving is the sudden release and breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier, iceberg, etc. The previous day I had sent a postcard of a glacier calving, thinking as I did so that there's no way we would see something like that! Anyway, I was absolutely chuffed to see it happen nine times. (After getting back home, I saw some YouTube videos of HUGE chunks calving off, so I'm glad I hadn't seen those before the trip or I might not have been quite as impressed by the comparatively small chunks we witnessed!)

A glacier - which is essentially a river of ice - moves due to the weight of the ice and the effects of gravity causing it to "flow" slowly downhill. (Click here to learn more about glaciers retreating and advancing.) Most of the world's glaciers are retreating these days, but Margerie is stable. I think we heard that Margerie is advancing at a rate of 7 feet per day... so as far as I can figure, that must mean she is calving 7 feet per day in order to be considered stable. No wonder we saw lots of calving!

Each time the glacier calved, there would be a sound like distant thunder or a jet passing overhead. If we turned towards the direction of the noise in time, we would see a chunk of ice falling away and splashing into the ocean, creating a frothy white wave. Ben only saw it calve a few times as he was taking lots of photos and usually missed it. However, he did catch one small calving on camera... see below!

So what do you think of Glacier Bay... worth getting cold for? We thought so!

To be continued...

Alaska cruise, Post 4: Skagway

The second port of call on our Alaska cruise was the town of Skagway, on Saturday, May 5th. We were there from about 7am to 9pm.

Skagway is a gorgeous little town in a stunning setting. The population is about 900, but on busy cruise ship days it can be inundated by up to 10 times that many people! Thankfully we were the only ship in town this day. In fact, as our cruise was right at the start of the Alaska cruise season (which runs from May to September), we were only the second ship to arrive in Skagway this year!

Panorama of the mountains near Skagway

View from the ship while docked in Skagway

As one of the two main gateway towns during the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s, Skagway has a fascinating and colourful history. In 1896, gold was discovered in a river in Canada's Yukon territory, 600 miles inland from Skagway. Once news of the gold reached the nation in 1897, the town's population boomed almost overnight. It is estimated that around 100 000 people attempted to reach the Klondike over the next 2 years.

"The majority of prospectors landed at the ports of Dyea and Skagway in South-east Alaska. They could then take either the Chilkoot or the White Pass trails to the Yukon River and, from there, sail down-stream to the Klondike in self-made boats. Each prospector was required to bring a year's supply of food with them by the Canadian authorities and many had to carry this ton of supplies in stages over the passes. The advent of winter and thereby freezing of rivers meant that most prospectors did not arrive in the goldfields until summer 1898. Only between 30,000 and 40,000 of the stampeders successfully arrived in the Klondike."

--Wikipedia

Previously a two-man town, by 1898 Skagway had around 10 000 residents - gold seekers, businesspeople, outfitters, writers, photographers, etc - and with this rapid population increase came brothels, swindlers, gangs and crime. The area's most famous conman and gangster was named Soapy Smith. One of his scams involved setting up a telegraph office where lonely gold seekers could send telegrams to the families they had left behind. The wires went only as far as the wall, as telegraph lines did not reach or leave Skagway until 1901! Soapy was killed by vigilantes in a shootout in 1898. These days, on the anniversary of his death there are wakes held in his honour throughout the United States.

Upon leaving the cruise ship the morning we docked in Skagway, we walked the short distance into town along a road that turned into the main street. Although rather touristy, the store fronts were bright and character-filled, and we thought it was a very pretty town. The most noteworthy building was the Arctic Brotherhood Hall, which has nearly 9 000 pieces of driftwood attached to its façade. The driftwood was attached in 1899 and extensively renovated, piece-by-piece, in 2005.

Skagway's main street

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

The most popular shore excursion in Skagway is the train trip over the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. Originally labelled an impossible task, the railroad was completed in 1898 after only 26 months, and is hailed today as a incredible feat of engineering. We had considered doing the train trip, but as it was rather pricey we decided to just wander around the town instead.

Here I am standing in front of the 129-ton "Snow Plow No. 1", whose 65 years of service saw her "ten double-edged cutting blades slice into the cement-like drifts, hurling ice and snow hundreds of feet from the railroad tracks" (as stated on the sign pictured below). Impressive!

Snow Plow No. 1

We spent our morning using the free WiFi outside the closed public library, and wandering in and out of shops. I bought a t-shirt and Ben bought some sunnies. Then we headed back to the ship for lunch and to write postcards to our parents. Later, we headed back into town to wander some more, send the postcards, and watch an interesting half hour video at the National Park Service office about the history of Skagway and the Klondike Gold Rush.

An out-of-the-way shop I enjoyed browsing through

A sweet little bird outside the above shop

Sending postcards!

And that was our day in Skagway!

To be continued...

Alaska cruise, Post 3: Juneau

Our cruise route

The first port of call on our Alaska cruise was Juneau (pronounced "June-oh") on Friday, May 4th. Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, although it is only Alaska's third largest city by population (~31 000 people).

A settlement we cruised past before arriving in Juneau

Approaching Juneau

Panorama of Juneau's dock, as seen from the ship

We docked in Juneau from 1:30pm to about 10pm. After disembarking the ship around 2pm (a process that can take a while when a thousand people want to leave the ship at the same time, via the same gangway, and all need to have their ID cards scanned first!), we started walking into town, passing all the tour touts and souvenir shops en route to our pre-arranged appointment.

As it was preps time at the local convention grounds, we had arranged to meet one of the sister workers in front of the library. However, just as we caught sight of the library, who should pull up beside us in a van but Gretchen! (Her parents Donna and Terry, and sister Janae, have been mentioned in this blog fairly regularly.) We had known Gretchen would be there, although she wasn't the one we had arranged to meet... but apparently she had insisted on being the tour guide when she found out it was us arriving! She had brought Kari with her, and soon the four of us were en route to the Juneau grounds.

At the grounds, we met the owners (Howie and Ruth) and a few of the brother workers. Then we were given a tour of the grounds, which were probably the most scenic we've ever seen! The view of pine trees, island, mountains and ocean was spectacular. We had been told it was a beautiful location and we certainly agree! We really appreciated having the opportunity to see the grounds in the process of preparing for convention a few weeks later.

Panorama of the view and Howie and Ruth's house

A short but steep walk led to this beautiful
log cabin, where the brother workers stay

Inside the cabin - second storey

Inside the cabin - first storey

Panorama of the view from the cabin!

We spotted two bald eagles from the cabin - look carefully
at the top of the tree in the centre of this photo

Gretchen and I heading back downhill

Another one of the sleeping quarters

After farewelling the nice folk at the grounds, Gretchen and Kari took us to see the Mendenhall Glacier, one of Juneau's main tourist attractions. A glacier is basically a river of ice between mountains, and this one is 12 miles long. We didn't go into the visitor centre, but we admired the glacier from a distance, saw a beaver dam in the river nearby, and walked a short trail that was a round trip from the parking lot.

Mendenhall Glacier

Panorama of Mendenhall Glacier

Beaver dam

Ben, me, Gretchen, Kari

Then it was time for our dinner engagement! Gretchen and Kari took us to the home of Don and Virginia, where we passed a wonderful few hours getting to know this delightful and energetic couple, who are in their early 80s.

Part of the reason for visiting Don and Virginia was that they had lived in Alaska for long enough to remember Ben's great uncle Lawrence, who had ministered in Alaska decades ago. Ben had never met Lawrence, and although we occasionally get asked whether we are related to him, we had not known much about him. However, while emailing to arrange our visit to the Juneau grounds, we had discovered that Lawrence's final days were spent in a nursing home in Juneau, and he was buried in a cemetery nearby! We wanted to visit his grave and learn more about him, so this had kindly been arranged for us.

Our day in Juneau - and visiting Don and Virginia in particular - turned out to be one of the two main highlights of our trip. They were one of the most amazing and inspiring couples we have ever met. Their home is a charming log house - even the gutters are wooden - and they have lived in it for 50 years. They raised 10 children (!) in their three-bedroom, one-bathroom home, and since retiring they have taken to visiting third world countries. (They haven't been to Australia yet because they are saving first world countries for when they get old!) A few years ago they did a 16-day hike around Everest Base Camp with a local guide they hired. You may be starting to see why we thought they were the epitome of awesomeness!

We had a delicious dinner of fish, rice, veggies and strawberry shortcake at Don and Virginia's. They cooked the meal in pots over the wood fire, and worked together in the kitchen the whole time without letting us help. After dinner the six of us piled into two vehicles and drove the few minutes to the cemetery, where they showed us Lawrence's grave. Then, we still had some time before we needed to be back on the ship, so we went back to their house and talked for a couple more hours. It was a very special visit!

Dinner on the way

Staircase to the upstairs rooms

Don and Virginia

Around 9pm, Gretchen and Kari drove us back to the ship and we said goodbye after our wonderful day of sightseeing and visiting. What a different day we had to the hundreds of other cruise ship passengers who disembarked in Juneau that day! We are so grateful for the hospitality and kindness everyone showed us... this was our favourite day of the trip!

To be continued...