Welcome to Glacier Bay National Park

Posted on June 16, 2013June 16, 2013 by Dusty Roads

And so as we arrive in Glacier Bay, a land reborn, a world returning to life, a living lesson in resilience. If ever we needed a place to intrigue and inspire us, to help us see all that’s possible in nature and ourselves, this is it. (from the Glacier Bay Brochure issued by the National Park Service)

Did you know that 250 years ago there was no Glacier Bay? 250 years ago the bay was completely covered by the Grand Pacific Glacier.

Naturalist John Muir was enamored of Glacier Bay. ” The very thought of this, my first Alaskan Glacier garden, is an exhilaration.”

As we stood shivering on the deck watching the ship make it’s way through the loose ice, it was easy to share that sentiment. Each berg, no matter the size, was unique and beautiful in its own, cold way.

The floating ice was getting larger now, an indication that we were nearing the end of the bay where the prize of the Margerie Glacier waited.

Glacier Bay is not only known for it’s ice, it’s also known for it’s wildlife but so far we hadn’t seen too much, possibly because of the late start to spring this year. But the bay was about to offer a consolation prize. As a particularly large ice floe floated by we spotted a strange looking spot on the ice. Binoculars came out to confirm and sure enough, it wasn’t dirt, it was a bald eagle.

It stayed right there floating along like Huck Finn on his Mississippi raft until it was out of sight.

About 9:30 we reached our destination, Margerie Glacier and with our arrival the jockeying for a view with the other 2000 passengers began in earnest.

Excited calls of “It’s Calving” mingled with the rangers comments over the PA system. Camera shutters clicked and no one wanted to miss a moment. People were crawling under the railings to get a tiny sliver of unobstructed view for their cameras to peek through.

I confess my frustration level was growing as I am sure was the case for many others. Those big blue screens may cut the wind but they are really in the way for pictures. Cold and (I confess) a little irritated we decided to go back down to our stateroom and see if we could see anything from our balcony.

Hit me upside the head for my stupidity! Here was the real view and we didn’t have to share with anyone else. Plus we were protected from the wind so it wasn’t as cold. Thank you Island Princess for the balcony upgrade.

We sat in comfort and snapped pictures to our hearts content. I did see the glacier calve once. I didn’t even try to catch a picture as I was just too much in awe. Although we wasted 45 minutes or so topside we still had a good 30 minutes before the captain swung the ship around so the starboard side balconies could have their turn.

Lesson learned…check the view from your balcony and avoid the crowds!

Glacier Bay

Posted on June 15, 2013June 15, 2013 by Dusty Roads

This is the post I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for and I have so much for show and tell. Glacier Bay Cruising is a highlight of many, many cruise lines for their Alaska trips. I admit we were really looking forward to seeing it. Mendenhall Glacier had only served to whet our appetites for more.

Skagway to Glacier Bay 113 nautical miles 11.5 knots

The Island Princess entered Glacier Bay from Icy Strait named for the multitude of ice bergs the first explorers found floating here. The Island Princess was selling tickets to “The Sanctuary” an adult only area of the ship. The Sanctuary has padded lounge chairs, “Serenity Stewards” to wait on you, blankets and Mimosas all for only $60.00 per person. The Sanctuary is located across the aft end of the ship.

The misty, cold, gray weather that had followed us so far continued to be with us as we entered Glacier Bay. We decided not to spend the money for the Sanctuary because of the weather. Even with blankets it seemed like we’d be warmer if we could keep moving around the deck. We learned later that we missed out on seeing a close up view of a pod of Orcas that frolicked in the wake. Maybe next time I’ll make a different decision. It’s also important to mention here that although Alaska in the spring is known for its rainy weather, we were experiencing much colder, wetter weather than is the norm. Everyone says spring is running about 2 weeks late. Just our luck! 🙁 But that means that you shouldn’t be discouraged about a late May cruise…next year could be glorious sunshine.

The Island Princess arrived off Bartlett Cove, Glacier Bay around 6 am where they picked up National Park Rangers. They set up a table neat the Horizon Court on Deck 14 plus they made announcements on the PA describing what we were seeing as we slowly cruised the bay.

I say slowly cruised the bay because Island Princess was moving through an ice field of bergs and small ice floes.

These bergs are a good indication that the glaciers are actively calving. Most of the bergs were pretty small or at least looked that way from 150 ft. up. I wonder if the people on the Titanic said the same thing…Oh they’re just little ice bergs. 🙂

The ice didn’t just drift out of the way. We could hear the bergs hitting the hull before they drifted off or slid down the sides.

Once again I can say it was cold especially when we leaning on the railing to see around other passengers or to avoid the annoying blue windows.

The closer we got to the Margerie Glacier the more the anticipation grew. People didn’t pay any attention to the many smaller glaciers that we passed as we traveled further into the bay.

Skagway

Posted on June 14, 2013June 14, 2013 by Dusty Roads

By now you’ve had a glimpse of just some of the things to do in Skagway. Although the gold rush has been a theme in the other ports of call, Skagway, more than the others seem to embody those days. We loved the train and the Suspension Bridge, even the history of the garden and the role it played in providing fresh produce, all related back to the Gold Rush.

We were in port until 8PM so there was plenty of time to explore after excursion, had we been so inclined. However we were hungry having skipped the Quiche so we returned to the ship to eat and relax instead. Cruising is all about relaxing and we certainly embraced it this trip.

The town of Skagway is compact and easy to explore on foot. Everywhere you look you’ll see a celebration of the Gold Rush. It’s estimated that 40,000 prospectors passed through Skagway on the way to the Yukon Gold Fields. Most of Skagway actually falls with in Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park .

One of the places we didn’t see that would have been interesting was the boot hill of the Gold Rush…Gold Rush Cemetery, the final resting place of heroes and villains alike.

Another landmark, the Red Onion Saloon built in1897, still stands at the corner of 2nd and Broadway. It’s current owners aim to keep it’s frontier spirit intact.

While there be sure you hear about Soapy Sam. Soapy Sam was really named Jefferson Smith and he was a notorious con man who with his gang of 100 ruled Skagway in 1897 & 1898. Besides running a telegraph office with no telegraph lines and freight companies that never delivered. He used many different tricks to separate the honest folks from their hard earned money…none of it legal. He even maneuvered himself into being mayor. But like a good wild west tale, Soapy met his demise in a gunfight that pitted good against evil in the guise of Frank Reid (the good guy) against Soapy (the bad guy).

But no happy ending both Frank Reid and Soapy Sam lay dead at the end of the fight. Still the shoot out did free the town from the grip of these bad of outlaws ending the 2 year reign of terror.

One last thing to consider doing in Skagway…pan for gold. There are excursions that will give you that chance. I imagine that water will be mighty cold.

As we were relaxing in our stateroom Sandy stepped out to the balcony. All of a sudden she let out a yell demanding that I come quick. There was some animal down on the rocks! I couldn’t quite make it out at first so I ran back in for the binoculars. It turned out to be an otter. We watched it for a good 10 minutes as it wandered up a path and then came back down to the rocks again.

Finally is slipped into the water and swam off. Seeing that otter made up for skipping our visit to the town. If we’d gone back to explore some more after our late lunch we’d never have seen Mr. Otter! And for me….its all about the animals!

Gateway to the Klondike

Posted on June 11, 2013June 11, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The ship arrived in Skagway in the wee hours of the morning or maybe it was night.

It’s getting harder and harder to tell with the late sunsets and early sunrises the farther north we go.

Skagway is located at the northern tip of Alaska’s Inside Passage.

As we roused ourselves for the day’s adventures we looked out on a busy dock with a rock wall to hold the bank in place.

Above the rock wall on the boulders embedded in mountainside we saw logos and ship’s names painted. The story is that when a crew likes the captain they come ashore and paint the ship’s ID on the rocks, the higher and more dangerous, the more the captain is esteemed.

After breakfast, with the all clear to go ashore, we headed down to find the excursion bus that would take us to the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.

We needed our passports because this adventure would take us into the Klondike region of Canada.

The train would take us through the White Horse Pass. During the gold rush in 1896 there wasn’t a train. The stampeeders ( prospectors) had to either take the Chilkoot Trail which was shorter but steeper or the White Horse Pass that was longer but summited lower at 2885 ft. Both ways were challenging and deadly. The Canadian Mounties waited at Lake Bennett to check supplies. Anyone without enough to survive was turned back at the border.

I can assure you the train was much easier but even today it was easy to see the challenge. We passed huge gullies and mountainsides as the train wound its way to the summit.

We passed over trestle bridges and passed into and out of fog banks and clouds.

Water poured down the mountainsides in everything from torrents to trickles as the snow on the peaks began its spring melt.

Pretty soon we had reached the snowline but even though we were traveling through snow the water continued its downward path. At times we were so close to the mountain side that a foolish person could have reached out and touched the rocks as they flew by…and lost a hand or arm had they been so careless.

At times we could see across the “gulch” where another train ahead of us was already traveling upward or maybe returning downward.

We could see where we would soon be. More than any place else that we’d been, this train ride captured the true wildness of the Alaska mountains.

I admit, I stood in the cold outside the car in an attempt to capture some of the fantastic wilderness that surrounded us. My efforts fell far short of what we actually saw. The fog or clouds (depending on who you ask) only added to the drama of the ride.

Once we arrived at Lake Bennett we had to wait for the Canadian Customs Agents. We were told not to speak unless spoken to, to have our passports out and open and to NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES!

2 Agents boarded and made their way down the aisle. They never smiled. They were quite intimidating. The only time they spoke was to ask a foreign visitor for his visa as well as his passport. He had the visas for his whole family so they checked all of them then left the train.

The bus was waiting to take us to the next stop, a suspension bridge. Everyone headed to the lake to take pictures but the bus driver rounded us up with promises that we’d be back and we could take pictures then. He said we had a schedule to keep.

Mount Roberts Tram

Posted on June 6, 2013June 6, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Back on the Island Princess, we settled in on our balcony to watch the trams run up and down Mount Roberts.

The antics of the bald eagles were entertaining as well. The sun had come out and the summit of the mountain was clear. I asked Sandy is she wanted to ride the tram to the top. She gave it some consideration and then said no. I agreed. Our adventures from the morning had been plenty.

I’m sure I’ll be sorry we didn’t make the effort because the view is supposed to be spectacular and who knows when or if we’ll ever get back, but right at that moment there was no place I wanted to be except where I was, sitting on our balcony watching the trams go by.

In Alaska the tree line is between 2 and 3 thousand feet above sea level. Road access to this level is minimal so in most cases you have to hike. Mount Roberts Tramway gives your hike a boost by riding the tram.

This will gain you 1,750 ft. in 10 minutes. At the summit a network of trails leads out across alpine meadows. A half-mile round trip route will take you to some key viewpoints and great views is of the Gastineau Channel.