Into The Heart of Alaska

A bit about Juneau first though !!

Juneau is the most recent capital of the State of Alaska. It can only be reached by boat or plane as it is backed by high mountains on one side with a large ice field and the sea on the other. It is a busy place (for Alaska) with in reality just one main road running from "The End of the Road) (30 miles in one direction) through Juneau to "The End" in the other. See how the names differentiate the different places, clever that we thought. At each end are several creeks which have salmon in them and bears use for fishing although we couldn't find bears at any of those when we were there

The Alaskans seem to shoot anything, moving or otherwise

End of the Road

Berries at the End of the Road

 Besides flying out to Glacier Bay and walking up to Mendenhall Glacier we did take a hike high above Juneau and up Mount Roberts. Most people seem to exit the Cruise ships and jump on the "Mount Roberts Tramway" (A Cable Car) for the trip to the top. That costs lots of money so us being tight we walked up then the trip down in it is free as they only charge at the bottom. The walk up through the forest was good and a couple of hours later we reached the Cable Car station then continued up to the cross. The views were stunning. All along the trials were wild berries that the bears (and people) look for at this time of year.

Mount Roberts

Overlooking Juneau

Climbing Mount Roberts

Mount Roberts Trails

The age old question has been answered. Yes Bears do "GO" in the woods

These are Wild Salmon Berries and really tasty. Both yellow and red varieties grow on the hills

Juneau itself has a mix of the older type places along with some very new areas, it really exists for the large cruise ships with some 4-5 in harbour each day in the season, June to Sept but then pretty well closes down for the winter.

Downtown Juneau

Juneau

To leave Juneau it was back on the ferry again for a 6 hour trip up to Haines and we were hoping for more whales. Although the weather had been perfect up till then it decided to rain so trying to spot whales in the murk was not easy and only a couple we seen at some distance.

Once in Haines it was back on the road and a drive up through the old Gold Prospector routes, first along the Haines Highway to Haines Junction. Due to the nature of the terrain and the weird shape of Alaska to do this we had to first cross back into Canada just after Haines. This should have been our 4th time zone change so far but we didn't bother. The route up was fantastic scenery, small native villages and lakes everywhere

Snowing on the hills

Alaska Highway

Clouds over Kluane Lake

Wasn't that cold (OK it was as the water comes from Glaciers)

Native Memorials

Worlds Largest Gold Pan

Waiting at Roadworks

Our first Grizzly Bear

At Haines Junction we hit the fables "Alcan" The Alaska Highway, which runs 1700 miles from Dawson Creek in British Columbia to Delta Junction in Alaska. It is supposed to be one of the Greatest Roadtrips ever and on a lot of peoples "Bucket Lists". We will eventually complete it all but this stretch we will join at Haines Junction and leave at Tok. The road was originally constructed in 1942 when Japan invaded a few islands that belonged to Alaska. 

The road is always being repaired and so lots of holdups along the route waiting to be led through sections with roadworks going on.

Wildlife is all around and we have managed to see 3 Grizzlies so far.

Our first night after leaving Juneau was in Kluane National Park beside the lake again in beautiful sunshine although the temperature is noticeably dropping especially at night.

The Tourist Picture

The knew we were coming so thank you for naming the roads after us

Back on the road again it didn't take long to reach the Alaskan border once again and another time zone change. Now we were in the real heart of Alaska and on the route to Anchorage.

More to follow