Alaska 2019 Part 2: Ketchikan and Juneau

Tuesday June 18. I woke up early Tuesday morning and realized we weren't moving--or moving very fast. We must be in Ketchikan! Let's go see! I pulled Justin out of bed and while he was getting dressed I checked the time. 5:04 am because of the time change. Oops. But we went up anyway. The first glimpse I got of the coastline took my breath away. After staring at open water for 2 days, this was quite an abrupt change of scenery.

Not many other people were on deck at 5 am as we cruised into port so it was a quiet, special moment--one of my favorite from the trip.

The city and harbor were also very quiet and still. We only saw a few dock workers and cars driving.

I wonder what this road is like in the snow.

After breakfast we headed out to the town. We spent a lot of time looking in the fun shops and marveling at the mist and amount of trees.

Check out this carved woolly mammoth tusk.

 It can be yours for $32,000.

It was a cool town. I bought bracelets for my girls in Blasphemous Bill's. I could have spent a lot more time walking around but it was time to meet up for our first excursion.

Somehow I agreed to go on a floatplane which is in my top 5 never going to do because people die. There was a fatal crash like a month ago, btw.

I went with my brothers-in-law Kenny and Clint, my dad and Justin. I mostly went because the zipline tour that most everyone else went on was full and I didn't want to go to the lumberjack show with the others. And I reaaaaaally wanted to see the Misty Fjords and apparently by plane is the best way to do it, death or no death.

Plus I didn't want to just hear about it from Justin--I wanted to experience it with him.

Our pilot gave us no safety instructions--just here's your seatbelt and start 'er up.

Cruising along the water

Taking off!

A few bumps and rough patches,

And we're in the air!

I'm not sure what is the Misty Fjord and what is just regular Tongass National Forsest so here's a slew of pictures I took. I counted 4 million trees.

We landed on a beach to watch some bears. Some of those black dots are bears.

The pilot had a drone camera so he flew it over to get a better look at the bears.

It started pouring at this point. Then we took off again and headed back.

I survived! Landing in a seaplane is much smoother than on a runway, I learned. We saw such amazing stuff and there really is no other way to see it but I can't say that I enjoyed this little excursion. There was a low level of stress for me the entire time so I couldn't just take it all in, no matter how hard I tried. 

And my brave dad who wasn't nervous one bit.

By the time they drove us back into town it was pouring pretty hard but I made Justin go back to a store to buy a shirt I really wanted. It rains 300 days a year in Ketchikan and I'm happy I got to experience it. I would love to go back and see more of the town, eat local food and see more of the surrounding sights.

Wednesday June 19. Juneau.

New morning, new town. Juneau is a cool town. We had to walk about a mile from our ship to downtown but we had a couple of hours to kill so we went into a few shops (I bought a Russian nesting doll for Erica) and tried to keep warm.

That red dot is the tramway that takes visitors to the top of Mount Roberts. I think most of my family did that at some point in the day.

Justin really wanted to see the Mendenhall Glacier. Wait, no that's not it. He wanted to be on the glacier, not just see it. So we signed up for a hike that included exploring on the glacier. It was an 8 hour hike but was more like 9 because our guide took us farther onto the glacier than usual

 I can't even begin to describe the complexity of this hike. You name it, we traversed it. Rock walls, streams, brooks, fallen logs, fallen boulders, dense rainforest, open spaces, steep, flat, narrow, wide, slick, smooth, cloudy, rainy, hot, windy, cold. After the first 1/4 mile, no step was easy. I didn't take many pictures along the way because I needed to concentrate and keep up.

We stopped to rest and eat a snack an hour in. We're smiling because we somehow thought we'd accomplished something at this point.

There it is 3 hours in. But we're not even close yet.

Justin is checking out which crevasses he wants to jump over.

Pictured below is where our guides stopped us and we geared up. I got really nervous at this point because it was getting real. We put on helmets, crampons, harnesses, pulled out our trekking poles and got briefed on how to walk on glacier. You stomp with confidence. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Get those spikes in there. Don't walk and take photos. You take your photo, put your phone away and then move on. Don't put anything down on the ice or it's gone. You need to put something down, you ask someone to hold it. Keep your toes pointed forward and side step on slopes keeping your toes pointed up or down slope.

 The outer part of the glacier was dirty so it seemed like a gradual change from earth to glacier.

 Then tour guide Matt took the 13 of us to a glacier conduit which by definition means ice all around, no rock bottom.

 We didn't get to walk through it as the other side was pretty precarious but we took turns going about half way inside.

Waiting our turn. It's crazy the sense of comradery you feel with strangers you've hiked with for half a day.

 The view above the conduit.

 Talk about blue. Tour guide Matt put his ice pick in at our stopping point.

 "I've seen the ice turn men into boys," says tour guide Matt.

 Mmm...glacier drips.

 Our guide Matt reminded me of.....

 Yukon Cornelius

And not just looks but in and optimism and childlike enthusiasm too. I don't understand people that can do this hike for the 90th time today and do it for the 91st tomorrow but I am so glad that there are people just like that. (Sidenote: Matt is training to hike St. Elias in Alaska at the end of this month. He says it will take him 3 weeks to do it. 3 weeks. Hiking. On a mountain. I barely lasted a day.)

Anyway so after the conduit we went to a place affectionately dubbed the flats. It is a relatively safe area and since none of us were idiots or children, they let us roam freely as long as we didn't go too far.

 Hey there. (He's holding my trekking pole while I got out my camera. I am a good listener.)

 I hope it was all he dreamed it would be.

 It's a creepy, dangerous, scary, beautiful place.

 Matt and our second guide Elise explaining some stuff. Elise is from New Hampshire. She likes mud and snakes and hiking and canoeing. Check out her crampons. They were more intense than the ones we got.

 Here's close up of the texture of the glacier. It was pebbly and blue until you scraped at it.

 Don't fall in.

 I'm pretty sure I would only go so far before I got wedged in and rescued. It was a comforting thought.

We never had to go across any crevasses but we did hike along some precarious ridges that made me think how mad my mom would be at me right then. 

We stomped like "angry babies" down a steep slope holding onto a rope. Matt used his ice pick several times to carve out some steps. He once traversed the entire 14 mile glacier. It took him 3 days. Once we got back off the glacier, we had to hike up a hill of quicksand like mud. That was my least favorite part because the hillside seemed to slide right down as we went up. 

We took off our safety gear and just as we were packed up, someone slugged me in the arm. It was my brother Matt. He canoed to the glacier with a different group and he passed us going up the trail. Should have known if anyone slugs you 2,500 miles from home, it's your brother. When we got farther down the trail, we could see his group on the glacier. He's one of these people we saw through our binoculars.

Then we hiked the 4 miles back. By the time we got to the last quarter mile "easy part" my brain and legs were not communicating and it was good that I wouldn't fall down a cliff with all my missteps. We made it back to the ship in time to unload our stuff, eat dinner and catch up with some family at that evening's show.Stairs made me cry for the next 48 hours. Judging from when my phone died half-way, we did more than 34,000 steps but these were not just steps.

When my family asked how it was I choked up and got all emotional and said it was hard. So hard. It was so long and treacherous and strenuous and so blasted long and I would only do a hike like that if a glacier or a unicorn was at the end. But I'm glad it was hard. Only 3,500 permits are available each year and the trail is not developed so not everyone can or wants to do it and that makes it more amazing and fought for and hard won. I freakin' stood on a glacier, people. And I appreciated the beauty and brutality and size and nature of it in ways those flown in on a helicopter will never understand. 

Sarah wanted us to bring home a chunk of glacier ice but I snagged her a chunk of granite the glacier deposited instead. The glacier dragged it from a mountain 4 miles back.

Alaska To Do List

See a bear in the wild

Survive a floatplane ride

Walk on a glacier

Next up: Skagway and Tracy Arm Fjord