Today was a great day! Woke up early, as we pulled into Juneau at 7AM. We were only in port until 1:15PM so I had time to take a Seaplane tour (they call them Floatplanes here) with a bush pilot. The tour flew us over 5 glaciers before landing on the Taku River and spent a few hours at a rustic lodge called Taku River Lodge for a fresh Salmon barbecue.
First off, many places in Alaska can only be reached by Boat, Dog Sled or bush pilot plan on Floats, Skis or wheels. Juneau, while it is the capital of Alaska, it is a small town with no way in or out except by boat or plane.
We loaded onto our 10-seater floatplane with ‘Dan’ as our pilot. We took off over the 5 cruise ships in port today, and we followed the ridge back into the Juneau Ice fields, the largest in Alaska. These ice field feed into 5 different Glaciers. The Taku Glacier is the largest of this group and has a face that hits the tidewater river that stretches a mile across. From the air you can really appreciate the size of the glaciers as they wind up through the mountains to high above. You really understand why they re called “rivers of ice”. Eventually we crossed East and then West Glacier before banking and coming in for a water landing on the Taku River. This river is home to 5 species of Salmon as well as trout etc. The river is fed by glacier melt, and sometimes an ice dam forms. The river up near the lodge is fairly shallow with lots of sediment ground down by the glaciers. The bush pilots are expert at reading the water, and we safely landed and taxied to the dock. I should say that the river was not calm waters either, but fast moving, with some rapids.
The lodge is only reachable by floatplane or small flat bottom skiffs up the river. In the summer months it is home to a total of 9 people that caretake the property, and 3 labs. Plus tons of black bears. The dogs are always about on the lookout for the bears that love to come up and lick the salmon drippings from the grill. The grounds are stunning, as is the small lodge and it overlooks Hole in the Wall Glacier directly across the river. Of the 5 glaciers, Hole in the Wall and Taku Glacier are still advancing while the others are currently receeding.
One of our hosts, Rhett, is an elementary school teacher in Colorado but work at the lodge 4-5 months a year. He was our primary host while Charlie was are cook over the pit. Rhett told us the history of the lodge, it was built by a doctor as a getaway from Juneau but was eventually sold to a women who lived there and raised sled dogs. She was a bit of an outcast in town, and so she lived a secluded life but was the first woman in Alaska to run a team of sled dogs from Juneau to Fairbanks. She also was the first female Bush Pilot in Alaska.
After the meal we took a walk in the woods with Rhett and the dogs, but the mosquitos were horrendous. LOL We quickly made our way back after a 15 minute walk. Some time for more photos, then we saw 4 floatplanes cross the glacier and come in for a landing with another group of guests, we departed outbound back to Juneau.
Our ship pulled out right on time, and we headed through Stephen’s Passage and then sailed the 24 miles up Tracy Arm Fjords. Wow! Sheer rock cliffs, 24 miles of them, all carved out by a glacier that had long ago retreated. The fjord itself was DEEP!. Eventually we passed another ship on her way out of the fjord. As we got deeper we saw floating ice, and we knew a glacier was up ahead. When we were 20 miles int he ice was bigger and seals were bathing on the ice. We rounded a bend and there it was, the glacier. We stayed there for at least 30 minutes and you could hear the rumbling of the glacier echo through the cliff walls that lined the fjord.
Late afternoon and the sun was perfect for amazing photos. Cannot wait to up load some. I shot over 1000 pics just today!!!!
Dinner was served as we sailed out the 24 miles of the fjord. All in all an amazing day once again in Alaska! Tomorrow....the port of Skagway!
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