July 30, Juneau, Alaska

What a phenomenal trip we've had since our last post: Muncho Lake to Whitehorse to Skagway to Juneau, part on the Alaskan Highway (which is still a great highway), part by the White Pass Yukon Route (WPYR) narrow guage train and part on the Alaska Marine Ferry.

About 100 miles from Muncho Lake, British Columbia (BC), we entered the Yukon Territory (YK). I'm not sure what I was expecting but the Yukon is wonderful...high mountains, huge rivers, great campgrounds (large beautiful sites, $12 fees, free fire wood) and great people. We're currently at the Wolf Creek Campground just east of Whitehorse, YK; we arrived Saturday afternoon when most sites were occupied but found this great pull through site right on the Creek and across from the trail to the Yukon River (which we'll hike when we get back). The family in the neighboring site are long time Whitehorse residents who are avid campers...complete with a huge tarp that creates an outdoor living room with a homemade wood stove at the outboard end. Very nice people and he's agreed to watch over YOW while we take our side excursion to Juneau...as a "thank you", we gave him one of our Alaskan salmon steaks that we buy in Juneau and have shipped home.

Sunday morning we said good-by to YOW and drove south to Carcross (short for caribou crossing)and the WPYR train station. Carcross is a tiny town at the north end of Lake Bennett, a 30 +/- mile long lake whose shoreline the tracks follow until the midway point, the ghost town of Bennett. Views were spectacular and we spent most of the time on the rear platform. Inside, our guide, Ken, rivaled the scenery as he's a native of Carcross and his father, grandfather and great grandfather were the station masters; Ken's stories, as you can imagine, were fascinating and gave a real feeling of the gold rush history of the WPYR which was built to carry Klondike gold miners from Skagway to Whitehorse. At the Bennett station we were served a "miner's stew" and given another 90 minutes to explore the beautiful area which included the only other standing building, a wooden church that also served as the community center, and a portion of the Chilkoot Trail which we'd someday love to hike. From Bennett on, the tracks led above timberline, crossed high trestles then down through the rain forest to the coast and Skagway.

We spent the night in Skagway at St.Preston's Lodge before boarding the 7:00 AM Monday ferry for Juneau. After 6.5 hours of cruising through snow capped mountains and distant humpbacks, we arrived and were met by PeggyAnn (PA) McConnochie, a good friend I've gotten to know through my NAR activities. She took us on a great tour of Juneau, the capitol of Alaska that can only be reached by ferry or airplane. It's an old gold mining town that now has an economy based on government, salmon and cruise ships. After the tour, we went to their fabulous home which overlooks the city and its port...when John (who owns CycleAlaska, a bicycle tour business that caters to the cruise industry) arrived home, we had a truly gourmet dinner of halibut stuffed with crab, shrimp and brie.

Tuesday, after a great breakfast of individual omelettes, double smoked thick sliced bacon and juicy melon, we hiked a trail across from their home that leads about 2 miles through the rain forest. In the afternoon, we drove to the Mendenhall Glacier, just a few minutes from Juneau, and hiked the 3.5 mile East Glacier Loop. I have no idea how much elevation gain there was but it was a lot and all though the green, green, green rain forest of tall trees hung with ornaments of pale green moss and an understory of skunk cabbage and Devil's claw.

After our hike, we met PA and visited the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, a non-profit company that produces enough salmon fry to stock Alaska's streams in an amount sufficient to allow Alaska to legislatively outlaw farmed fish...every salmon from Alaska is wild! It was really incredible to watch the large sockeye salmon struggle up the fish ladder crowding in to chutes where the eggs and sperm are harvested. The eggs are fertilized, incubated until the tiny fry can be nurtured to a size large enough to stock many of Alaska's streams. Coincidentally we had succulent barbecued sockeye salmon for dinner.

This morning, Wednesday, John took us down to the Norwegian Sun to meet two of his guides and a passenger from the ship. After driving up the to Juneau ski area, we boarded cycles for the 9-mile Ski to Sea tour. Somehow I thought this would be easy but it's been a very long time since I rode my 3-speed bicycle and this was a 27-speed cycle! With a very wobbly start, I finally got control and we were off for a good ride and lots of exercise. PA met us back at the Sun and we were off to visit the Glacier Gardens, a fabulous botanic garden that incorporates both the rain forest and a greenhouse filled with baskets of petunias, fucias and begonias. For dinner tonight, it was the Island Pub...great!

Tonight, actually tomorrow, we leave on the 1:15 ferry (yes we have a cabin) for Skagway arriving at 8:15 AM, then the bus (departing at 8:45 AM) to Carcross then home to YOW. We'll probably stay Thursday and Friday nights at Wolf Creek then we're off to Dawson Creek, Eagle, across the Top of the World, into Chicken, Tok ad then Fairbanks. We've come about 3,000 miles in 16 days and have about 3,500 miles to go to Seattle and 66 days to do it in...that means lots of adventure and side trips...stay tuned!