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GETTING TO KNOW JUNEAU BIRTHDAY ON ICE Feet planted firmly on the Herbert Glacier, we were surrounded by silence. Beneath our non-skid boots, a mile of ancient ice. Above our heads - a nearly cloudless sky. Brilliant in the sun, the sparkling surface was marked only by occasional indentations where a stray leaf or stone had slowly bored down and created a tiny cave of blue light. Ahead, like a snow queen's fairy tale castle, frozen pinnacles and canyons captured and intensified the color of the sky. In the far distance, on either side of this glacial expanse, stood the green Alaskan rain forest, spotted with groups of slowly moving white dots. Through binoculars we discovered they were mountain goats. I had hardly expected to witness so much variety in the ice fields of Southeast Alaska. We had flown by helicopter into a heart of the black and white world of a distant ice age. We had rounded what is believed to be the highest unscaled peak in the world and swooped down to cross over smooth, untouched plains of snow that gave new meaning to the word "pristine." We spotted the almost-completed summer sled-dog camp, hardly visible from above in its world of white. Trainers bring their dogs to this remote place to work with them in the summer months. Tourists can book flights to the remote destination to become mushers for an hour or two.
By lucky coincidence, it was my birthday, and the flight we had taken included champagne and fudge. So we toasted my years beside the helicopter, right on the ancient ice. If I had needed convincing that visiting Alaska was not like visiting anywhere else, this would have done the trick. Here we were, not many miles (as the helicopter flies) from the bustling capital city, surrounded by a frozen wilderness, singing "Happy Birthday." It turned out to be only one of the many surprises to be discovered in Juneau. ROADS TO NOWHERE When a friend moved to Juneau not long ago, he and his wife set out on a Sunday drive to get acquainted with the place. "We drove to the ends of all the roads," he explained. "Then we turned around and drove back again. After we had done them all we came back to town and still had plenty of time for a picnic." It's true. No roads lead to the capital of the state of
Alaska (a phenomenon shared only by For many residents, as well as tourists seeking a more in-depth visit to southeast Alaska, the main "road" in and out of Juneau is the Alaska Marine Highway, a complex passenger and auto ferry system that connects 28 Alaska towns with each other and with British Columbia and Bellingham, Washington. Travelers must book months in advance for the limited number of modest cabins, and even farther ahead for car and RV space. If you can do without a cabin, there are lounge chairs for sleeping and showers for bathing. The top decks of many of the ships are reserved for campers, innovative young people and budget travelers who fasten down their tents with immense amounts of duck tape, cook their dried soups in the cafeteria's microwaves, and pray for good weather. While less luxurious than today's monolithic cruise ships, traveling by ferry has plenty going for it. You can dress as you wish, eat when you are hungry (within reasonable time frames), and view, up close, hundreds of miles of Inside Passage and Alaska coastline with its snowy peaks, hanging glaciers and desolate islands. Sometimes there are whales and porpoise. Because the ferries are functional working boats, many of your fellow passengers will be Alaskans who happily share stories and information about life in the nation's biggest state. Best of all, once you decipher the complex time-tables, you can design your own itinerary and include extended stop-overs in such port cities and towns as Skagway, Sitka, and, of course, Juneau. LONG DAYS IN MAY We chose to take the ferry in early May, before the big
tourist season got underway. We could have arrived in Juneau at a respectable
morning hour, but because we decided to spend a few days in Skagway first,
our particular ferry docked well after midnight. Alaskans seem to be used
to such odd hours. At Pearson's Pond B&B, our hostess graciously,
albeit sleepily, showed us to our romantic room complete with breakfast
for eating whenever we happened to get up. Lounging From 1880, when Joe Juneau and Richard Harris staked their first claim, until the beginning of World War II, Juneau was a gold town. Ninety-percent of Alaska's treasure came from the Juneau region until the mines closed and miners went off to war. You can still see remnants of the Alaska-Juneau mine mill site on the side of Mt. Roberts and experience mining history at several museums and historic sites in town. Most of the city was built on tailings from the mines. But long before the gold seekers came, this area, so rich in bounty from the sea and forests, was home to the Auk tribe of the Tlingit Indians. Their descendants still contribute much to both the cultural and business life of Juneau. Nowhere can you get a better idea of Juneau's incredible setting than from the top the city's back-drop mountain. The Mount Roberts Tramway, owned by an Alaska Native corporation, takes riders on a six-minute climb to a 1900-foot-level Mountain Station. Below lies the city, looking as if it had dropped from the sky to rest between the deep, blue Gastineau Channel and the snow-topped mountains with their glacier-filled ravines. The station's restaurant serves Alaskan fare and the gift shop features Native crafts including works of wood, silver and fossilized ivory. "Seeing Daylight," a beautiful award winning film, tells of Southeast Alaskan Native culture from the perspective of the Tlingits. Hiking trails lead to a Nature Center and fan out from the station into the alpine wilderness. If you wish, you can hike back down the mountain as an alternative to riding the tram. Most of downtown Juneau is easily explored on foot and a visit should include at least a whole day to take in the Alaska State Museum, the Juneau Douglas City Museum, the State Capital and a seafood restaurant or two. Before setting out, a stop at the Davis Log Cabin Information center will help you make the most of your time, from locating the city's totem poles to finding out "what's on" in live entertainment or arranging a guided tour, fishing trip, cruise excursion or helicopter ride. The waterfront bustles with seafaring traffic and, in the high season, thousands of cruise passengers disembark for their day in town. Outdoor art works reflect interesting moments in Juneau's past. The most famous is a sculpture of Patsy Ann, the city's beloved deaf dog who was said to have met every ship during the 1930s. Just 13 miles from downtown, the Mendenhall Glacier is the city's most popular attraction, made accessible by walkways and viewing platforms. You can stroll to the edge of the lake fed by the slowly melting ice, climb up through forests for a closer look, or simply watch the light play and dance on a sparkling, ever-changing surface. Sometimes turquoise, sometimes gray, sometimes covered by snow, Mendenhall's majestic appearance all depends on what the sky bestows at a particular moment. This giant remnant of the distant ice age is only one of a number of glaciers that hang tall in the mountains behind Juneau. ROADS TO LOTS OF THINGS In truth, before Juneau's roads turn into cul-de-sacs, they provide access to an amazing variety of activities and places where you can jump off into the wild and natural world of Southeast Alaska. From fish hatcheries to salmon bakes, float trips and small-ship cruising to mountain biking and guided hiking, flight-seeing to gold panning, there seems to be just about every Alaska option you could imagine. Guides and tours are plentiful. While Juneau lies far south of the main part of this huge state, it offers hundreds of real Alaska experiences. The entrepreneurial spirit one associate's with Alaskans
is still very much alive, even here in the Then there's Steve Bowhay, not your usual nursery man.
With his wife, Cindy, Steve has Even with our extended stay, we only began to experience Juneau. A fellow passenger on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry observed, "Travel is like a buffet - you can't eat it all." That certainly proved true. The Pearson's Pond hot tub still looked inviting when we had to leave, but we simply had run out of time. IF YOU GO For information and a copy of the Juneau Travel Planner, contact the Juneau Convention & Visitors Bureau, 134 Third Street, Juneau, AK 99801; 1-888-581-2201 (toll-free) or 907-586- 2201; fax: 907-586-6304; website: http://www.traveljuneau.com For information on traveling by ferry, write the Alaska
Marine Highway, P.O. Box 25535, Juneau, AK 99802-5535; 1-800-642-0066
(toll free) or 907-465-3941.
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Lovetripper.com Romantic Travel Guide
We continued
on, however, because the kennels weren't quite ready and the dogs had
yet to arrive. Finally the pilot/guide set our helicopter down on a suitable
icy flat and told us glacier facts - dates and depths and why the ice
is slowly receding. "Ice is actually more stable than the rock on
the surrounding mountains," he assured us. So we began walking across
a wonderland so brilliant that our eyes almost ached.
Hawaii's
Honolulu.) No land roads, that is. Plenty of flights go in and out every
day, a boon for legislators and lawyers and tourists in a hurry. Most
visitors, though, come by sea. Alaska cruises are so plentiful these days
that savvy travelers can almost name their own prices. If the cruisers
are among the more than half-a-million who choose a ship that stops at
Juneau, most will be rewarded with a good part of a day to enjoy an activity
or two. Some may choose to visit to a glacier, fly by sea plane to a remote
lake, eat a little seafood, or a stroll around some very nice museums
and shops. But a single day will not begin to allow enough time to take
in this lovely city and the vastly varied world that surrounds it.
around and
relaxing in the hot tub all morning was tempting. But we woke to bright
sun and clear skies, aware that such weather in southeast Alaska is a
treasured gift. (Juneau averages 219 rainy days a year; April, May and
June are the driest months.) So we set out reasonably early to take advantage
of the long daylight of May.
capital city. Take, for example, Karen and Rick
Bierman. They run a "micro-lodge" on Shelter Island, not too
far north of the city. Like lots of tour operators, the provide guests
with fishing, eagle and whale watching and other outdoor activities. Two
things, though, make their small place distinctive - the isolation and
the Bierman's self-sufficiency. They live in their waterfront place year-round,
growing their own vegetables, making their own electricity, and cooking
on a wood stove. Their tales of winter's challenges and stormy seas that
cut them off from the civilization can fill many a long sunlit summer
evening.
