Juneau, Alaska
50 State Bucket List Blog #2
We left the port of Seattle,
Washington on Saturday evening, September 9th and after a day and a
half at sea, we landed in our first port – Juneau, Alaska. The entry was
breathtaking and I listened in awe as the ship’s narrator explained everything
we were seeing while the captain steered the ship through what is called Gastineau
Channel – a narrow body of water that divides the Alaska mainland and Douglas
Island. It was a typical day for Juneau in the summer, overcast, foggy and
rainy since this part of Alaska is located near one of the largest rain forests
in the world. Juneau is on the east side of the channel and Douglas Island is
on the west side. The whole area is part of the borough of Juneau which has a
population of 32,000.
Juneau is the capital of Alaska and
50 percent of the people are employed by the U.S. government – the biggest part
of the economy. The next largest industry is the tourist industry which causes
the population to swell by 6,000 on any given day when the tourist ships come
in. The next largest employer is the fishing industry – especially the salmon hatchery
that I visited on the tour. Juneau has no roads connecting the city to the
mainland of Alaska so everything has to come in by ferry or plane. We saw
several floating planes taking off and landing as the captain maneuvered
through the Channel. Therefore, the cost of living in Juneau is about 30
percent higher than that of the “lower forty-eight.”
Our ship docked at what is called
Front St. This part of Juneau was underwater when the first prospectors settled
the area. The land has been created from silt and sediment from the receding
Mendenhall Glacier which I also visited on the tour. Front Street has the look
of an old mining town and at the center of the shopping area is The Red Dog
Saloon – still looking like it did in the boom era of the 1880’s and 90’s.
Wyatt Earp and his wife visited the saloon and one of his pistols is hanging on
the wall next to the swinging doors that lead into the saloon. The state
capital building is just a short walk up the hill that is the original land,
and the capitol building is the only one in the country without a dome. As the
ship docked, the narrator pointed out a parking garage with a building on top.
This was the Juneau Free Public Library where there was free Wi-Fi. I would
have visited that place first whether Wi-Fi or not. Imagine my excitement as I
saw that one of the principal buildings at the center of town was a library.
After using
the Wi-Fi to connect with people back home, I talked with a young man and told
him I was President of the Friend’s group at my neighborhood library back home,
and he pointed me to a shelf containing books for sale. He also told me that
there was a bookstore operated by the Friend’s near the airport. Since my tour
did not go there, I bought a book off the shelf and was exited that that was the
first souvenir of my trip. After finishing at the library, I walked outside and
joined the group that was taking the Grand Juneau Tour which included a trip to
the salmon hatchery, the Mendenhall Glacier and the Rainforest.
As we walked into the salmon
hatchery, I saw two ravens sitting on the hand rail that overlooked the nesting
area for the eggs and the salmon ladder. There were also people fishing next to
the hatchery itself. The tour guide said that the hatchery did not compete with
the fishing, rather It existed to increase the number of salmon production and
to educate the children of the area about salmon. There was an aquarium that
displayed all the different types of salmon and also a replication of a tide
pool which had starfish and other creatures that one could pick up and touch if
so desired. The tour guide on the bus said that most of the money made by the
hatchery came from selling by-products or waste from the salmon to be ground up
and used in pet food. The next stop on the tour was what I had come to see –
the Mendenhall Glacier.
As we drove into the mountain area
where the Glacier was located, the bus driver said that the Juneau Rainforest
had the largest population of Bald Eagles in the country – about 30,000. The
Bald Eagle is a vulture that subsists on the remains of dead salmon. We saw
only one Bald Eagle on the entire tour – but what a sight as it flew across the
lake at the bottom of the mountain range where the Glacier was located. When I
first saw the Glacier I was taken aback because it didn’t look as white as I
had expected, but as my eyes adjusted to the dim light and fog, I began to see
it running down the length of the mountain. I looked across the lake and saw a
20 person canoe rowing toward the Glacier. This is the original way the
indigenous tribes – the Tongass and Tlingit – traveled before the Gold Rush
brought the American settlers. The Russians were here before that but that will
be in another blog after we get to Sitka. There was a large totem pole in front
of the hatchery that reminded me of the cultures that lived here when the
prospectors arrived and still live here. In fact, the Tlingit own ten percent
of the land in Alaska today.
At the base of the Glacier outside
the interpretive center, a U.S. Forest Service employee conducted a lecture and
showed pictures of the Glacier from the early 20th Century until the
present. The gradual receding of the Glacier confirmed what we have been told
about climate change. Glaciers have always receded but the rate of acceleration
over the last 50 years has been disturbing. At present, the Glacier is receding
at a rate of 400 feet per year, compared to 50 feet per year at the turn of the
Century. The ranger made a case for a change in energy production – even in Alaska
which is turning to hydroelectric power fueled by the churning water falls that
have been exposed from the receding Glacier. There were several hiking trails
around the area which have a lot of wildlife but most of them were probably
trying to “get out of the rain” – especially the bear. I saw more black bear in my yard in Oregon
than I did here. Overall, except for the Glacier the views reminded me of the
Northwest Coast around Oregon, but the plant life in Glacier Rainforest was
quite similar to that of Oregon with some differences.
The last stop on the tour was a trip
through the Glacier Rainforest. The Rainforest is located atop a mountain where
there was a massive mud slide in the 1990’s that filled the valley with debris
making it an eyesore. An enterprising horticulturalist bought the land and
cleared out the debris turning the area into a paradise resembling what I
imagine the Hanging Gardens of Babylon look like. The most impressive sight is
the upside down tree planters. The trees uprooted by the slide have been used
as planters for all varieties of colorful grasses and flowers. On the trip up
the narrow mountain road in a golf cart, the narrator pointed out the
elderberry, huckleberry, blueberry and wild strawberry growing alongside the
Spruce
trees and old growth trees hundreds of feet tall. By this time, despite my
layers and rain gear, I was chilled to the bone and anxious to get back to the
ship and a nice warm bath. Before returning to the ship, I had to go into the
Red Dog Saloon for a brief look and picture. Tomorrow we will be traveling
through Glacier Bay with a daylong narrative about this special place and then
on to Sitka – the Russian settlement that was built before Seward’s Folly.
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