Juneau Flume and Perseverance Trails

On our last full day in Alaska, we hiked the Flume and Perseverance Trails in Juneau. Spectacular! Rain forest, old mining ruins and the incredible Edmon Falls. 

Along the Flume Trail. The old logging Flume is below this boardwalk. 

Our loving and incredible hosts all week!

A piece of the "generator" that helped power tool making and such for the mines. 

Randall pondering. He just found out this morning that his mission call has been issued and should be in the mailbox upon our return. 

Gustavus Ocean Front and Ferry Back to Juneau

The sourdough waffles will be discussed for years that Julene made us this morning--Light and fluffy with blueberry compote, then eggs, bacon and fruit. Memories made  of delicious food for sure!

Sharolyn and kids went exploring the beach and tide pools while Mark and Carol went shopping and to a gallery. 

We rode the ferry, which was late, back to Juneau and enjoyed splendid views with sunshine. Avery's halibut made it back cold for dinner tomorrow. 

 

This otter lap blanket is what I really wanted to take home as a souvenir, but for the price of $700 I just found it tough to justify. Truly though, I have never felt anything so soft ever! There are 1000 hairs per square inch on sea otter fur. And, they are not endangered, though only natives can harvest them. 

With our host Julene as we left our wonderful B and B. 

 

 

Bald eagles fighting over carrion and fish. I got a show from some of these. 

 

 

Later I will see if I can post videos, as I got some cool ones of the different wildlife. 

 

 

Can you tell they liked the ferry ride?  It was actually great on the way back to Juneau, as the weather was pleasant enough to be outside some of the time. 

 

 

 

When I wasn't outside, I studied up for my next adventure in two weeks. :-)

 

 

Heading in to Juneau. The Mendenhall Glacier from our first day of kayaking is prominent. 

True Alaskan Adventure Day!

June 27 (Tuesday)

Our hosts fed us a hearty breakfast bright and early. We purchased fishing licenses and were on the water before 8:00 a.m. for an incredible day of breathtaking scenery, fishing, and glacier and wildlife viewing.  We feel so fortunate to have been able to see this magical place of the planet and all the diversity and magesty. "Magestical!" :-)

Our experienced guide Jim grew up here and knew all the birds and animals. He also explained the history. While the fishing was great, the catching wasn't so much, but we caught some small bait fish, and thanks to Avery, we will enjoy a good halibut meal back in Juneau. 

We spent 12 hours on the water and were ready for bed that night, but we really experienced a beautiful part of Alaska without really seeing any boats except close to where we put in that morning. 

 

One of the only boats we saw all day. The cruise ships cannot go back in the little channels we were in. 

 

 

Randall got poked by the double ugly Carol caught. 

 

 

 

 

Avery did us proud with her halibut. 

 

Jim taking off Sharolyn's catch of the day. While she had a couple of bites (including the fish biting off the artificial white worm), she failed to land a fish. 

 

 

My telephoto lens on my IPhone 7 Plus did a pretty good job of capturing the brown bear (what we call grizzlies in Wyoming) almost as close as it was. We saw two of these. 

 

A highlight was the Muir Glacier. We even watched two huge chunks calve. 

 

 

Do we look cold?  We enjoyed the heater inside the boat much or the time at the Glacier, while sipping hot cocoa. 

 

 

This Glacier has been retreating since it was first recorded. It is miles shorter than it was over 100 years ago when John Muir went and built a cabin near where it was calving then. 

You can see the barren mountainside from where it has recently retreated. Glaciers make for nutrient rich waters and land though. 

 

There are mountain goats on that hillside. 

 

The bad boy sea lions were a hit on our Alaska adventures. 

 

A rare wolf siting. It didn't seam scared of us as it mosied down the coastline. 

Ferry Ride and Gustavus

June 26 (Monday)

We woke early to catch a four hour ferry ride, which we disembarked at Gustavus to be picked up by our bed and breakfast hosts Jim and Jolene Kearns. Julene is from Star Valley. We filled a car we used if theirs with gas at a petroleum museum and then went up to the lodge at Glacier National Park where we went through the visitor center and some other sites like a Tlingit lodge. We then enjoyed a pretty much all you can eat fresh halibut dinner with the Kearns's.  They are LDS and have known Mark and Carol in he stake for years. Of course, the dinner was "delicious," according to all. 

 

Embarking on the ferry the Leconte. 

 

Meeting our host and guide, Jim. 

 

  

Yep, we pumped from those pumps when we filled up the car our hosts let us borrow for the afternoon. 

 

 

A skeleton of a humpback that was hit by a crusie ship in 2001. Because it was found the ship was negligent, the park got money to have its bones preserved and put together. 

   

The Tlingit tribal house took four men over two years just for the boards because all of the planks are hand hewn. It has been open just under a year. Our Tglingit docent told us about the art on the wall and how it tells the story of his people in Alaska and at least one of the glaciers. 

 

We then went on a hike/walk through the rain forest close to the lodge. The vegetation was incredible!  The kids were plenty noisy and no bears were seen, though earlier we had seen a black bear in the road.