Juneau

I am sure you are familiar with the song that starts off with “I’ve see fire and I’ve seen rain.” Coming from Interior Alaska, we sure have seen our taste of fire and now we can say we have definitely seen rain as well. Rain, rain and more rain. That seems to be the best way to describe Juneau. When we got into Juneau they were on their 34^th day of rain. We were prepared for rain, seeing as though this is a rainforest, but we were not prepared for a steady downpour that lasted almost the entire time we were there. The sun finally came out today and we are basking in it. Dave is cleaning the van out while I’m typing this up. The dogs are lying outside getting a sun tan and Hans has exploded - all our stuff is outside trying to dry out. Once again we will keep our fingers crossed that this weather will stay put for our ferry ride south this afternoon.

Juneau is home to the most accessible glacier in the state, Mendenhall Glacier. This is a great example of a receding glacier. At the time the visitor center movie was made in 1999, the glacier was receding at a rate of 100 feet a year. It is now receding at a rate of 300 feet a year. (Hmmmm … global warming anyone! But wait, we all know human influence on global warming is a myth … right!) You could see a big difference between where the glacier was in the movie versus where it is now. Compare this to the glacier we saw on our boat trip in Seward. That glacier was a rare case. It was getting the same amount or more snow each year than what it was loosing to the water. As a result, it is one of the only stable glaciers in the world.

Downtown Juneau is situated between the fjords and the coastal mountains making developable land scarce. All the waterfront property has pretty much been developed so they are moving their building operations up the mountain sides.

Once again we came across a great free camping spot on the road to the ski resort. The road had very little traffic and had rainforest on both sides. It was fun to get out and experience the rainforest up close. Fairbanks doesn’t have very many big trees, so it was a real treat to be amongst giants of trees. And down here everything is coated in moss. It is kind of similar to Louisiana in that way.

We will hop back on the ferry this afternoon for a seven hour trip to Petersburg, another small coastal community. We will go through some VERY narrow fjords, just big enough for the ferry to pass through and too small for the large cruise ships. If the weather holds we will do our best to capture it in photos.