Haines, Alaska: Killer Whales On Our Last Ferry Trip

Today we boarded the Alaska Maritime Ferry System in Juneau and headed north to Haines Alaska, a trip that took about 4 hours. This was the third & last of our ferry 'hops'; from now on we will be travelling by highway throughout Alaska. 

While this was a relatively short trip it paid off big for me personally. On the other ferry 'hops' we have seen & photographed humpback whales, seals, bears, and a wide variety of 

birds. So what animal was on my list of animals to see during the Inside Passage that I hadn't seen yet?

Orcas, also know as Killer Whales. Beautiful animals that are among the smartest of the animals in the sea. Killer Whales have a highly developed social system that includes an advanced ability to communicate. In addition, they normally hunt in packs, working as a team to hunt a wide variety of animals.  

What's more, they have enough intelligence to 'stalk' other animals and many scientists believe they have the ability to do problem solving. Fairly common behavior includes 'spy hopping' where the Killer Whale will push his entire head out of the water so it can see what is happening above water. Must be kind of scary to see this large animal staring at you with an eye the size of a small dinner plate.

Add in the ability to swim faster than most other animals in the sea, a large mouth armed with plenty of sharp teeth, and the fact the males run 6-8 tons with females tipping the scales at around 3-4 tons, and you have a predator to be respected. 

Well, on today's ferry ride we finally saw and photographed a pod of Killer Whales. Incredible!

You can tell the males from the females by the dorsal fin, the big fin rising from the middle of their back. The males have a straight dorsal fin about 6 feet tall; females have a curved dorsal fin that's about 4 feet tall.

As I said, we knew once we arrived in Haines the rest of our trip would be on the roads of Alaska and Canada. The campground was only five miles from the ferry dock so we turned left onto a beautiful road. Beautiful, that is, for about a half mile. Then the road turned into a nasty, hard packed dirt road with potholes spaced just far enough apart to make you think it was OK to go faster. Speed up and then WHAM, you find a pothole that looks like it could swallow a Volkswagen for breakfast.

Oh well, we were not in a hurry anyway...

Our campground is very nice with a beautiful view of snow covered mountains that appear to come right down to the water's edge.

Mary Lynn and I started watching a video produced by the Discovery Channel on the 2008 Iditarod. This is the sled dog race made famous in the 1920's when medicine in Anchorage was needed 1100 miles away in Nome, Alaska. The planes were grounded in an incredible blizzard however sleds pulled by dogs were able to get the medicine to Nome and avert a catastrophe.

Well, it has six one hour segments and MLA is addicted. Last night she kept saying, just one more, just one more. We were up till midnight watching this video. She's been telling me all day we are going to watch the last two hours of this race tonight, so tomorrow I'll be able you who won the 2008 Iditarod. If you know, don't tell me and ruin the surprise....

See Ya!

Juneau, Alaska: Tracy Arm Fjord Boat Tripping While Tiffin RV Network Takes Care Of Business

I can't wait to tell you about the ten hour Tracy Arm Fjord excursion however I'm going to do just that, wait a minute. First I want to thank all of my friends and fellow Tiffin RV owners on the Tiffin RV Network forum for helping Mary Lynn solve an issue with the RV.

While I was away on this trip yesterday MLA ran into an electrical overload problem and posted a plea for help on the TRVN forum. Within minutes several members replied and were able to 1) reassure her and 2) resolve the problem. The response was terrific and MLA was greatly relieved, and, since the heat had quit working when the breaker flipped off, warmed both emotionally AND physically by the response. 

Whenever I tell anyone about how pleased MLA and I are with our Tiffin RV, I always talk about the TRVN. TRVN is by far the best RV owner run and operated forum in the RV industry and was a major factor in us selecting a Tiffin. Yes, Tiffin RV's represent an amazing value however the best support forum 'sealed the deal' for us. 

Completely separate from Tiffin, TRVN is run by Tiffin owners and supported by Tiffin owner's donations. They easily save you hundreds of dollars per year. If you are interested in seeing a first class owner operated information and support forum go to www.tiffinrvnetwork.com

 Again TRVN, thanks for helping MLA while I was away. 

Now let me tell you about the Tracy Arm Fjord trip aboard the Outward Bound operated out of Juneau Alaska. Normally this is a 9 hour trip to and through the Tracy Arm Fjord, which ends at the Sawyer glaciers. Currently the last several miles before the glacier are clogged with ice so out tour went to the next fjord, Endicott Fjord, which is not quite as narrow as the Tracy Arm Fjord however end with the even more spectacular Dawes glacier. 

I highly recommend this trip. The landscape is the very best of Southeastern Alaska. Majestic mountains rising steeply from the waters edge for several thousand feet, beautiful cold and clear seawater that is hundreds of feet deep, more waterfalls of all sizes and shapes than you can count, and of course, a wide variety of wildlife. 

We saw whales, seals, a black and a brown (grizzly) bear, plus a huge variety of birds, including so many bald eagles that, after a short period of time, you wouldn't bother to take more pictures, you would simply enjoy the view of dozens of eagles perched on rocky ledges and islands. 

We even saw a cruise ship from Royal Carribean up against the glacier. At first I was a little surprised/disappointed however I quickly realized the immense cruise ship gave the glacier a sense of scale that would have been hard to appreciate. The glacier made this massive cruise ship look small...

Ice from the glacier and the glacier itself has some of the most beautiful blue colors you will ever see. Glacier ice is actually several times denser than 'normal' ice and takes much longer to melt. Snow that falls in the Juneau Icefield may take 80 years to make the 12 mile journey down the Dawes Glacier before it 'calves' into the sea.

This glacier is about 200 feet tall and the water is ~600 feet deep where the glacier ends its destructive journey down the mountain valley. The power of these massive and massively heavy glaciers is nothing short of amazing. All through the fjord you see the results of this glacier scraping and carving solid rock into sheer cliffs connected by a U-shaped valley.

Recent areas just uncovered by the retreating glacier are scoured clean of any vegetation and provide ample evidence of one of nature's most powerful earth shaping tools. 

And, as I've said before, if you make your way all the way to Alaska and don't take the opportunity to see these fjords and glaciers, you are missing the opportunity of a lifetime. Spend the money (about $150/person) and take the boat trip. All things considered it's a pretty good value...  and something most people never see in their lifetime. 

Get out there and experience nature where ever you find yourself -- you won't be disappointed. 

Of course, Alaska takes the whole Mother Nature thing up a notch or two...

See Ya!

Juneau, Alaska: Mendenhall Glacier & Tracy Arm Fjord Are A Capital Idea

Wow! Juneau is the capital of Alaska. You can only get here by boat or by plane. We came in by boat; the M/V Columbia of the Alaska Maritime Ferry System to be exact. What a nice ship. Huge compared to our first ferry, the M/V Taku.

Our ferry ride from Petersburg to Juneau lasted just under 8 hours. We left Petersburg at 6 pm and arrived at Juneau just before 2 am Monday morning. The weather was typical for Southeast Alaska, kind of gray, not too cold and just an occasional rain shower. The inside passage is normally pretty calm and last night was no exception; nice and smooth with great visibility.

There was a period of about an hour while we were in the Frederick Sound where we saw almost two dozen humpback whales. Most were travelling/feeding alone although occasionally you would see two humpbacks together. Most likely a mother and her calf.

All were fairly distant from the ship so my pictures are just OK. Still it was incredibly exciting to spot the spray from the whales blow hole in the distance and then see the 'hump' of the whale as they cruised along. After four or five spouts the whale would dive deep for a little feeding session, usually giving us a pretty good view of its tail.

One whale repeatedly slapped the water with it's tail seven or eight times before diving. Not sure what that means however it was exciting to see such behavior. 

Just as it was getting too dark to see anything in the distance a pod of what I think were Dall porpoise began playing in the bow wave of the ferry. They moved so quick it was hard to follow them. They look like miniature Killer Whales with the same black and white coloration although the porpoise and much smaller than a Killer Whale and lack the large dorsal fin. 

We slept at the ferry terminal for a couple of hours and then we went to the Spruce Meadows campground where we will be staying until Friday afternoon, at which time will take our last ferry ride to Haines, Alaska.

After getting camp set up we went to breakfast and then went to see the Mendenhall Glacier. This glacier is only three miles from our campground and only 15 minutes from downtown Juneau. It's is an incredible site. There was some recent calving so the left side of the glacier is especially 'blue' in color. Actually the ice is incredibly clear.

After a little power napping this afternoon Mary Lynn and I did a little shopping. despite all you hear about the high price of food in Alaska (and the restaurants in particular are expensive) the Safeway we went to was only sightly more expensive then Safeways we frequent in the 'Lower 48'.

Tonight we went in search of whales along the coast however all we saw were harbor seals.

Tomorrow we are taking the the 56 foot Adventure Bound to the Tracy Arm Fjord, an all day cruise through some of the most spectacular scenery in Southeast Alaska, all just a couple of hours from the Alaska's State Capital. Who knows what wildlife we will see and photograph?

See Ya!   

Petersburg, Alaska: Ferry Trip To Juneau, Alaska

We will be taking the Alaska maritime Ferry System from Petersburg, AK to Juneau, AK in a few minutes. Since we won't arrive in Juneau until 1:30 am tonight/Monday morning I thought I'd post a few random pictures from the Prince Rupert, Ketchican and Petersburg area to fulfill the many requests for more pictures.

See Ya!

Petersburg, Alaska: Finally We Are In Alaska

We left Prince Rupert around 10 am on Thursday on the Alsaka Maritime ferry, the M/V Taku. We had arrived at the ferry docks around 5:30 am on Thursday as instructed. Then we had the RV and car measured.Your payment for the ferry is dictated by the length of your vehicle (in our case the RV & the car) plus the number of people and pets taking the ferry.

After measurement we checked in, got our actual tickets and then waited to pass through US Customs. Once through customs we waited again as they began loading the ferry.

What an experience. This ferry swallows whole 18 wheelers, long RV's, even longer truck/5th wheel combinations, cars/trucks, motorcycles, passengers. What an experience. Not knowing what to expect Mary Lynn was a little nervous however the loading process was pretty straight forward.

Well almost. First of all, forget everything you have learned about driving a big rig and using your mirrors, back-up cameras, etc. They have one person guide you into position with another half a dozen people stationed on all sides of the larger vehicles. The 'loader' tells you to do exactly as he says as far as moving left, right, forward, etc. It was a little nerve wracking pulling our 39 foot RV between other rows of vehicles without looking at the mirrors or trying to position yourself as you normally do... however, these guys do this full time and given the incredibly small allowances between vehicles you have to listen to them. 

Our first leg of the ferry trip was from Prince Rupert to Petersburg with stops in Ketchikan and Wrangell; the trip took approximately 18 hours. For those of you who have done the math that meant we unloaded the RV & CR-V around 3:30 am on Friday morning, just as it was getting light.

The ferry trip itself was fantastic -- I can't wait to do the other two legs. On this trip we spotted Humpback Whales, lots of eagles -- some folks even saw Killer Whales although MLA and I missed them. We were on the 'wrong' side of the ship when they were spotted and the Killer Whales had dived below the surface by the time we made our way to the 'correct' side. None the less, the ferry trip is a great way to see a lot of Alaska that can't be seen any other way.

Once we arrived in Petersburg, the ferry system let us sleep in the ferry parking lot. We crashed for 4 hours of sleep and then headed to breakfast, where we learned the annual Petersburg Memorial Day Salmon Derby is going on this Memorial Day Weekend. Very cool.

After breakfast we found our RV campground about 8 miles out of town and got settled in. Very rustic site/services --- which I've been told to expect throughout Alaska.

Yesterday we explored the a lot of Mitkof Island, including some back roads where we almost got stuck. A 30 mile long dirt road takes you back to several lakes and a glacier. Mostly it was wide open however there are a few pots where the sun does not shine on the road where snow covered the road. We went through several patches of snow in Dave and Mary Anne's 4 wheel drive truck however eventually we met a patch that we didn't think we could get through. So we backed the truck up about a quarter of a mile, turned around and headed back.

One of the snow drifts we had crossed previously was now up hill and it gave us a bit of a problem. We were about 8 miles from the main road and a dirt road that sees little or no traffic this time of year. Thoughts of the four of us spending the night in the crew cab truck with one pack of orange peanut butter crackers and two breakfast bars, light jackets, etc briefly danced through our minds.

That made us extra careful in crossing the snow fields -- and, after a few gut tightening slides we eventually made it out of the snow fields.

Today the ladies explored the small town of Petersburg while Dave and I went fishing. I caught (and released) a silver sided fish (salmon, steelhead, ???) about 15 inches long and probably weighed 3-4 pounds.

When we stopped to see the current leaders of the salmon derby the top fish is a monster 59.8 pound King Salmon. Wow -- what a fish. Unless someone catches a larger fish this fish will probably win the $7,500 top prize. Well, the guy who caught the fish will win the $7500; all the fish gets is an all expenses paid trip to the local seafood processing plant where he will be transformed into cans of salmon...

An annual Alaska fishing license cost $145 for a non-resident. Didn't make sense to buy the next level down: it was $100 for three weeks. Makes for some very expensive fish/pound, especially if I keep releasing them.

Tomorrow afternoon we get back on the ferry for an 8 hour hop from Petersburg to Alaska's state capitol: Juneau.

See Ya!

PS: Since Internet access is sparse, today I also posted a few pictures of the Prince Rupert - Ketchikan - Wrangell - Petersburg ferry trip below.

Prince Rupert - Ketchikan - Wrangell - Petersburg Ferry Trip Pictures

Our trip started in Prince Rupert early on a spectacular blue sky day.

Beautiful lighthouses guide the ferry through the inside passage

Humpback whales were visible from the ship in the distance.

Bald eagles are abundant in this part 

of the country

Terrace, British Columbia, Canada

First I want to say hello to Claire, John and Dominic, our next door neighbor's kids from when we lived in Maryland. They follow along on the blog and when they saw the pictures of the black bear and the grizzly bear they told their mom they want Mary Lynn and I to see a polar bear.

I want Claire, John and Dominic to know we will keep our eyes open for polar bears and if we see one we will take a picture and post it on the blog. Stay tuned!

We woke up in Vanderhoof Canada this morning to almost two inches of snow. What? It's as if spring will never arrive.

I almost killed myself this morning when I went up on the RV's snow covered fiberglass roof. I was sliding around like crazy while sweeping the snow off of the slide toppers. It could not have been more slippery if someone had put oil on the fiberglass. I got off the roof and used my collapsible ladder to access the slide toppers from the ground -- much safer although still a little slippery.

Anyhow, we left in the snow and spent most of the day in and out of rain, snow showers, sleet, etc. Not once did the sun come all the way out or even burn a small hole through the heavy cloud cover. Oh well, still an incredibly beautiful part of the world.

Many of the deciduous tress have just leafed out and the variations in color (well variations in green) are spectacular.

The rain/snow must have made the wildlife stay in bed late today. All we saw were a few deer, a coyote and a fox. All of them looked like drowned rats & downright uncomfortable....

Not a lot to report. We are staying in Terrace, BC which is about 90 miles / 140 kilometers from Prince Rupert, where we will board the ferry early Thursday morning.

Can't wait, I should be able to get some good pictures of the inside passage as we head north.

By the way -- Now that I have a good Internet connection I posted some additional pictures on the last few posts. And the last picture on today's post is from the Columbia Icefields and is called the Crowsfoot Glacier. It is a beautiful example of a hanging glacier. Again, its hard for the pictures to capture the wonderful deep blue color of the ice - however I'll keep trying.

See Ya!

Vanderhoff, British Columbia: Wildlife Extravaganza

For the last two days we have had an amazing view of wildlife. Earlier this week we were very close to six mountain sheep and a coyote. Yesterday we saw our first grizzly right along the road from Banff to Jasper; shortly thereafter we saw an incredibly white mountain goat. I got some great pictures of the mountain goat but not the grizzly. I'll tell you why in a minute....

Today we saw two black bears, two caribuo, another grizzly, lots of deer 

and elk and a moose. OMG! Moose 

are huge! Plus numerous hawks, falcons, eagles and the ever present 

ravens. Lots of smaller varmits, mostly ground squirrels or tree squirrels. 

Some of the wildlife you see for only a short time as you pass by. Sometimes the shoulder is not wide enough to pull over. That happens a lot especially in the mountains where the sides of the roads drop off steeply. Sometimes the wildlife is 'spooked' by your vehicle and trots/bolts back into the woods. Sometimes, especially with the deer and the elk, they bolt across the road into your path and you have to quickly hit the brakes to avoid them.

Let me tell you more about the grizzly we saw yesterday. As we drove north from Banff to Jasper i saw a few cars pulled to the side of the road. Whenever I see one or more vehicles stopped by the side of the road I start slowing down as that's usually a sign people are watching some sort of wildlife. 

In this case theres a huge grizzly feeding alongside the road, no more than 10 feet from us as we drive by him. Of course, pandemonium broke out in our RV when Mary Lynn and I see the grizzly. I'm trying to get out of the RV's drivers seat, put the RV in park, set the brake, turn off the RV and take off my seat belt, all while leaning down to grab my camera, take off the lens cover, check the settings, etc.

MLA is screaming like a schoolgirl, jumping out of her seat and running to our RV's side door. I'm yelling to her not to open the door until we confirm the grizzly is still a safe distance behind us. We are about 50 yards past the bear so I open the door and grab a few shots with the camera before the bear decides to cross the road.

Even from a safe distance it is easy to see the grizzly is huge although, from the number of ribs visible, he looks undernourished. Probably came out of hibernation just a short while ago. 

Every thing's fine for a few seconds as all of the tourists, including MLA & I, are keeping a safe distance from the bear. Then, out of nowhere, some moron in a Mercedes pulls over right in front of the grizzly. The guy jumps partially out of his car and a starts shooting pictures. The bear immediately bolts into the woods and is gone, just like that.

What is this guy thinking? One, he and or his passenger could have been seriously injured or worse. Two, how inconsiderate can you be? Blocking everyone else's view plus scaring the grizzly into the woods.

Oh well, at least MLA and I had a chance to observe the grizzly for a couple of minutes.

Today we only had a few seconds to see the grizzly and moose however one of the black bears spent a few minutes casually eating verge and enjoying the sporadic sunshine before he ambled back into the woods. Probably for a nap. Unlike yesterday's grizzly, he looked healthy and plump with a shiny black coat.

Canada is beautiful and the wildlife is plentiful -- who knows what we'll see tomorrow...

See Ya!

Banff, Alberta Canada

Mary Lynn and Mary Anne spent the morning and early afternoon taking care of some camp chores while Dave went in search of diesel fuel for his truck.

When Dave returned, he and I went 

back to Lake Minnewanka for a hike back into Stewart Canyon. What a great hike. Both of us are trying to get our hiking strength and endurance built up for Alaska. The hike was, as expected, full of beautiful scenery surrounding the still partially frozen lake. It was perfect hiking weather.

What was unexpected was seeing six mountain sheep right on the trail we were hiking. They were coming down the trail as we were ascending. The leading ram was actually peeking around the trees waiting for the path to be clear so he could lead his little entourage to a more remote region of the park.

He and his crew seemed shocked to see people back in his territory. Dave and I pulled off to the side of the trail and the six sheep passed by, keeping an eye on us all the while. Really amazing to see these animals so close. Something had obviously spooked them from their normal habitat far up the mountain.

On our way back down the mountain we ran into them again. They seemed confused that the trails they have been using all winter in solitude now had people on them again. 

On the way down Dave and I read the “Keeping Safe In Bear Country” sign that we had missed/ignored with all the excitement of seeing the sheep. It told us that while all of Banff National Park is ‘bear country’, the trail and area we were hiking in was ‘core habitat for bears’ and many sightings did take place there. Mostly in July - September when the bears are busy feeding on the wild berries and can be easily surprised as they keep their heads down wolfing down large quantities of berries. 

No bears for us however the mountain sheep definitely made the hike one I’ll remember for a long time.

Tomorrow we head off to Jasper National Park and will be crossing over the Columbia Icefields. No reservations are available so were hoping someone will decide to leave Sunday since the forecast for Monday in Jasper is a big storm. 

See Ya!