We had a brief window of sunshine this morning, so decided to take the Mount Roberts Tramway up the mountain to get a more global view of Juneau. Along the short walk we passed the Public Library, which has a large parking garage. Parking is very limited in Juneau.
The trams are fast and smooth. That's Mount Juneau in the background - the one we can see from our window.
And, the views from the top of Mount Roberts, 1,800 feet up, about half the height of Mount Juneau.
Off to the right is the Gastineau Channel. On the tidal flats at the other end of the channel is where we saw our Bald Eagles yesterday.
We saw a couple of Medium Size Stupid Things today. The first was on our way to Mount Roberts and the second was at the top of the mountain.
How about an Eagle looking for donations?
And a Beaver.
Next on the agenda was the Mendenhall Glacier. The sun had disappeared but at least it didn't rain. The lady who took this picture told us that in 1975 when she first saw it, the glacier reached the spot where we were standing and it was higher than Nugget Falls, which you can see on the right. The falls poured through the middle of the glacier in those days.
My Tromper buddies will recognize my walking stick. It was hand finished by Dave Bagshaw for our hike on the Boyne section of the Bruce Trail in 2002.
As the ice breaks away from the glacier, it is a beautiful blue colour.
But it soon turns white. Would this be called an ice berg or maybe an ice calf?
We hiked over to Nugget Falls. Mardi with her yard sale walking sticks.
Romeo was a black wolf who showed up in Juneau each year and wanted to play with the local dogs. It became a favourite of the town. Until a "hunter" shot it.
You could book rides to the glacier and the falls on this canoe. Pretty big! And rowed from the rear.
We are definitely in a rain forest.
This rock is about a mile downstream from the current face of the glacier and about 200 feet above the current lake level. This retreat of the glacier has occurred in my lifetime.
On the way back from the glacier Mardi saw a few yard sale signs. I resisted until one was too close to avoid.
No totem poles (just roll your eyes!) so we moved on.
We stopped again at the Gastineau Channel. The Salmon run had accelerated, but no Bald Eagles. This is the fifth time we have passed this spot. Just once have we seen the Eagles. We were lucky I guess - a Friday matinee performance.
We had lunch at Deckhand Dave's again, this time Salmon for Mardi and Haddock for me. A toast for Andy - Happy Birthday Andy - and we were on our way.
We drove through town and stopped at Sheep Creek where there was another Salmon run occurring.
No adult eagles here, but we did find a juvenile feeding (maybe the meal timings are based on age).
Another great day!
We spend tomorrow in Juneau and catch the ferry to Prince Rupert at 8 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment