While we were in Tofino, Bob spent a lot of time fixing all that was broken, or almost broken, on the van, due to our reckless, living life to the fullest and treating our lovely van as though it was an ATV. One of his "fixes" (the most important one...the sewer line) didn't work and we found it necessary to find an RV centre as we headed north on Vancouver Island. The Arbutus RV dealer in Merville was wonderful, and they told us that we could have our van fixed by the next morning because they had to order parts from Nanaimo and that they wouldn't arrive by bus, until the next day. We asked if it would make any difference if we could make the 1 1/2 hour trip south to pick up parts that day. It did and so off we went....back to the south on the 3 hour return trip. The mechanic stayed late and fixed the pipe (it's still not 100% however it works!) and we were very grateful when he finished the job around 7 pm. The recommended campground was a find...Salmon Point Marina and RV Park, 10 minutes away and set among beautiful Douglas fir trees. It was larger than our preferred however it was entertaining, had a gorgeous pool and brought us to the waters edge and the marina. Now if we can only figure out how to get the fir sap off our clothes and van......
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| The carvings around the property were lovely |
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| As were the common buildings and gardens |
The next morning, we took the scenic route along the water and loved Campbell River. Carvings lined the shore (a carving competition was in full swing) and this one is a permanent fixture in remembrance of a beloved daughter.
We had decided to revisit Telegraph Cove, one of our stops 10 years ago when we were camping with Rachel and Peter, prior to their wedding. A large, modern and unattractive motel has blighted the landscape (all about balance....right??) however, the old structures still stand and we found that if we closed one eye, we didn't notice the new motel (hardly) at all.
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| Here it is....too large to take from the bottom...amazing really! |
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| A quiet bay, close to our campsite |
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| We stopped to watch the logging operations on our way out |
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Not really an attractive town so the sunset made
up for it |
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| Stern view from the BC Ferry, headed back to Prince Rupert |
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| Gorgeous picture windows for spectacular views! |
We arrived in Prince Rupert late at night, drove off the BC ferry, made a hard left and lined up for the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry....leaving at 6 a.m. We had been told that the Alaska staff was "real casual" about loading and unloading and so we sat in line behind other campers then climbed into bed, with our alarm set for 4 a.m. A group of hoons were hanging around the bushes near the road and we watched in darkness to see what they were up to. They left the area around midnight and we closed our eyes for a few hours of sleep. Around 2 a.m., I heard someone hit the side of the van and I awakened Bob. He didn't think it was anything however I used bully tactics (pinched his air supply) to get him up to investigate. The "casual" Alaska ferry crew was inflicting their power to get us up and at it to move into the restricted area, inside the chain link fence.
At this point, I must tell you that all you BC'ers out there should be incredibly proud of your ferries! They are gorgeous, immaculate, have terrific food (in the dining room) and wonderful offerings in the cafeteria and on-board shops. The cabins were wonderful and we loved every moment of the experience. In contrast, the Alaska ferries are at least 50 years old, very, very tired and the food is way too plentiful and really, really below average. The cabins are ok however there are few cabins with ensuite bathrooms. You get towels, a basin and soap....the bunks are comfy and the sheets and fleece blankets, provided by the U.S. Penitentiary System (yes....that was printed on the linens....and I thought initially that we were sleeping on prisoner linens). The staff however, is among the best and compares favourably to the BC Ferry staff experience.
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On my walk-about, I was shocked to see that campers can set up tents
on the upper deck, next to the solarium. It is imperative that all
tents be tied to the rail. |
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| Arriving in Juneau following a stop in Ketchican |
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| Again....for the second time... |
Juneau is a beautiful modern clean city. As you can see, it is nestled at the base of the mountain range and because of the cruise ship traffic, has a robust economy.
When I was outside on the deck, gazing at the water, I noticed a nasty looking thread of dark brown, weaving it's way throughout the waterways and knew it to be red tide. A man came to stand near me and confirmed that it was, and said that he's lived his entire life in Juneau and has never seen algae blooms like this ....ever. He is an artist, had been travelling for several months and was quite disturbed by the sight.
He asked where we were staying in Juneau, then recommended Mendenhall Glacier State Park. What a gorgeous place. We hiked up a pretty rugged track and after meeting a young man on his way down (he strongly recommended that we DON'T attempt the entire trek....12 injured people have been air-lifted by helicopter, back down) the mountain, we went a little further then used our better judgement to return.
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| Mendenhall Glacier from the campground location |
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| Glacier "calves" near our site |
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| Waterfall and calves across the lake |
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| I finally captured my shot of a real live porcupine!!! |
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| View from the other side of the lake |
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Bob mauling 200 year old ice from the glacier, at
the Visitor Centre |
The ranger at the Visitor Centre told Bob that he has great concerns for the environment. When the centre was built in the '50's, it was 500 feet from the edge of the glacier. Now it is a mile away.
Across the road from the Visitor Centre was a salmon spawning river with boardwalks so that we could safely view the bear and cubs catching. It was mesmerizing, observing the struggling salmon (what a life!), then a Mama bear strolling down to the river and with one quick swipe of her paw, capturing a huge fish and feeding her two cubs. We returned 3 times and were rewarded every time.
It has been a very long time since I believed in the "things come in three's" superstition, however my new belief was to be seriously challenged in the next three days.
#1. We stopped the van and had lunch at a bird sanctuary beside the highway into Juneau after our hike up the trail and the visit to the Visitor's Centre. As we were finishing the dishes, I heard a motorcycle screaming along the highway and I saw a flash of red. Ten minutes later, we were entering the downtown core of the city and were guided by police, past the most horrific sight. There was nowhere else to look because we had to weave among the debris....a helmet, a shoe, a fender, other pieces of a motorcycle...and a body. We were shaken to the core.
#2. We once again visited the visitor centre to see if we could watch bear at the spawning grounds, and as we returned along one of the major 4 lane routes, a car crossed 3 lanes of traffic, right into our path without even casting a glance at our van. How Bob ever slowed the van, veering toward the ditch while hitting the horn and avoiding a catastrophe is a miracle. I could see the hair follicles on the neck of the young passenger, we were that close. Everything that was on our bed shot forward and ended up behind our seats.
#3......Wait for it 'cause it's quite unbelievable....
While Bob rambled the streets of Juneau, taking shots of interesting sites, I was updating the blog from our Tofino fun.
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| Frontier hotel....oldest remaining |
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Bob's self-portrait of an encounter with a grizzly....little did
he know..... |
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Some streets and staircases reminded Bob of San Francisco,
on a smaller scale |
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| Gondola over Juneau |
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| State Senator's house |
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| Unique homes |
The following day we were back onboard the Alaska Marine Highway, headed for Haines.
Seated beside us in the bow solarium were two wonderful travellers...a 91 year old man and his son....Ollie (father) and Lloyd. What a delightful pair. Lloyd leaves his wife behind and takes his father on a couple of trips a year and they have a ball. We had so many laughs and we learned a lot as we teased and learned about each other. Ollie lives in Texas and Lloyd in Colorado.
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| Unique lighthouse along the way |
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| Another beautiful lighthouse |
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| Shrimp boat heading out |
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| Haines....gorgeous!!! |
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| View from our campsite |
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| Really old structure |
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Who could ever imagine that there are enough
hammers in the world to open a "Hammer Museum" |
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| Lovely old buildings (shops) with gorgeous gardens |
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A precious visit with Trey Gregg...a famous Alaskan artist
and performer. He creates his own puppets and gave Bob and me
a personal performance. Turns out that he knows Wayne Price (remember
the carver in Whitehorse??). |
Challenge to belief #3: We drove out of Haines to watch the salmon fisher-people along the Chilkat River, a few miles outside of Haines. Look at the photo below and you can see our van parked in a tiny parking lot on the other side of the bridge. Fishing is to be done on this side of the river, however, as we soon learned, Alaskan's don't like to be told what to do. We witnessed several dozen people catching fish at an incredible rate. Women were as adept as men and they had large coolers to hold their catch. One fisherman decided to fish from the other side of the river, close to our van and his open jeep-type vehicle, parked right beside us. His wife was reading in the jeep while their dog sat beside her. We exchanged pleasantries with her and because we'd been warned by the campground owners to be really careful out there, due to bear activity, we asked her if she was nervous about sitting so close in an open vehicle with a little dog. She laughed and said that her redneck husband was "packin'" (a very common comment in Alaska as it happens) and he'd take care of things if anything happened.
After watching these people from the state park side of the river, we walked back to the bridge and stood in the middle so that we could get a good view. In the distance, a grizzly appeared and he wandered along the shore, harassing the fishermen/women. They would drop their rods and the bear would scoop the fish. Two school buses stopped at either end of the bridge and disgorged around 30 tourists (from the cruise ship) each. Bob and I were standing in the middle of the bridge, chatting with an Aussie couple who have been travelling in North America for 6 months. Suddenly, the bear was near the redneck fisherman and he (redneck) took off up the bank toward our van. The bear took the salmon, pawed the dude's jacket that was on a rock, and then disappeared into the forest beside our van. We now knew that we couldn't get back to our van and we watched to see if he might reappear. The guide from the bus at our end of the bridge, called for his tourists to "please board the bus.....don't tarry!" and the tourists at the other end of the bridge were still looking to see where the bear had gone. Suddenly everything went pear-shaped and people were running in every direction. I could no longer see Bob and I was pressed up against the railing on the north side of the bridge. As people raced away from me in either direction, packing themselves between the buses and the railing, I watched in horror as the bear came running along the bridge, in the other lane and I found myself entirely alone. It is true that in many reports of close encounters, everything slows down. I had a huge lump in my throat and yet everything in my mind was crystal clear. We had been coached by rangers and had read reports about grizzly encounters and were told to stand completely still, don't breath and if the bear charges, drop down into child's pose with hands clasped behind the neck. In my heart, I knew that this huge bear could pick me up and fling me into the river in a split second and yet, I calmly turned my back to face the railing and looked over my right shoulder to watch him. His mouth was open, his tongue hanging out (a sign of stress and the most likely time to attack a human) and he was running full-tilt. At the centre of the bridge, he stopped, looked at me, veered toward me, then at the last moment (thank you Dad), headed the rest of the way across the bridge and back down to the other side of the river. Little did I know that Bob had been shoved by the crowd, to the van side of the river and was standing behind the bus when the bear emerged from behind our van. He looked at Bob for a moment, then began his race across the bridge. How fortunate do you think we feel? Those of you who listen to world news have probably heard that in the past few days, since we were in the Aleutian Islands, three people have been attacked in Alaska. One man was devoured in Denali National Park, breaking a 95 year record of no incidents (this is where we had our most intense lessons from a ranger about bear behaviour), a woman working for an Ontario research firm was attacked along with her associate, near Fairbanks, and two days ago, a young woman from Seattle was attacked at a glacier we visited yesterday. Lesson learned: Don't hike alone and don't tempt the residents. This is their territory and we are not always welcome.
The Aussie couple we'd been chatting with prior to the bear run, raced to me after the incident and told me how fearful they were for me. They knew that the last thing they should do was run, that I had done exactly the right thing and yet Bob and I could have been injured or killed because of the mob mentality.
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| Chilkat River Fisher-people. See our van on the other side. |
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Here's our boy...just before he headed up into the forest near
our van |
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| Calm again after the run |
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Now he's attempting to dig a weasel out from under
the rocks. See the boulder behind his leg? He hurled it
from above his head |
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"STOP" means "STOP"! This was an area in the park
that is far from where we were at the bridge |
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| Chilkat Lake |
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| Beautiful Jay |
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| Our Yukon neighbours in the campsite next door |
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Visiting the Alaska Bald Eagle Foundation, we find this Canadian
volunteer. Injured birds of prey are brought here from all over
North America |
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We find these gorgeous swans putting on a show for us, along the highway on our drive
to Homer |
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Entering the Yukon, we discover that fall colours
are beginning |
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| Golden fields of fall |
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| Fireweed changing in texture and colour |
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Didn't get a pic of this fake cop car on the way down
and managed to get it on the way back up....clever!!! |
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| Beautiful Grey Jay at our campsite |
Back in Tok, Alaska, we stop for the third time, at our favourite (and only) Natural and Organic Grocery store. Parked outside was this bus and who could resist taking a peek. Wow! Who wouldn't be tempted to purchase this wonderful vehicle? It even had an old fashioned cast iron stove with fans to distribute the warmth. As it happens, an old cowboy with a huge backpack was "on it" and thinking that we were competition, raced to call the owner. We assured him that we were happy with our van and that it was all his. His offer? $5000. He probably got it.
Next blog: Anchorage, Homer and Aleutian Islands
