Catch-Up Part 2!

This post is to going to catch y'all up on the month of August.  :)

At the beginning of the month, my parents came to visit and it was absolutely amazing to get to see them!  While they were here, I was able to take about 4 days off of work to get to spend as much time with them as possible.  We did a lot: hiking, flight-seeing over some glaciers in Taku Inlet, whale watching, among others.

For the hike, we went up Mt Roberts to the tram and had lunch.  It was quite the warm day but it was absolutely amazing to get out in the trees!  At the top, we got some lunch and got to catch up.  Walked around town and got dinner at Tracy's Crab Shack (best crab cakes I've ever had!) and watched the Wilderness Adventurer leave port (the boat that several of my friends work on). 

Blurry photo taken by a 6 year old climbing the mountain behind us

Mom and I

Downtown Juneau from the top of the tram

Aren't they adorable???

The day after, we went on a flightseeing tour and it was the best thing ever!  Pretty much, we flew down Gastineau Channel, over several glaciers including the Taku, Hole-in-the-Wall, and several others.  It was awesome! 

We also went on out to the Mendenhall glacier that afternoon and walked out to Nugget Falls.

We also went whale watching while they were in town but I haven't gotten those pictures from my dad yet... hopefully soon!!!

In August, I also started guiding some of our Whales, Bears, and Glaciers tours.  So I'll just throw some of those pictures up here for ya. :)

BROWN BEAR!!!

So that wraps up August, everybody!  I hope you enjoyed my pictures; I greatly enjoyed the experiences that lead to them!  Everything is going well in my little world up here in the north.  Hope everyone's week goes splendidly!

Next post coming soon!  Possibly tomorrow even!!!

Playing Catch-Up

Hi all!  Just thought I'd check in here and let everyone know that I'm still alive and loving life here in Juneau!  As usual, I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates.  The season is now slowing down and so now I'll be able to catch everyone up on what's been going on here. 

Since we last chatted, the tourist season peaked, we celebrated the Fourth of July, my parents visited, and I began guiding our Whales, Bears, and Glaciers tour!  Overall, it's been a blast and also absolutely exhausting!  Pretty much, what I'm thinking I'll do is just share some of my favorite pictures and see where we are at.  Sound like a plan?

Mendenhall Glacier from the water

"Fishing" isn't the same thing as "catching"

Good morning, Juneau!

Evening at Auke Bay

Dead Whale.  Sadly it got struck and killed by a cruise ship.  It didn't sink as expected and so NOAA towed it to shore and chained it to a tree to remove it from the shipping lane and to be able to perform a necropsy to determine cause of death.  Was actually really really neat to get to see!

Hoonah, AK

Sunset over the Chilkat mountains

These pictures wrap up July.  I'll do August in a separate post.  Very soon though - like later today!

Herbert Glacier

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have a day off while one of my friends who works on a small cruise ship was in town on break.  So of course, Taylor and I went hiking!

We chose the Herbert Glacier trail.  An easy hike from the road, this trail follows the Herbert River 4.9 miles back to the Herbert Glacier.  The hike itself is quite easy, but being able to see the stages of glacial succession (which plants move in when, after a glacier retreats from an area) in reverse was really neat.  There was also a gold mine near the river in the past and some ruins are still present. 

The trail took up through old growth Sitka Spruce and Hemlock with an understory mostly made up of Devil's Club.  Then we passed into an area that was almost completely blueberry bushes beneath smaller pines.  Then into even smaller pines with just moss and a few small shrubs.  Eventually, we reached a place that was all tall aspens, before crossing into small shrub-like aspens and then onto rocks with just moss.

When we got to the end of the trail, we were still probably a mile from the glacier and wanted to get a bit of a better view, so we crossed parts of the aluvial fan (which is where I get my boot soaked) before pushing through all sorts of alders and other bushes and scrambling up some really big boulders to get the best view we could. 

All in all, it was a beautiful hike, a really fun day spent with a friend, and a beautiful view of the Herbert glacier!  Only thing I'd change?  I'd bring bug spray... boy, those mosquitoes are BIG!!!!

Herbert River

Bunchberries - aka Dwarf Dogwood

Outflow from the glacier was huge!

Next on the hiking agenda?  The Mendenhall Ice Caves!  And hopefully it won't take me so darned long to show y'all the pictures!  Have a phenomenal weekend, everybody!