TRIP PLAN OUTLINE

Dallas to Bellingham by car....Ferry to Haines.......Haines to Anchorage and Fairbanks by car.....Fairbanks to Whitehorse and Edmonton......return to Dallas. Leave June 25 2010. Return in 30+ days

STARTING TO PLAN

My own Bear-Catch Photo.

Schedule driver: The Bears that catch fish in mid-air are at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. The salmon run upstream only in July. The park is reached by float plane. Rumor has it that reservations for overnight are made one year in advance, but when we called they had one opening in July; the 10th. We used this date to start structuring the entire trip.

FERRY DOCK TO BROOKS FALLS

From the ferry at Haines, we go to Haines Junction where we pick up the Alaska Highway. At Tok, we turn left to Anchorage. The first flight goes to King Salmon, where a float plane takes us the last few miles to Brooks Falls.

Around Alaska

The most amazing alaska travel I have read about is the bike trip by Max Hirschberg in the winter of 1900 down the frozen Yukon River from Dawson (first goldrush) to Nome (second goldrush). His route is shown here alongside our more modest plans. (click on picture)

DRIVING TO ALASKA

City of Mesquite features our Community Band on a new billboard as you leave Rockwall. That's me just over the "T" in "culture".

We hear that Mt Mckinley is sometimes lost in the overcast for weeks at a time. We were lucky to get this image from Earthquake Park in Anchorage over 100 miles from the mountain.

LAST DAY IN TEXAS...........LUNAR ECLIPSE

Enjoyed the Lunar eclipse from our backyard before packing the car. Well, OK, the birds live in Oregon. I brought them in with photoshop.

ON THE WAY

Eastern Colorado.....Comanche National Grasslands....I guess they want this area to stay the way it was when Columbus arrived. They need a few buffalo though.

THROUGH THE ROCKIES......LARAMIE

"First view" of the high mountains from Laramie, WY. The road through southern WY takes the easiest route and avoids these high ranges. My great grandfather's brother called it the Oregon trail when he walked to the goldrush in 1849.

The folks building the first transcontinrntal railroad also took the easiest way (past Laramie)

View from the highway near Logan, UT (not far from the "golden spike"). Beautiful country.

MORE OREGON TRAIL STUFF

We stopped at a very nice exhibit in central Oregon. Here is an outdoor exhibit and an indoor "dioarama". These folks took 6 months to walk here from e.g. St Louis. 10% died.

FOGGY IN SEATTLE

Mt Rainier, and several other extinct volcanic cones can be seen more than 50 miles away rising lots higher than anything else. As you drive toward them, your view is lost among the huge trees. When you arrive, they are hidden in the clouds and fog.



Evening and the weather cleared !! Here is Mount Baker from our motel window. (about 25 miles away). Rain is moving in. Our boat to Alaska leaves Friday and the forecast is for rain every day on that trip.

SEATTLE SPACE NEEDLE (1962 WORLDS FAIR)

The space needle is still going strong. The park around it is a carnival midway with merry-go-round, shooting galleris, etc. The view from the top is nice. Our Alaska Highway ferry leaves tomorrow.

ALASKA MARINE HIGHWAY....COLUMBIA

Our ferry in Bellingham

View of Bellingham harbor as we left. The Coast Guard boat escorted us quite a few miles.

Just bring your tent and pitch it on the deck.. Leave the pegs at home. Duct tape works better.

Or better, just bring a sleeping bag and pray for dry weather.

THE WHALE'S TAIL

We have seen whales and porpoises. They try to avoid the camera. This is a whale's tail off the coast of British Columbia.


Here is his blowhole. It is a humpback whale.

WILDLIFE...FIRST TRY PHOTOS

Some of these wildlife shots are marginal..when I do better, I will post the results.

Bald Eagles on the waterfront at Wrangle

Another tourist told me that this is a juvenile bald eagle. The white head appears at age two.

This black bear was turning over rocks at the roadside near Haines

A moose near Homer. Moose are all over as you can tell from droppings and tracks.

I can remember signs years ago about human highway deaths in the lower 48 states. I hope the July date refers to 2009. Kenai is relatively small with only two highways.

MOUNTAIN PHOTOS AND WEATHER

We went ashore in Haines from the ferry in a heavy overcast with occasional sprinkles. As we drove inland, the weather gradually cleared. We were really surprised to see Mt. Mckinley (aka Denali) as we approached 150 miles away. This, the tallest peak in North America is reported to be cloud free less than 20% of the time. We will get closer next week. Pray for more clear days.

Shortly after seeing Denali, this Matanuska Glacier came into view. In the center, that streak that looks like a low cloud is actually a river of ice.

Once we got to Anchorage and back toward the coast, the weather settled in wet and overcast. This view of Homer and Cook Inlet caught a moment when the clouds lifted above some of the peaks, leaving some wisps directly in front. This is where Captain Cook made one of his last stops before returning to Hawaii and getting killed.

MOUNTAIN AND PUFFIN

Tomorrow bright and early we fly to Katmai in a float plane to watch the fishing bears. We had beautiful weather today. Clear skies and 84 here in Anchorage. Tomorrow forecast rain.


Just a pretty mountain scene near Anchorage


This is a Puffin. He lives in Seward and enjoys swimming with the icebergs. Some restaurants use his picture in their no smoking signs......."Please, no Puffin"

BEARS....AND SALMON....AND BEARS

Just returned to Anchorage from Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park. This was the focus of the whole trip so I will post again with more details and pictures. I spent several hours trying to capture the bears catching the fish in mid air. I am going to replace the stock photo in my March planning post with this photo that I took myself.

MY BEAR ENCOUNTER

The right column is kilometers

You might expect that when a path through the woods has been cleared and black topped, that people would use the path, and the bears would stay in the woods. Not so! At Katmai, the bears go where they please, and they find the park paths the most convenient route. The second morning of our visit, I was walking to the falls camera platform (about a mile from the lodge). About halfway there , I rounded a curve, and came face-to-face with a moderate sized bear that was coming down the path at a medium trot. I was surprised, and he was surprised. We both stopped at about ten feet distance, and backed up. When we had provided about ten yards of distance, we paused and looked at each other. There was no hint of threat from the bear, but he clearly wanted to continue where he was going. Remembering the ranger's lecture, I took to the woods. When I had walked about ten yards into the woods, the bear seemed relieved, walked slowly down the path, and then resumed his medium trot toward his destination.

MORE BEARS AND SALMON

The bears are long term residents in the area (years). The rangers have named this one "Molly". They like her blond ears.


Enjoying the meal.


Big fish, small bear.

The one that got away!

SHOOTING BEARS AND FLIGHT HOME

About twenty five photographers at a time on the platform. Sometimes a one hour wait to get a position.

The starboard float of our transportation out.

DENALI NATIONAL PARK

Denali Park tours are on buses. Private cars not allowed. We had a light rain most of the day. There was not alot to see. These Bighorns were the only nearby animals, and the moose was at roadside by the park entrance. Everything else that the driver pointed out were binocular objects.

Here is another moose. These big animals must eat alot so they stay away from the high mountain.

The day before our bus tour of the park, I got this shot from the highway about 100 miles south. During our bus tour, the mountain was not visible. The ranger said that if you measure from the surrounding plain, this mountain is taller that Everest. (I have heard separately that this type of measure would make Maui tallest in the world because you measure from the ocean floor.)

VALDEZ BOAT TOUR

A final tourist trip before heading south on the Alaskan Highway. This is a 75 foot boat out of Valdez on Prince William Sound. Finished nicely enough to call it a yacht. Small enough to go where the big boats can't.


We saw sea otters, puffins, whales, icebergs, the Columbia Glacier, etc. The captain kept up a running commentary on the oil industry, the salmon industry, the sea lion as a pest, the goldrush, the earthquake, glacier shrinkage, in addition to all the wildlife information. A great trip.


Here is a raft of sea otters. These guys mostly just float around on their backs. They are a protected species, meaning only native americans can hunt them, and then under special rules.
More in the next post with a great baby whale photo.

MORE SEA OTTERS AND WHALES

More shots from the Lu-Lu-Belle in Prince William Sound, Valdez

Humpback Whales, mother and baby

If you click on this image, it should get big enough for you to see the baby ejecting water from its mouth.

And the sea otters continued to float around on their backs.

GIANT SHARKS, SALMON, (and pests)

A sport fishing boat pulled alongside to show off two 400 lb sharks he caught.

The salmon fishing was in full swing. hundreds of boats like this one, plus larger processor's boats with "fish pumps" offloading their cargo. This is a "purse" of salmon.

Pests. There were literally thousands of sea lions also eating salmon. Our captain related some almost comical ineffective government schemes to relocate them, once even to Southern California.