HYDABURG: Home of the Haida Indians~

Hydaburg is the largest settlement of Haida Indians in Alaska- pop. 400. The weekend we visited was the annual totem pole raising and this year a woman carver directed the making of this pole AND the women carried it from the carving shed to the totem park!  Haida warrior women!!

Dorothy was so excited to be there that she ran down and grabbed the very top of the pole to help in getting the totem to its permanent resting place.  Alice was standing on the church steps taking photos when she saw her in the crowd- what?  Okay, another photo opp...

Once the pole got to the park, several big ropes were tied to it to assist in lifting it into place.  Both Dorothy and Alice took their place on a rope to steady and lift this beautiful new pole.  It is part of the restoration project that is ongoing, and someday all of the old, peeling poles will be replaced.  They are now made of red cedar, the only wood that can withstand the weather in Alaska.

Following the pole raisings Hydaburg celebrated with potlatches both Friday and Saturday nights.  The food was wonderful, plentiful, and heavily protein: venison, salmon, halibut, shrimp, crab, ham, turkey, wow!  We took our little offerings of food, as well.  Dancing and singing followed, with groups from Klawock, Ketchikan, and Hydaburg performing.  The auditorium was big and it was difficult to get good photos.  Note the woman in the foreground holding her baby who is also wearing a typical Haida hat woven of cedar strips!

Sitka- where Russian, Tlingit and American customs meet.

On our way to Sitka we spotted this Sitka deer, moseying along the bank of the channel we were traveling.  It was a cool, drizzly morning and she seemed oblivious to our presence.  The wildlife, in general, has been sparse this trip.  Oh, lots of humpbacks- NO orcas- and lots and lots of birds of every size and kind.

One of the highlights of walking about in downtown Sitka is St. Michael's Cathedral.  The current edifice replaced the original one which burned.  Although the locals told us this was only the fourth day of sun for their summer, we enjoyed two sunny days during our four day stay!

Hot Springs Heaven~

There are a number of natural hot springs in Alaska and Canada.  The quaint little town of Tenakee Springs, on Chichagof Island, has NO cars but lots of hot springs!  Some people have even tapped this water to heat their homes. In the center of town is a bath house, built over a hot springs of constant 105 degree water.  Dorothy and Alice took advantage of it during women's hours... no suits allowed!

Following our stay in Sitka, on Baranof Island, we went to Warm Springs Bay... where a raging waterfall runs right beside three hot pools: 120, 105, and 100 degrees...    We liked the nice 'cool' one right off of the waterfall- in our suits!  We hope to get to Bishop Bay Hot Springs in B.C., also~

Critters and such...

For some reason, the blogger program we use will not allow us to post our small photos down the righthand side anymore.  Since most of these were saved in small format, we will just share them as a conglomeration on the blog side of the page!  Alice could not resist the urge to pick salmonberries in Tenakee Springs, a small community of 100 on Chichagof Island.  Then she made a cobbler... yum!

This little red squirrel greeted us at the park headquarters when we checked in to Glacier Bay.  We also saw a brown bear from a distance, but did not spot any mountain goats, perhaps because their white coats blend in with the lingering snow.

Blue lupine flourish everywhere this time of year, but the pink variety really fascinated us.  Unfortunately, it is  considered an invasive species not native to Alaska and should be eradicated to prevent taking over where native plants should be... but they are so pretty, we still saw several.

South Marble Rock, Glacier Bay, is home to many Stellar sea lions.  It was humorous to hear the bulls carrying on, bullying each other, and even sliding off for a quick dip.  Getting back up on the rocks is another story!

Bill was able to capture a piece of an iceberg off our back swimstep while we were parked in front of Margerie Glacier.  Thank goodness Alice's lips did not freeze to this sizable chunk!  We melted it and drank a bit of the 200 year old water... how did it taste?   A bit old.... seriously...

The captain was a happy camper once we managed to arrived at our destination!  He had been so impressed with the glaciers on our cruise to Alaska in 2008 that he was determined to give Dorothy the same awesome experience~

We have probably seen more than 50 whales on this trip, but few up close and fewer doing anything more than spouting and rolling their backs above the water.  As we left Glacier Bay we met a pod of four up close and personal!  Still no breeching, but some nice tail action to wave to us on our way out~ we keep seeing humpbacks, but no orcas yet.

Glacier Bay National Park!!!

There is an abundance of wildlife in Glacier Bay, including 240 species of birds, but our main goal was to see as many glaciers as we could in the five days we had allotted to us.  The glaciers shown represent different varieties (there are four), with the first glacier we saw being Casement Glacier,  a hanging glacier, no longer to thewater.

Riggs Glacier is just barely tidewater at this point in time.  We were not able to drive up to the actual face of this one, as there was a non-motorized zone at the 59th parallel, so this is the shot we could get.  It is a huge glacial field, but the snout is shrinking back and soon will be landlocked, like many others.

Margerie Glacier is one of the furthest to reach, but is the prime postcard example.  We drove through huge iceberg fields and almost turned back, before managing to navigate our way through and see this stunning sight. This glacier is actively calving, and we saw it break off twice in the half hour we were there, just 1/2 mile off.  It is 250 feet tall and a mile wide!

The above photo of Margerie shows the layers of rock and sediment which the ice has dug out in its descent to the sea.  Behind the two smiling ice queens, you can see the cleaner portion of Margerie.  In spite of the fog that day and the miserable ice conditions, the sky lightened up upon our arrival and Heaven smiled on us for our efforts to see this magnificent place.

Reid Glacier, located at the head of Reid Inlet, is what Alice calls the old Grandpa of the glaciers.  It appears to be covered with a solid layer of sediment which has a light brown appearance.  Since it is receding rapidly, there is only one place on the snout that still calves... look along the bottom center to see pieces broken off.  They were lying on a beach.  The whole experience of seeing these and other glaciers in our travels combined to make our trip to Glacier Bay one that we will never forget!

Best Laid Plans Go Awry...

With high hopes for a special visit to Glacier Bay National Park, we headed toward the entrance on the morning of July 3, 2012.  Alice had gotten the permit some time ago and then contacted park headquarters to check in upon our approach.  Only one mile later we heard a terrible sound and soon learned that the fresh water pump to the engine had failed!  There was only one option for us: traveling about ten miles to the small town of Gustavus on the north shore of Icy Strait!  Bill added water at least eight times to make sure the engine was kept cool. 

In addition to the blow of not getting to go into the park on the date of our permit, we found ourselves beached in the harbor at Gustavus the following morning!  We had the dock nearest to shore and a minus 4 foot low tide had truly left us high and dry with our keel stuck in the mud. (Note stern out of water) This could have been devastating, but we were blessed to suffer no damage from this little accident.

That afternoon, several people on the dock helped Bill pull the boat around from the shallow side to the deeper side- pulled, because we were afraid to turn the engine back on... Bill then got busy taking the broken pump off and locating a replacement, which had to be flown in from Anchorage via Juneau.  We were in port for six days before we were repaired.  Thank goodness for Bill's mechanical expertise!!

While the tide was so low the eagles had a ball finding dead goodies on shore.  And the shoreline was VERY close to the boat.  This photo was taken by Alice from the bow of our boat one morning when the eagles flocked in.  We have learned so much about eagles, including the fact that this bird is at least five years old, as that is when the head and tail turn white!

We had some interesting critters while we passed the time in Gustavus: this darling otter lived there all by himself.  It appears that he is asking a blessing on the poor crab he is about to devour, one leg at a time!  There was a big bull sea lion who hung out in the harbor too, and who put on quite a show throwing his catch around before eating it.

Since we were in Gustavus for the 4th of July, Dorothy and Alice went into the tiny town to join in their festivities, one of which was a parade.  They not only went one way on the street, but turned around and came back in order to make it longer!  This tractor is pulling children from the local LDS Church. The banner reads:  Your Family Roots- Are Your Digging Them?