Our next stop was Juneau.
Juneau, not Anchorage, (a much larger city) is actually the capital of Alaska and is not even accessible by road! The population is only a little over 32,000 and they are heavily reliant on tourism like all of these isolated communities, so the pandemic and loss of visiting cruise ships has been very challenging.
The weather was not looking promising but we packed our raincoats and caught the shuttle bus for the short ride out to Mendenhall Glacier. Mendenhall is one of Juneau’s biggest attractions, literally, being a half a mile wide and with ice up to 1800 foot deep. We had time to do the hike out to Nugget Falls which are spectacular in their own right and also provide a good vantage point for viewing the glacier but at this point the rain settled in and made photography difficult…
We scurried back to Juneau as we were booked to go on one of Juneau’s other great attractions that afternoon – a whale watching cruise. The ship offered whale watching in their excursions but we had chosen to go with Harv and Marv who offered a small boat experience and less crowded photo opportunities. There were only six passengers and our young captain did a great job with commentary and finding some amazing wildlife for us. Unfortunately it is not ‘season’ for these humpbacks to breach but we saw some pretty good tail action and a mother and calf.
Amazingly, the weather held for our trip and we returned to Juneau with enough time for a wander around town before ‘all aboard.’
The town itself was fascinating, lots of reminders that gold was discovered here in 1880 and was responsible for Juneau’s European settlement.
Prior to European exploration though, the Auke and Taku tribes had inhabited this region for thousands of years and had a village and burying ground here. In the 21st century it is known as Indian Point. They resisted plans for European-American development of Indian Point and consider it sacred territory, both because of the burying ground and the importance in their culture of gathering sustenance from the sea. They continue to gather clams, gumboot chitons, grass and sea urchins here as well as tree bark for medicinal use.
The city and state supported Sealaska Heritage Institute in documenting the 78 acres site, and, in August 2016, it was listed on the National Register for Historic Places and became the first traditional cultural property in Southeast Alaska to be placed on the register.
We checked out some of the more colourful establishments before the rain became steadier and we headed back to the ship for a hot shower and our next culinary adventure.
