Photography, Travel
One Night in Juneau
The start of our Alaskan adventure
Flying into Juneau, you notice one thing — the Mendenhall Glacier poised in the distance, looming over the valley below. We’d come from Southern California for two weeks in Alaska, beginning with two nights in Juneau before boarding a thirty-two passenger catamaran to cruise the Inside Passage for a week and then spend the remainder of our time in Sitka.
Since the big cruise lines are not operating this year, it seemed like an ideal time to venture out on a small-boat experience. Last summer, we explored Denali National Park, Fox Island and a few other spots during the relative quiet caused by the pandemic, and it seemed to us that the wildlife might be even better this year after all this time without a lot of tourists.
Bald Eagles were high on my list of creatures I wanted to see. And this trip did not disappoint. Our very first night, while dining at The Hanger, on the wharf, we watched several eagles diving into the fingers of sunlight dipping down from the ridge of mountains at the edge of town and skimming across the water towards Douglas Island.
We began our trip a couple of nights before the summer solstice, so the days were long and the light lingered, playing with the tips of the pines on the ridges, bringing them from total shade (when the sun was behind the ridge at our backs) to illuminating the lips of the golden-capped tree lines.
As the evening progressed, the distant mountains lit up as if nature had suddenly decided to shine her high beams on them.
After dinner, we meandered around town, taking in the sights. The Four Story Totem Pole, carved by master carver John Wallace of the Haida Clan, who has been described as “the last of the professional Haida totem-carvers,” depicts four clan stories from top to bottom. His art was demonstrated before thousands at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The pole is carved of western red cedar and stands 35 feet tall. In 1962 the Rotary Club of Juneau purchased the pole from the Haidas and presented it to the City of Juneau the following year. It was moved to its current location at the corner of 4th and Main Streets outside the Juneau-Douglas City Museum in 1993.
Juneau has an Alaskan charm to it. I’ve never seen it in the winter but, in the summer, red poppies flare open to the skies and wildflowers spring up everywhere from the fertile glacial earth.
We arrived at the top of the neighborhood hill just in time for the blazing sunset (top photo), then walked back down to our hotel, just across from the Wharf, where we began.
We’d been watching the nearly-full moon climb across the sky all evening. After the light had dimmed on the peaks of Douglas Island, this is the view we were rewarded with, just before we began our neighborhood walk.
We had such a grand adventure in Alaska, including a water plane landing on a high mountain lake, Humpback Whales bubble-net feeding, kayaking in the remote wilderness, and hiking up to pounding waterfalls. I’m working my way through the photos and stories. I hope you’ll follow along on our journey.
Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).
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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter. All rights reserved.
