Glaciers and Clouds in Juneau, AK

A view of the Taku Glacier from helicopter. The Taku is the largest glacier in the Juneau Icefield at more then 30 miles long and five miles wide at its terminus.


Early evening clouds hang over Juneau's Auke Bay and the Coastal Mountains of Admiralty Island.

Only God could make this

After work we spent about four hours fishing and sitting by the fire on the beach at False Outer Point on Douglas Island last night, 7.7.07. The sun set like this for nearly two hours and did not fall behind the mountains until around 10:30 p.m. the eagles came out and tried to catch jumping salmon right in front of us near the beach.

Our ride to work in Juneau

Julie and I bought bicycles as soon as we arrived in Juneau to work for the summer. In stead of buying a car and paying exorbitant prices for gas, we ride eight miles along the Old Glacier Highway to work every morning, and back again in the evenings. Save money, get daily exercise, experience God's early-morning creativity with the sun through the trees and the mist. This turned out to be a beautiful day, by the way.

— Christopher

Alaska Wildflowers

Wild lupine near the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center. I have found purple, white and pink lupine along the roads and throughout the forest in Juneau.


— Christopher

Whale Tails

Juneau has some of the best whale watching excursions in the world. Humpback whales migrate from Hawaii to Alaska each summer to feed on small fish and krill near Lynn Canal and Stephens Passage, which are between Juneau and Skagway. Today I got to go on an Evening Quest whale watching trip with passengers from the Carnival Spirit. Allen Marine crew take us from Auke Bay to North Pass, near Shelter Island and Admiralty Island. With temperatures in the 70s in Juneau Saturday, the early evening ride was perfect in jeans and a T-shirt. Humpbacks typically eat one ton of food per day and they usually feed on their own, so as to not get in each others' way. One only sees the whale's fluke (tail) when they do a sounding dive -- a deep dive to around 200 feet below the surface.

-- Christopher

The Mendenhall Glacier

The Mendenhall Glacier flows 12 miles from the Juneau Ice Field at around 5,500 ft. above sea level to its terminus at just about sea level in the Mendenhall Valley. This glacier is one of the most easily accessable glaciers in the world and is Juneau's most visited attraction. Lately it has been reflecting more blue from deep within the crevasses. This is due to the fact that blue is the only color wavelength that can bounce back out of the extremely dense ice. On more cloudy days, the glacier is more blue because the clouds filter out the harsh sunlight that penetrates the ice and makes it more white.

Some people use the Juneau Ice Field as an example of global warming due to the fact that many of the 38 large glaciers in the area are melting -- the Mendenhall is losing 300-600 ft. of ice off its terminus every year. However, two of the largest glaciers in the Juneau area, the Taku and Hole-in-the-Wall glaciers, are getting bigger. That means enough snowfall is accumulating on the ice field to create glacial ice in place of the ice melting away from the terminus.

-- Christopher

Bald Eagle Released Near Mendenhall River

A female Bald Eagle was released May 28, 2007 after being taken in by a local family in February. The Juneau Raptor Center held a release gathering for the bird and said she was in captivity because she was so sick that she could not fly. They expect her to do fine now. A few fellow drivers and I were staging our motor coaches near the Mendenhall River between duties and observed a gethering of people at the park there. All of a sudden a we saw this eagle swoop out of the parking lot and circle around the bridge to the tree in the photo. She stood there for a while as a heckling raven prodded with his beak at her.

-- Christopher

God's Country

Juneau supposedly had its most rainy summer on record last summer. The downtown area averages about 100 inches of rain per year but had much more than that last year for the tourist season. Adding to that, 200 inches of snow fell this winter -- twice what they usually get. In the first two weeks with cruise ships in town, we have already had six days in a row of sunshine and temperatures in the high 60s/low 70s in Juneau. Locals say that's more than all of last summer.

As I rode my bike home from a long day at work, Twin Lakes, on the mainland Juneau side of the Gastineau Channel, were calm while the sun set. The mountains of Douglas Island, West of downtown Juneau are reflected in the lake.

-- Christopher

Juneau Wildlife

The Juneau area is in the middle of the Tongass National Rainforest -- the largest temperate rainforest in North America at 17 million acres. It is home to many black and brown (grizzly) bears. This two-year-old black bear recently awoke from hibernation and began foraging near the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center on a busy day. He ended up spending a good 20 minutes in the tree, eating and checking out the visiting cruise ship passengers.

-- Christopher

Alaska Tourism

Nearly 1 million cruise ship passengers will pass through Juneau, Alaska between May 7 and September 27, 2007. I get to show some of them around this beautiful state in a 40-foot motor coach.

I just started my second season as a driver/guide for Holland America Tours/Gray Line of Alaska. Julie joins me in June after graduating from Western Washington University. Julie and I got our Commercial Driver License in 2005 and worked for the company that summer, covering all of the highway tours in the Anchorage area. In 2006, I spent the summer as a photo intern for the Skagit Valley Herald in Mount Vernon, Wash. Julie was a counselor for the YMCA. We decided to move back to Juneau because we knew that we would get good hours and also be home every night, rather than being on the road for hours on end. Either way, we're here for the good money from the crazy overtime hours -- we work upwards of 80 hours per week -- and to meet new people. The money is going for our travels abroad to South America this September.

--Christopher