They are songs as ancient as the land itself, the music of a coastal wilderness.
There is no other place like it in the world.
This is a new land where rivers of ice still reach the sea.
The forests are the domain of mighty brown bears.
Listen and you'll hear great whales sounding.
Then silence.
Look and a thousand eyes stare back.
Cruise to Alaska and you'll discover the last frontier.
Oh come here you little fella.
The
inside passage of Alaska is a thin ribbon of mountains and thousands of islands bordering
British Columbia, Canada. The climate is temperate. It doesn't get too hot or too cold. And if
it's not already raining, it's about to. The liquid sunshine falls in varying amounts, an average
of 100 inches a year in Juneau. Ketchikan gets 62 inches more than that. Besides being great for
rain festivals and street cleaning, the precipitation feeds southeast Alaska's lush rainforest. Most of
the panhandle is within the Tongass National Forest. With nearly 17 million acres, it's the
largest national forest in the United States. The Tongass is both a source of employment and a place
to play. Throughout the Tongass, there are also more than five million acres designated as protected
wilderness. Roughly 65,000 people live in southeast Alaska, but up to five times that many will visit
the region every summer. Most board luxury cruise liners in Vancouver, British Columbia, ride Alaska
ferry boats from Bellingham, Washington, or cruise the inside passage on their own.
This map shows the ports we're about to visit. Our tour starts in beautiful Vancouver, British
Columbia. From there, we'll cruise north up Alaska's stunning inside passage. Our first port
of call will be Ketchikan, the gateway city. Cruising north, we'll visit Wrangel, home of the
Shady Ladies. Next stop, Petersburg, Alaska's little Norway. We'll drop anchor in beautiful
Sitka by the sea and visit Juneau, Alaska's scenic state capital. Then we'll head north to
Haynes, where the Chilkat dancers remind us of Alaska's rich native culture and finally visit
the gold rush city Skagway. We'll also cruise to wondrous Tracy Arm and Gershaw Bay National Park.
Let's begin in Vancouver. Vancouver, British Columbia. This is where most people begin their
cruise of the inside passage. Vancouver is a vibrant city nestled between mountains and the
sea. The beautiful setting provides a blend of fresh air and freedom, along with the hustle and
bustle you'll find in any cosmopolitan city. Vancouver is a young city, just over 100 years
old. Its roots can be traced back to the section of town called Gastown. In the 1970s, there was
talk of tearing down the deteriorating buildings. Instead, Gastown was revived. Brick was laid on
the sidewalks and streets. 19th century buildings were restored, trees and flowers were planted,
and old-fashioned streetlights were brought in. Today, Gastown is thriving.
This authentic steam clock is just one of many unusual and interesting attractions to discover
in Gastown. Vancouver is home for 1.5 million people. Life here is relaxed. The people who
live and work here have learned to combine city life with the great outdoors. For most of the
summer, cruise ships grace the harbor or line the dock at the cruise ship terminal. They've
either just arrived from or are getting ready to cruise to Alaska. Here begins a breathtaking
journey. For many, the trip of a lifetime, saying goodbye to Vancouver and cruising up the inside
passage. Cruising north, you'll see the beauty of the British Columbia coast and get a feeling for
the coastal way of life.
At some point as you cruise the inside passage, you'll likely pick up an escort of Doll's
Porpoise. The playful porpoise love to race in the wake of any boat that suits their fancy. They
often travel with 8 to 12 playmates for just this occasion. The Doll's porpoise have the same black
and white markings and sleek appearance as their larger cousins, orca whales. Orca whales, also
called killer whales, are actually the largest members of the porpoise family. You might encounter
them anywhere on a cruise up the inside passage to Alaska. Killer whales stay together in family
groups their entire lives. The males grow to be 26 feet long and weigh up to 11 tons. Males can be
identified by their large dorsal fin, which may be 6 feet tall. The male orcas are often the hunters
and protectors of the pod. Female killer whales are in charge of keeping the pod together. They
are slightly smaller and can be identified by their smaller sickle-shaped dorsal fin. As they
travel, they are communicating to each other with complex calls and high-energy clicking. The sonar
light clicking is called echolocation. By clicking, the orcas are able to locate their food and each
other from the echoes that return. The orcas also appear to talk to each other. Researchers say each
pod of orcas communicates with its own distinct dialect. The killer whales play into the legend
of the native people of this coast. They were the supernatural chiefs and hunters of the ocean
world. This killer whale totem is one of several totems at Alert Bay, British Columbia. Although
they are weathered, these totems speak loudly about Northwest native mythology and culture.
The bustling city of Ketchikan is often the first port of call for ships cruising to Alaska. It's
a great town to introduce visitors to the way of life in Southeast Alaska's panhandle. Around 14,000
people call Ketchikan home. Like most southeastern communities, Ketchikan is sandwiched between the
forest and the sea. The downtown district is three miles long but only a few blocks wide. If you live
above downtown Ketchikan, there's no need to use the stairmaster to get your exercise. Once on top,
you'll agree the view is worth the climb. During the busy tourist season, Ketchikan's population
skyrockets when as many as seven cruise ships visit the city in a single day. Some of the sleek
cruise liners anchor in Tongass Narrows, while others literally tie up to Dock Street. Once
ashore, there's plenty to do and see in Ketchikan. For starters, you can walk to Creek Street, watch
a totem being carved, visit a fish hatchery, take a float plane ride to Misty Fjords, or paddle an
Indian-style canoe. Ketchikan was originally a Tlingit Indian fish camp. The community is still
rich in native history and culture. At the Totem Heritage Center, 33 original unrestored totem
poles and fragments are on display. These poles show the mastery of early Tlingit and Haida carvers.
The Totem Heritage Center also showcases the talent of local artists. With an ancient totem
behind him, Ernest Smeltzer puts the finishing touches on a new ceremonial mask. Another place
to see totems is Totem Bite Park, 10 miles north of town. On display are 15 poles and a tribal clan
house constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Totem Bite Park was set up like an actual
Tlingit Indian camp. These totems were modeled from totem poles which were found deteriorating
at abandoned villages in southeast Alaska. At the village of Saxman, a few miles south of town,
you can watch new totem poles being carved. Master carver Nathan Jackson transforms this
300-year-old red cedar log into a work of art. When finished, it will be the likeness of a bald
eagle. Nathan is one of a handful of carvers in Alaska who are keeping the art of totem carving
alive. He approaches each new work with great skill and a smile. The Saxman Village Totem Park
displays two dozen totem poles. In their own unique way, each pole, each figure, tells a story
or commemorates an event in the life of the first people of southeast Alaska. The Sun and Raven
Totem tells several myths of the creator figure, the Great Raven. One guess as to the name of this
totem pole, the original was carved in the late 1800s using a picture of President Lincoln as a
model. While some poles are carved to honor an individual, others are carved to poke fun. It's
believed that this pole carved in 1885 ridicules Secretary of State William Seward. Carvers were
apparently offended at Seward's lack of hospitality. The Beaver Clan Tribal House at Saxman is the only
traditional clan house built in Alaska in the last 50 years. It is fascinating to walk among the totems
to see the figures and faces, knowing they tell the stories, myths, and legends of the native people
of this coast. The story of today's Ketchikan can be told in three words, fish, timber, and tourism.
In Ketchikan's colorful past, it was known as the salmon capital of the world. While Ketchikan can
no longer make that claim, the harbors are still busting at the seams with boats of all shapes and
sizes. Fishermen are always racing to and from the fishing grounds. Commercial fishing in Alaska is a
1.5 billion dollar business. The salmon harvest makes up roughly one-third of the total. From the
air you can see the salmon fleet in action in the chilly waters just south of Ketchikan. The
silvery prize is brought back to Ketchikan where it's canned, smoked, or shipped fresh all over the
world. Ketchikan also exports timber products. The Ketchikan Pulp Company is the area's single
largest employer. The pulp mill at Ward Cove and operations on nearby islands employ close to a
thousand people. Most of the timber products processed here are exported to Japan. The forests
around Ketchikan provide both employment and recreation. One of the popular local tours
offers visitors the chance to paddle Indian-style canoes on a remote wilderness lake. For cruise
passengers, it's also a chance to burn a few calories. These same kind of canoes were used
by the Indians of the coast as shown in this film shot in 1914. The coastal Indians would
travel long distances fishing, hunting, even waging war on neighboring clans. Today it's
the spirit of friendly competition that drives these canoers to race back to the dock.
A walking tour is another enjoyable way to absorb the flavor of this colorful community. A 10-minute
walk up Ketchikan Creek brings you to the Deer Mountain Fish Hatchery. This hatchery raises
and releases 300,000 king and silver salmon each year. At the mouth of this spawning stream is one
of Ketchikan's most popular attractions, Creek Street. From 1902 to 1954, the houses lining
Ketchikan Creek were the rowdy bordellos of Ketchikan's notorious red light district. One
of the businesses belonged to Dolly Arthur who opened her doors in 1919. Today this former
brothel is a museum. Dolly once said, when they're here all they talk about is fishing. When they're
fishing all they talk about is Creek Street. The icing on the cake for many visitors to Ketchikan
is a flight-seeing trip to the Misty Fjords National Monument. The float planes lift off
right from the Tongass Narrows. Misty, as locals call it, contains 2.3 million acres of wilderness.
Sheer granite cliffs rise 3,000 feet from the fjords below. Imagine 20,000 years ago Misty was
filled with ice and snow a mile thick. The glaciers rounded the mountaintops and polished
the granite walls. Today Misty Fjords is just as the glaciers left it. This is the southeast
Alaska rainforest. Nature's interior decorator spent great care draping the branches and painting
the forest with so many shades of green. A short hike from where this stream empties into a saltwater
bay is a forest amphitheater. Formed by rock walls and protected by towering trees, it hosts
a waterfall of exquisite beauty. The only obstacles between here and the sea are fallen trees and
boulders. In Tracy Arm, 50 miles south of Juneau, thin braids of white indicate where waterfalls
cascade in thousand-foot jumps falling to the fjord below. John Muir once explored this passage.
He described this wilderness as being like a wild unfinished Yosemite.
The master designer used nature's slowest but most powerful tool to carve these vertical walls
a glacier. Charter captain Andy Spear of Juneau often brings his guests to this magnificent place
as he nudges the adventurous close to the vertical granite walls you feel insignificant. There aren't
any beaches. Barely room on the rock ledges for the colorful seabirds. Even at shore's edge,
the milky water can be over a thousand feet deep. There are two active tidewater glaciers
at the head of Tracy Arm. A field of icebergs announces you're nearing the glaciers. Several
hundred seals bask in the sun atop these icy floats. Face to face with the south Sawyer
glacier you see a valley filled with ice. A cold wind pushes the icebergs away from the face of
this glacier allowing tour boats to weave between them for a closer look. Chunks of ice as small as
footballs or as large as skyscrapers constantly fall from the glacier's face.
Some of the larger icebergs which cav from the glacier's face will float 30 miles to the mouth
of Tracy Arm. Like the countless snowflakes which compressed into glacial ice, each berg is unique.
They are mysterious beautiful works of nature's art.
There are three places on the planet where glaciers still extend all the way to tidewater.
Alaska is the only place in North America. This is the Lakonte glacier near Petersburg.
Glacier Bay National Park 60 miles northwest of Juneau is one of the true wonders of the world.
It is a place which like Tracy Arm is still emerging from the last ice age. In 1794 when
Captain George Vancouver charted southeast Alaska all of this area was under a sheet of ice at
least 4,000 feet deep. That one massive glacier has withdrawn 65 miles uncovering inlets and land
which only now is waking up after a long sleep. The stellar sea lions who haul out on the marble
islands are relative newcomers to Glacier Bay. They've been coming here for only a decade.
This is basically a social gathering place for the sea lions.
In mid-August, North Marble Island is ablaze with wildflowers. This is in stark contrast to the ice
which covered this island around a century ago. Consider Glacier Bay a giant laboratory where we
can watch the stages of development between fully developed forests and newly uncovered rock.
The further you cruise up Glacier Bay the starker the landscape becomes. And then you come to the ice.
Depending on the climatic conditions Glacier Bay is home to 16 or 17 tidewater glaciers.
Many of them are still advancing. The presence of so many tidewater glaciers was one reason Glacier
Bay was proclaimed a national monument in 1925. In 1980 Congress created Glacier Bay National Park
and Preserve. John Hopkins Glacier is still advancing. A jagged wall of ice meets saltwater
in an impressive display of this glacier's stark beauty. The glacial ice at the face of John Hopkins
fell as snow around the time of the American Revolution.
During the season when baby seals are born, up to 4,000 harbor seals congregate in front of
John Hopkins Glacier. The seals find safety on the icebergs which frequently cab from the glacier.
They seem as curious as the visitors who have come to behold Alaska's magnificent Glacier Bay.
If you're from a small town you'll feel right at home in Wrangel population 2,700.
In Wrangel the main street is just about as wide as it is long. The businesses have lots of elbow
room. This is a town with a rich history and a colorful presence. It has existed for almost
two centuries under Russian, British and American rule. Before any of those influences arrived,
Wrangel was home to a native society which left its mysterious mark on the landscape.
Wrangel is an island community 85 miles northwest of Ketchikan. It is one of the scheduled stops on
the Alaska ferry system. Arriving by ferry you quickly get the lay of the land and come rain or
shine you'll meet some of Alaska's youngest entrepreneurs. The children of Wrangel set up
their card tables right on the dock. The souvenirs in baking cups are garnets. A local businessman
deeded a garnet quarry on the nearby Stakeen River to all the children of Wrangel present and future.
Only the kids can sell the beautiful stones and sell they do. During the summer Wrangel is also
visited by a number of cruise ships and when the sea liners appear so does Wrangel's shadier element
the shady ladies. They go by names like Miss Kitty, Wrangel Groobie, Goldie and Madam Fifi.
Like their counterparts during Wrangel's early days they too have a product to sell.
It's called Goodwill and the shady ladies deliver it in style and good humor.
How can you top a hug from a shady lady? Well Wrangel offers several unique attractions.
City tours will take you to Petroglyph Beach. What first appears to be simply a rocky beach
is actually the canvas used by an early society.
Mysterious rock carvings called petroglyphs are strewn about the beach.
Who carved these images and when is not known. They may be several thousand years old.
With rice paper purchased at local shops and fern leaves from the forest
visitors make tracings of the ancient figures.
Half the excitement at Petroglyph Beach is discovering the unusual images and tracing them.
Visitors then take this beach art home as a memento of this fascinating site.
It's believed that Tlingit Indians moved to this area more than a thousand years ago.
Scattered throughout the city are several more recently carved totem poles
each telling a story or legend of the Tlingit people.
The Chief Sheikh's tribal house was dedicated in 1940 on the site of an earlier Tlingit village.
Not a single nail was used in construction of this house which is a replica of the tribal homes
once used by the chief of the Stikine Tlingit people.
Inside visitors are treated to a captivating glimpse of Tlingit artistry and culture.
Today Wrangell residents make their living from the forest and the sea.
The timber industry is the largest private employer.
The Alaska Fault Corporation runs a sawmill six miles south of the center of town.
The busy mill sends most of the lumber and byproducts to Japan.
Fishing is a major part of the work.
The Tlingit people are very interested in the Tlingit culture.
The Tlingit people are very interested in the Tlingit culture.
Fishing is the community's other main industry.
Mert Everson is getting ready to head out fishing for salmon
but first he must tie up at the dock to mend his gear.
It takes teamwork to quickly repair the nets and not lose time during the few days open to commercial salmon fishing.
It's the kind of teamwork that binds a community together.
That's just what you'll find in Petersburg located north of Wrangell and south of Juneau on Mitkoff Island.
That's just what you'll find in Petersburg located north of Wrangell and south of Juneau on Mitkoff Island.
Cruising to Petersburg from Wrangell, boats must pass through the 21 mile long Wrangell Narrows,
aptly named. At one point it's only a hundred yards across.
The scenery along the route is spectacular.
The forest reaches down to touch the sea but the beauty of this passage belies the danger.
In some places the water can be less than 20 feet deep.
The photogenic town at the north end of Wrangell Narrows is Petersburg.
The town's namesake, a Norwegian by the name of Peter Bushman, settled here in the late 1800s.
Other Norwegians soon followed and built this fishing town from the pilings up.
Townspeople call their home Little Norway.
Twice a day the tide washes under the homes along Hammer's Slough.
Many of the homes are hand painted with Scandinavian designs.
You'll find the same colorful artwork on the storefronts of Petersburg's main street,
which is Nordic Drive. On a sunny day you can't miss the Sons of Norway Hall, a Petersburg landmark.
The Viking ship is used every May as part of the town's Little Norway Festival.
Petersburg looks like any town where hard work is the norm. The homes are modest but the view is priceless.
Petersburg's business district is two blocks long. The main center of activity is down on the docks.
In a single year the fishermen here will be paid over 50 million dollars for their catch.
Amidst all the activity bald eagles can often be seen swooping down to catch a fresh herring.
Hmm
Southeast Alaska has a healthy population of both brown and black bears.
When the salmon are running, you're likely to find bears near the spawning streams, if not in them.
There are at least two places in Southeast Alaska where bears have become tolerant of human visitors.
These bears are still wild animals, but they do not associate man with food or danger.
For that reason, the bears allow us an exceptional opportunity to watch and learn.
Ann Ann Creek, 26 miles south of Wrangel, is one of the viewing areas.
This spectacular site in the Tongass National Forest is accessible only by boat or float plane.
The U.S. Forest Service maintains an observation platform at Ann Ann Creek.
The same trail used by those coming to see the bears is also used by the bears.
These are black bears. Black bears are found throughout the mainland of Southeast Alaska and on most islands as well.
They are smaller than brown bears, but an adult black bear can still weigh upwards of 400 pounds.
At Ann Ann Creek, rangers have identified nearly four dozen different black bears and a dozen brownies, which come here to fish.
It's no wonder that this is a popular fishing hole.
During the peak of the salmon run, the fish are so thick, a bear could catch lunch with his eyes closed.
Ann Ann Creek is one of Southeast Alaska's top salmon-producing streams.
More than 150,000 pink salmon return to this river every year to spawn.
A torrent of water rushing over the falls presents a difficult challenge for the fish.
Rest in pools below the falls, conserving energy before attempting to jump.
For the bears, so many salmon means grabbing supper is as easy as this.
The bears are not completely comfortable being around so many other bears.
This smaller bear has decided to grab a fish and move on.
Besides having a heavy concentration of bears, more and more people are visiting Ann Ann Creek each year.
The Forest Service is studying how the higher numbers of visitors impacts bear behavior.
The goal is to manage Ann Ann Creek in a way that lets the bears be bears and allows us to safely watch them.
Pack Creek on Admiralty Island is another popular bear viewing area.
The dense rainforest is home to around 1,700 brown bears, one per square mile.
It's the highest concentration of brown bears anywhere.
Unlike Ann Ann Creek, visitors to Pack Creek are required to have permits.
It is jointly managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Wildlife viewing at Pack Creek can be spectacular.
As bears frequently come and go, eagles soar overhead.
The tide flats are vibrant.
This cabin once was the home of Stan Price.
Until his death in 1989, Price maintained a homestead at the mouth of Pack Creek.
It was Price's close interaction with the bears that led to the creation of what is now a wildlife sanctuary bearing his name.
These were Stan Price's closest neighbors, his companions in life on Admiralty Island.
A gravel bar near the creek serves as one of the viewing areas.
The bears are now accustomed to seeing the daily visitors with their cameras and tripods.
A trail through the woods leads to a second viewing area.
From this vantage point high above the creek, visitors can get a close look at the brown bears of Admiralty Island and their habitat.
This is the domain of the brown bear.
Admiralty Island contains 1700 square miles of mostly spruce and hemlock forest.
Several streams support healthy runs of salmon, which spawn in the gravel beds.
Below the viewing area, one of Admiralty's bears is eating a salmon he just caught, just a few feet away in the safety of the platform tourists watch.
The chance to see a brown bear in its own environment is what is so incredible about places like Pack Creek.
The feared brown bear, which can weigh more than a thousand pounds and outrun any human, shows its true nature to simply survive.
When San Francisco was still a frontier town, Sitka was known as the Paris of the Pacific.
Called New Archangel by its Russian founders, Sitka was established as the Russian-America capital in 1804.
The Russian influence is still strong in Sitka, both in architecture and culture.
Visitors to Sitka are first struck by its incredible natural beauty.
Located on Baranov Island, Sitka faces the stunning Sitka Sound, which opens to the Pacific Ocean.
Mount Edgecombe, an extinct volcano, dominates the horizon to the west.
The economy of this seaside community of 8,000 is supported by the environment.
The Alaska Pulp Corporation runs a pulp mill on Silver Bay, six miles east of town.
Two fish processing plants support the local commercial fishermen, and Sitka is a favorite stop for several cruise ships which anchor in Sitka Harbor.
Once coming ashore, get ready for a taste of Mother Russia.
Alaska's most famous dance troupe, the New Archangel Russian Dancers, always draws a crowd.
They perform most days during the summer at Centennial Hall.
Another Russian attraction is St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral.
You can't miss this landmark which straddles Lincoln Street in downtown Sitka.
St. Michael's is a replica of the original church which burned in 1966.
A short walk away is Castle Hill.
It was here, back in 1867, that Alaska was officially transferred from Russian to American control.
These cannons were once more than foot rests.
They were used to protect the Russian fortress.
The story of the 1804 Battle of Sitka is told at the Sitka National Historic Park.
The sound of cannon fire once echoed throughout these woods.
Signposts along the trail tell how in 1802, Tlingit Indians attacked and burned the first Russian settlement, killing most of the occupants.
The Russians returned two years later and shelled the Tlingit stronghold within this forest, eventually driving the Indians off the island.
Historical sites abound in Sitka.
This is the Russian Bishop's House built in 1842.
Next door is the St. Peter's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church built in 1899.
If you're just visiting, watch where you park.
The Sitka Pioneer Home was built in 1934.
Pioneer homes in Alaska are state-run retirement centers for longtime Alaska residents.
Another of Sitka's attractions is the Raptor Rehabilitation Center.
It's a hospital for bald eagles injured in the wild.
The nonprofit rehab center is open to the public and offers the opportunity to see America's national symbol up close.
Those eagles that are not able to recover from their injuries may wind up in zoos.
Those eagles which recover are released back to the wilderness.
It's not hard to guess that Sitka's love the sea.
The boat harbors are filled with pleasure craft.
One of the favorite diversions of locals throughout Southeast Alaska is sport fishing.
Several charter companies offer half-day fishing trips.
Often, a half-day is all it takes.
Ed and Jerry have been coming to Sitka for the fishing for several summers.
They've yet to leave disappointed.
This troll-caught king salmon will be enjoyed for more than one meal.
It's hard not to take something home from Sitka.
If not a salmon, a sweatshirt or other souvenir,
then it surely will be pleasant memories of this scenic community by the sea.
There's no feeling quite like it.
It is always exhilarating to encounter Alaska's magnificent humpback whales.
There are an estimated 10,000 humpback whales left in the world.
The inland passageways of Southeast Alaska are the summer feeding ground for several hundred of the endangered humpbacks.
This particular group is feeding on herring and krill near the mouth of Glacier Bay at a place known as Point Adolphus.
Because Point Adolphus is on the beaten path for cruise ships and pleasure boats, it has become a popular spot for whale watching.
Humpback whales are often referred to as gentle giants. They are both gentle and giant.
Seeing the whales side by side with the boats, you get an idea of their enormity.
An average humpback adult is 50 feet long and may weigh up to 50 tons. The tail or fluke of an adult humpback spans 15 feet.
The sound is arresting as these wonderful whales surface, exhaling.
The mist rises 15 feet into the calm morning air.
The air rushes out of their blowholes at speeds near 300 miles per hour.
This is the beauty and grace of one of the Earth's greatest living creatures.
The Alaska humpbacks are the same whales which are seen in the winter months off Hawaii or Mexico, while in the warmer waters they breed and the cows give birth.
Unlike Hawaii, where the waters are clear and underwater photography is practical, the life-reach waters off Alaska are often murky. But by listening through a hydrophone to sound recordings made underwater in Alaska, we get a glimpse of their behavior and communication.
The humpback whales are the most vocal of all whales.
You are listening to the private conversation of a group of whales feeding together off Point Adolphus.
...
The whales use the resonance of the water to communicate in other ways as well.
This whale is engaged in a behavior called fin slapping.
The pectoral fins of a humpback are one third as long as the whale's body.
When slapped against the water, the resulting percussion can resonate for miles.
Why do they do this?
Research suggests it's oftentimes playful behavior.
Other times, a whale may be signaling its irritation directed toward other whales or
perhaps encroachment by man.
Fin slapping is just one of the moves in the repertoire of body language of humpback whales.
This is called tail slapping.
As with fin slapping, the humpbacks appear to use tail slapping to communicate their
presence and their state of mind.
Occasionally, the humpback whale lifts its head out of the water to spy on the world
as we see it.
Or the whale might lift his whole body in a full breach.
During one popular style of breach, the whale hurls its mass completely out of the water,
twists and lands on its side or back.
They are the acrobats of the deep, vaulting into the air seemingly with the greatest of
ease.
The presence of whales is testimony to the abundance of these frigid waters.
While in Alaska, they will feed nearly around the clock, consuming as much as a ton of food
a day.
During the winter months, the whales do not eat.
This home video shot by charter boat captain Floyd Peterson of Puna shows whales lunge
feeding on herring.
The whales blow a circle of bubbles around a school of herring, then lunge mouth open
through the fish.
For all that is known about these wonderful whales, even more is still a mystery.
What is clear is that we must take care of their world in order to keep humpback whales
in ours.
ihnenュ
If there were a contest, Juneau would be a front-runner for the most scenic state capital
in the country.
Mount Juneau towers behind downtown Juneau.
The Mendenhall Glacier is the backdrop for Juneau's largest residential area.
Juneau is the largest town in southeast Alaska, both in population and in size.
At last count, close to 30,000 people call Juneau home.
The city limits encompass over 3,000 square miles, most of which is mountains, glaciers,
and the Juneau Icefield.
Being the capital, Juneau is largely a government town.
Concrete and glass office buildings are often mixed with homes and buildings dating back
to the gold rush days.
The St. Nicholas Russian Church was built in 1894.
The Wickersham House dates back to 1899.
In fact, most of the homes on the hills behind the downtown business district once belonged
to the miners and civic leaders who founded Juneau.
These ties to the past give Juneau residents a sense of their roots as this busy town marches
ahead.
One of those old homes still occupied today is the White Pillared Governor's Mansion.
The mansion was built for the territorial governor in 1912.
Located on Calhoun Avenue, the mansion is just a five-minute walk from the Capitol Building
and other state offices.
Behind the marble pillars of the Capitol are the meeting halls of the state legislature
and governor.
Lawmakers meet between January and May.
Then, about the time when the flowers bloom, they leave town to make room for Juneau's
summer guests.
Virtually every cruise liner that plies the inside passage stops in Juneau.
They anchor in Gastineau Channel or cast their lines ashore and tie up to the city
dock.
It makes for a fun time in the old town as hundreds of tourists head for the buses or
the swinging doors of the Red Dog Saloon.
There are about as many things to do here as there are drinks at the Red Dog.
You can raft a scenic river, visit a salmon hatchery, pan for pay dirt in Gold Creek,
enjoy lunch at one of Alaska's best salmon bakes, even walk on a glacier.
That glacier is Juneau's number one attraction, the Mighty Mendenhall.
Locals call it the drive-up glacier.
It's just 13 miles from downtown.
You will never forget the feeling you get when you see the Mendenhall for the first
time.
On his first trip to Alaska in 1879, naturalist John Muir saw this glacier and called it one
of the most beautiful of all coastal glaciers.
The description is fitting today.
This is where the Mendenhall is born, the Juneau Icefield.
The snowfall here often exceeds 100 feet per year.
Under immense pressure of year after year of snowfall, glacier ice is created.
It spills from this 1500 square mile lake of snow and ice, feeding 38 separate glaciers.
The Mendenhall glacier is 12 miles long and a mile and a half wide at its face.
At one time, the glacier's face was two and a half miles further down the valley.
Since the late 1700s, it has been receding.
The glacier is currently receding 25 to 30 feet per year.
The Mendenhall is situated within the Tongass National Forest.
The U.S. Forest Service maintains several visitor facilities and hiking trails, adding
to the attraction of this glacier.
The visitor center was built in 1962.
In 1938, the face of the glacier rested where the visitor center now stands.
If you look closely, you'll see how rocks embedded in the glacier scratched and gouged
the bedrock.
Anyone with even a slight interest in glaciers will find a trip to the Mendenhall recreation
area rewarding.
But these days, there is more than one way to see a glacier.
These people are getting ready for the ultimate glacier experience, walking on the Mendenhall.
Once outfitted with rain gear and snow boots, they board their helicopter, then lift off
en route to the glacier.
Leaving the heliport, you are really leaving the world as we know it, heading towards Alaska's
icy past.
From the air, you can see all the stress marks and cracks on the glacier's surface.
The fissures and crevices are an indication of the rocky, uneven terrain beneath the glacier.
The helicopters land on a smooth section of glacier ice four miles from Mendenhall Lake.
Here, ordinary tourists become glacier explorers.
Before venturing away from base camp, guides give a brief lecture about the Mendenhall
glacier.
After the talk, you're on your own to explore this icy kingdom.
Underfoot is a moving glacier.
It is a surreal landscape.
Silent, except for the runoff from melting ice and the occasional shifting rock or moan
from deep inside the glacier.
Now, you can see up close the size of some of the giant boulders on the glacier.
The glacier acts like a giant conveyor belt.
Everything from the smallest rock to the largest boulders moves with the glacier as it flows
down the valley.
Some of these rocks will actually stay intact, eventually falling into Mendenhall Lake.
Others will drop unseen into crevices, grinding beneath the glacier into powdered glacial
silt.
On the surface, the glacier ice looks white.
Looking into a crevice, you see its deep blue color.
The immense pressure it took to create glacier ice gives it unique properties.
Its density and crystalline structure absorbs all colors of the spectrum except blue, which
is reflected back.
When the ice is exposed to the elements, it will turn white.
For most people, just seeing a glacier like the Mendenhall is a fantastic experience.
These lucky travelers are now able to boast they've walked on a river of ice.
Another exciting way to learn more about Juno's drive-up glacier is by rafting down the Mendenhall
River.
This is a fun trip, as long as getting a little wet is okay.
We're going to get all the water.
Everybody comfy?
Ready to get going?
Everybody my name's Stuart.
I'm going to be your boating for today.
I'll tell you a little bit about what you just got yourself into.
Now that it's too late to turn back, we have about a five mile trip today.
We're about one mile across the lake.
We'll find the beginning of the river.
From there it's about four more miles to the end.
We will come across some light rapids.
They're too big, but if we try real hard, we'll be able to have a little bit of fun.
Still breathing enough!
Yeah, if everybody's ready, we're gonna get started here.
As you see, the Mendenhall Glacier and the river flowing from it
provides the community with several recreation and sightseeing opportunities.
San Francisco may have the Golden Gate, and New York the Statue of Liberty.
Juneau has the mighty Mendenhall.
While people may be coming here to see the glacier, it was gold that built this town.
Near where these tourists are panning for gold is the spot where an Indian chief led two prospectors to the Motherlowe.
One of the miners was Joe Juneau.
His discovery on Gold Creek back in 1880 led to over six decades of hard rock mining in the Juneau area.
The Great Mill stamped out $158 million in gold before the last one closed for good in 1944.
The main street through downtown Juneau is South Franklin.
It has retained the gold rush flavor.
Shopkeepers have worked hard to restore and revitalize this historic district,
which is just a block away from the cruise ship docks.
Juneau's Garden Club is as busy as ever.
South Franklin is a wonderful shopping street.
Among the newest attractions in Juneau is the Gastineau Salmon Hatchery.
The $7 million Hatchery is a major producer of salmon for northern southeast Alaska,
releasing over 160 million salmon each year.
The Gastineau Hatchery was designed with both salmon and tourism in mind.
You can watch adult spawning salmon bite their way up one of the largest fish ladders in Alaska.
Inside the Gastineau Hatchery, saltwater aquariums let you see adult salmon and over 100 other species of sea life.
The interpretive displays are like no others in southeast Alaska.
And where else can you have your picture taken with a brown bear?
The new runs of salmon, especially the Kings and Coho's,
have also put smiles on the faces of local sport fishermen.
While most of the summer visitors to southeast Alaska travel aboard the luxury cruise ships,
Alaskans have their own year-round marine transportation aboard Alaska's state ferries.
These blue canoes, as locals call them, have regular service to 14 towns in southeast Alaska.
You can also drive aboard at the ferry terminal in Bellingham, Washington, and three days later drive off in Haines.
Haines traces its beginnings as a city to a Presbyterian mission and later as a transportation route to the interior.
Today, Haines is still one of only three towns in southeast Alaska accessible on the highway system.
This scenic location was once home of Alaska's first army base, Fort William Seward.
The historic fort is now in private hands.
The economy of this town of 2500 is based on fishing and tourism.
Every summer, a handful of cruise ships make calls here.
One of the biggest drawing cards are the Chilkat Indian dancers.
The Chilkats were a proud and powerful people.
They controlled the passes to the interior and were the most warlike of the Tlingit Indians.
These dances tell the story and legends of the Tlingit people.
This is the bear and raven dance.
It is the story of a Chilkat chief who was killed by a bear.
Warriors aided by the raven creator found and killed the bear.
Among the colorful costumes are the Chilkat blankets.
It takes anywhere from one to two years to weave a Chilkat blanket, which were made out of mountain goat wool and cedar bark.
Seeing the Chilkat dancers is reason alone to visit Hanes.
Ferry passengers traveling up Lin Canal can choose to head towards Hanes or Skagway.
Lin Canal is North America's longest and deepest fjord.
This breathtaking waterway is 60 miles long and is surrounded on both sides by mountains up to 7,000 feet in height.
While transportation has improved, the view up Lin Canal is exactly the same as the gold rush miners saw when heading north during the gold stampede of 1898.
What were they thinking as they looked at the jagged peaks, knowing somehow they would have to cross the mountains with a thousand pounds of gear?
There would be toil and trouble, guaranteed.
But there also might be gold.
Skagway at the far north of Lin Canal was once the gateway to the Klondike.
Many of the gold rush era buildings still stand within Skagway's historic district.
20 to 30,000 gold seekers set out from Skagway and neighboring Dyee in search of adventure and riches.
Their story is recreated in the colorful musical Days of 98.
The
villain in Skagway's past was Sophie Smith, a con man who was even the grand marshal in Skagway's Fourth of July parade.
This is his story.
Jefferson, Sophie Smith, died the summer of 1898 in a shootout with town surveyor Frank Reed, who was also fatally injured.
Both are buried in Skagway's historic cemetery.
Reed's tombstone reads, he gave his life for the honor of Skagway.
Sophie is buried behind bars.
The story of Skagway is actually the story of two cities, Skagway and Dyee.
While Skagway survived the rush, Dyee, nine miles away, disappeared.
Dyee was the starting point of the infamous Chilkoot Trail.
There were hardships galore as more than 10,000 stampeters trudged up the golden staircase at Chilkoot Pass during the winter of 1898 in route to the Klondike.
Very little is left to even suggest there was a city here.
A signpost displays a few historical photos taken during the heyday of this once upon a time city.
A poignant reminder of all the hardships is in the forest graveyard at Dyee.
Two children, a brother and sister, are buried here.
The inscription reads, alas, the fairest fade early, and those who we cherish and love,
too pure for aught that is earthly, are conveyed by angels above.
Dyee's demise sealed Skagway's future.
In 1900, when the White Pass and Yukon Railroad was completed, miners no longer needed the Chilkoot Trail.
Today, the White Pass Railroad takes tourists on a narrow gauge ride to Alaska's past.
The historic steam engine pulls the rail cars through town, then diesel engines take over for the ride to White Pass Summit.
The railroad follows the original White Pass Trail.
The 40-mile trail to Lake Bennett was less treacherous, but eight miles longer than the Chilkoot Trail out of Dyee.
Spectacular Pitchfork Falls is just one of the breathtaking landmarks along the White Pass Route,
which has been called the scenic railway of the world.
Near the summit at White Pass, you can see the original Trail of 98, forever scarred in the mountain and the history of this historic region.
Visitors to Madame Jan's Gold Camp experience a welcome like no other.
Here, you can meet Dawson, a 180-pound Mackenzie River husky.
You can pan for gold and keep all you find.
There's no better than buckwheat when it comes to reciting Robert Service poetry.
Price and good chachaco coin, which the same I blowed that very night.
Down at the tenderloin!
This is the Alaska experience most people come to find.
Not just to share a tall tale, but the grasp of feeling of what southeast Alaska is all about.
The people are truly one of its most special natural resources.
When added together with the amazing beauty of the land, you have a place beyond description.
You have Alaska.
The Last Frontier
The Last Frontier
The Last Frontier
The Last Frontier
The Last Frontier
The Last Frontier