Day 6 Juneau to Glacier Bay National Park via Gustavus

We woke up just before the 4am knock on our stateroom door. By 4.30 am we were packed and ready to go as soon as the boat docked at Juneau (capital of Alaska) at 4.45am. While we waited for a taxi, Neil started talking to George from Georgia(67 yrs old). George has run 29 marathons this year, including 2 this last weekend (Saturday in Ketchikan and Sunday in Wrangell. He had his friends set a range of goals eg running a marathon in every state, running a marathon each month and running marathons on consecutive days. He didn’t even seem stiff.

We caught a taxi to Juneau airport with George and his friend but at 5am there was not a lot open. We had tea, coffee and cookies for breakfast under the watchful eye of a 3 metre high brown bear. Luckily it was stuffed and in a glass box but it looked very real and the claws were like knives. Apart from the claws he could have been chocky’s first cousin in terms of size, colouring and mobility.

Our flight didn’t leave until 10.30 so we amused ourselves by reading funny signs in a gift shop. Eg

·         Before you get old and wise , you must first go through young and dumb

·         Born free, now I’m expensive

·         I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say

·         Retirement: Twice as much husband, half as much money

·         Denial:my happy place

·         Caution: You are entering a “Whatever” zone

Finally we were called for our flight: the pilot came in and called out our names. We were a little worried about travelling in a 6 seater Piper plane. We walked out towards the plane. Gradually we passed all the nice looking planes and we realised we were to fly in the forty year old one. 
I had been worried about using a ladder instead of proper plane steps but there were no steps at all. I asked how we should get in and the pilot said you just sit on the seat and lift and spin your legs in. No way!!!. I tried to put my right leg in straight but then the plane was too high so the pilot said he could lower the plane....he sat on the tail of the plane....strange but at least I could get in the plane. Then the seat belt would not click in. It finally did after the pilot tried the end from the seat next to me.

Neil and two other ladies climbed in by standing on the wing. Neil was in the front seat but the pilot said..Don,t close the door because it gets too hot. With the door still open he tried to start the plane. Luckily it finally started after the third try( three times lucky:-) .We taxied to the end of the runway with the door open and waited for two planes to land and then we revved the motor, closed the door and headed into the wild blue yonder. I looked behind my seat and I could touch the bags in the boot so I decided that I would just concentrate on the view. It was great looking at all the beautiful islands, mountains both tree covered and snow capped and the blue sky. I tried to ignore the splutter of the engine when we were over water by looking for a good spot to crash land. Unfortunately the only flat area was the water. Even more of a problem was that our plane was not a seaplane and it was built in1973.. Even worse was that Neil had the spare steering wheel and he was more interested in taking photos and bumping the steering wheel while the pilot was turning his wheel.
To cut a long story short , we made it but the day after tomorrow we fly in the same plane for double the distance. I’m going to concentrate on tomorrow’s boat trip around Glacier Bay. This area is spectacular. The natural environment is in pristine condition. You can only g et here via plane or boat. Gustavus is a town of about 300 people with a post office, a 0-12 school (last year’s graduating class was 1 student), a community hall, a grocery store a petrol station (old bowsers but new prices) and one intersection called “dog corner” because of a collie dog who used to sleep right in the middle of the intersection. He had a number of nick names but most people knew him as “speed bump”. He did have a number of operations after being hit by cars but he always went back to sleeping in the middle of the intersection.. There is a Volunteer Fire Brigade which is more social than anything because they have only had one little yard fire in 20 years.

There are only 2 roads in the town and we travelled on a narrow bitumen strip called “mountain view highway”.. The road used to be dirt but when Glacier Bay became a national park they bitumened the road. we crossed “moose flats” but there  were none there today. However, we were warned that moose and brown bears frequent the area and there is a rogue juvenile bear misbehaving at the moment. His photo is on a wanted poster at our lodge.

We arrived at the lodge 3 hours before checkin so we had a lovely lunch at the restaurant overlooking Glacier Bay, went to a National Parks display and watched a movie about the area. The locals are very concerned about the rate at which the main glacier is retreating. It has retreated 65 miles in the last 200 year- the fastest degradation in world history. The ranger was keen to reinforce what we should do if we meet a bear

·         Hold our hands out and in the air to appear bigger

·         Wave hands gently around

·         Speak calmly

·         Let the bear pass

Apparently you should give right of way to moose as well but some people might outrun them whereas you should never run when you see a bear.

Tomorrow’s boat trip around the glaciers goes for 9 hours and we are really looking forward to it. Hopefully the fine weather will continue but the locals point out that the hot days are helping to melt the glaciers.