Mendenhall Lake is Frozen - picture

I hiked into Mendenhall Glacier over the ice 12/8/13.  This is a chunk of ice that came off the Glacier and is frozen into Mendenhall Lake.  Climate Change is real.  The Rock to the right was totally covered with ice 2 years ago.  The front of the Glacier was also much higher than it is now.  The Glacier is retreating faster than scientists had predicted.  Glaciers in Alaska and worldwide are retreating very fast.  Glacier Park in Montana now has almost no Glaciers - they have melted away.

Grizzly bear killed by SUV in Juneau

They feel it is a different Grizzly that was seen a few weeks ago by Mendenhall Lake.  It is weird because we see Black Bears often but I never hear of Browns around here.

http://www.adn.com/2013/11/27/3200326/suv-strikes-kills-grizzly-on-juneau.html#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter

More Mendenhall

1000+ feet Glaciers and 1000 feet glacial lakes

Western Montana looks a lot like the Juneau, AK area. Not a lot of people, Mountains everywhere, good sized water, etc. It is intereesting how the Clark's Fork River valley got dug out. It was ground out by Glaciers millions of years ago. Imagine ice 1000 feet and more high. Mendenhall Glacier is 250 feet at the deepest, so we are talking huge. then a warming took place and there was massive lakes being blocked by ice . All the while, the ice is slowly moving down the valley grinding away dirt and rocks. Some ice breaks off which causes massive flooding of the Clark's Fork valley and even goes on to the Columbia River in WA and OR. The water in these lakes blocked by ice was up to 1000 feet deep, so we are talking massive amounts of water. When the ice flow cracked - the flooding was unbelievable.

Rocks from Montana are found in Oregon - the only way they could have gotten there was from the ice breaking and carrying the rock to OR.

The pictures are of Mendenhall Glacier and sunset in AK. I saw some great sunsets in my travels the last couple of days.

Ketchikan, AK

4 cruise ships the day I was in Ketchikan. There were lots of float planes taking off. I had 2 hours to walk around and just missed the tourist shops I guess. I was told that Ketchikan has about 20 miles of roads. I saw a spot with at least 10 eagles flying around - amazing stuff.

After Ketchikan, we just sailed on and on and on. I was able to see mountains, islands and green topped with snow everywhere. There were also homes on a few islands.
I think it would be great to live on a place like that for a few months.

AK Marine Highway - Juneau

The trip on the ferry was amazing - saw a whale jump. Saw porpoises, Eagles and various ports along the way. The weather was great generally. One day was cloudy.

I will put up pictures of the ship evacuation when I find it. it is hiding from me, interesting though. I met someone who filmed for 'Into the Wild' the Sean Penn movie about the guy who went to AK.

I spent Wed night in a cabin near the Canadian border (WA side) and it was awesome. Scott and Kim say hi. Ash and Brian - when are you going to visit? They were wondering.
It felt good to sleep on a futon after sleeping on the floor of a ship, which was also good.

Did I mention that the cabin would easily fit in Juneau. The trees are huge at the cabin and there is a stream right outside the door. It was just like being in Juneau as far as scenery goes.

I took the ferry to the San Juan's today, Thursday, and will spend the night here. I think I will head south tomorrow or Sat at the latest.

Great trip so far. I will be returning to Canada some time in the future to check out Whistler and the Frazier River valley. They are quite spectacular. The San Juan's are spectacular as well - what can I say, a slice of heaven. Remember: Any picture of this trip is actually about 100 times (maybe more) better in person.

The weather has been great except for one downpour in Vacouver, Canada. I think the rain was upset because I did not spend enough money there. I traveled 1000 miles in Canada in less than 24 hours. Next time, I will slow it down and check things out more. The truck is running great. People are interested in AK when they see the AK license plates.

Since I was on an island (Juneau) for a year, it is nice to drive open road again.

Did i mention that I am homeless this year? Looking for a handout. If you see me on the corner with my sign, give me a quarter please

homeless but happy

I saw two bears today!

I leave tomorrow on the ferry. I have been packing and cleaning. It was 80 degrees and I decided to drive to the end of the road.
I saw two bears.
The first one: I was driving along and saw a bunch of bushes along the railing on the road. Then there was a black furry head among the bushes. I looked at it and it looked at me and then it hit me - That is a bear. I had the camera next to me but as soon as I went for the camera the bear was gone. It was a cub. On the way back, i walked over to where I saw the bear and I heard crashing of bushes as something was running off.

The second bear was about 5 miles towards Juneau. I was driving along and a grown black bear was along side the road eating skunk cabbage. i stopped the truck and I might have gotten a picture, The bear was pretty busy eating so he was not worried about a picture being taken. He was in the bushes so the picture might not be very good. I will check the picture later.

I still have some more cleaning and then I can load up and be gone tomorrow.

It was quite light out at 10 PM tonight.

When I left Emmonak last year, May 08, a big brown bear ran from the garbage dump to the airport to see me off. Here in Juneau, I had two black bears see me off. A bear seeing me off tradition continued this year. In Emo, we never saw bears so it was quite unusual. After the bear was seen, a call went out on the scanner and people showed up with guns to shoot the bear if it got near anyone. That bear got out of there fast though. The villagers have the right to shoot a bear that can harm a person.

Juneau - Last full day

I take off tomorrow, Sunday. I will miss Juneau. It is quite beautiful - especially with the 70 degrees and sunshine which we have had the last week. I do have the travel bug though and I am looking forward to getting on the road. The inside passage ferry trip is something I am looking forward to seeing. My plan is to just hang out on deck or sleep in the truck. I did not get a cabin. I felt if I got in a cabin, I would get tired, go to bed, fall asleep and miss first light. Sleeping in the truck almost guarantees that I will be awake when the sun comes up. I want to get a lot of pictures.

Next Year, no set plans yet. I told Juneau I might come back but we shall see. I have a camping trip with family in July and I will start looking at jobs then. I could make a good case for staying around Portland/Vancouver or Nevada or Juneau. Juneau would be easy because I enjoyed the school, kids and the winter had great snow, which I like. Then I think too: I could check out something new: East Coast, Hawaii or even a remote AK village. I will just have to sit back and wait a bit. There are a lot of new teachers looking for jobs and I want them to settle in and get jobs first. I feel very lucky to be able to sit out for a while if I so choose. I am still trying to decide where I want to retire too. I enjoy the being a long term tourist.

I am looking forward to seeing the kids and grandkids and nephews and nieces, family in general.

Today is cleaning day and tomorrow I pack up and leave. I still have a couple of hours at school to finish. When I get on the ferry, vacation begins.

Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier, ice bergs

One picture is of downtown Juneau with a ship coming in to visit. We have had 3 to 5 ships per day this past week. That means lots of tourists around. The picture was taken up the hill by lots of housing. I hear driving up and down these hills with the snow and ice is exciting. We have a lot of dented up cars in Juneau - winter ice victims.

Mendenhall Glacier today had a lot of ice bergs floating away from the glacier. The wind blows them into the lake and eventually down the river. There are some big chunks of ice. The light blue areas are where they had been. I skied out to them just about a 5 or 6 weeks ago. It seems like it was such a short time ago now. It was at least 70 degrees today - beautiful!!!!!!!! I did 2 hikes. I at Mendenhall in the morning and Perseverence. I tried to hike up Mt. Juneau but the snow stopped me - that is straight up hill by the way. My legs are now telling me how stupid I was to try that up hill stunt.

I LEAVE ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! As I write this, 8:30 PM, on Sunday; a week from now, I will be in line to get on the ferry to Prince Rupert, BC. That is about a 2 day ferry trip. I will then drive 1200 miles through BC and then to Seattle and Portland. I have lots of work to do this week and then pack, etc. Makes me tired just thinking about it. I am excited to be on the road though. I am driving 'the beast,' a 99 Chev 3/4 ton truck. It only has 37,000 miles on it. It also has a crane - such a deal. if you have a large load of groceries - I have the crane to help lift them up. I am writing more because - video takes a log time to load onto the blog. As I am waiting for the video to upload - I am writing and writing more because it is still rendering.
It finished rendering - bye.

Mendenhall Glacier - ice is gone!

The ice is gone. The bears are out and seen daily at Mendenhall. Bus loads of tourists are traveling to the Glacier. People who live around the Governor's mansion are upset because buses swarm around the governors mansion now. Before she ran for VP, it was not a popular attraction but everyone wants to see it now. The governor says she would like to put a sign up welcoming them. I will also note that she is NEVER there so she is not really impacted. In Juneau float planes are taking off a lot and Helicopters are all over the glacier too. Busy place. Juneau has narrow streets that go straight up hills, so buses are a big inconvenience in the downtown area.

Having massive amounts of tourists around takes some getting used to. It used to be so quiet around here. When the cruise ships come in, Juneau changes a lot and fast.

Homer, Alaska Story: The trumpeter swans are now in Homer. A family who live on a lake invited people over for breakfast to see the trumpeter swans as the people ate breakfast. It was a yearly tradition. This year, as they ate and watched, an eagle swooped down and killed a swan and ate it in front of the breakfast gatherers. The remaining swans took off and flew in a circle above just watching their bird friend being eaten. The people were not happy. Historical Note: In Homer: There was a lady who fed the eagles for 50 years. The eagles had easy access to food. The lady died last fall and it is now illegal to feed eagles in Homer. The eagles now have to search for food. This is the first year of the new law.
(There was a big fire ripping through rural Homer this past week. We have not had a lot of rain and vegetation dried out. A burn barrel got a fire going and the wind spread the fire. 700 acre fire that blew through containment lines. It is settling down now that the wind is subsiding.)

downtown Juneau, bears seen

Sunny again but rain is on the way. We are getting 3 cruise ships every day. Lots of float planes, lots of tour buses and lots of people walking in downtown Juneau. Such a change from 2 weeks ago. The last of the snow in the yard is melting. There is still a big patch of snow in the backyard: 20 feet long and 2 feet high. The grass is turning green fast.

Bears: I am told that a momma bear and two cubs are out and about. They are on the mountain behind my apartment. Another momma bear and cubs are by Auke Bay. One teacher was saying that she saw a big bear up a tree sleeping.

Float Planes, Cruise Ships and GREEN

Must be spring in Juneau. We had 2 days with 3 cruise ships which means lots of float plane activity. It is also getting green. Trees are starting to leaf out and the snow is melting. I did a hike this weekend which took me up to snow and had to turn back because I just had tennis shoes.

Spring has sprung. The ice dams which are flooding towns on the mid Yukon River are making a mess. Check out Anonymous Bloggers blog or Mudflats, for more information.

Sping at Mendenhall

Every day it seems more and more like spring. Mendenhall Lake is getting water on it and the ice is not totally solid anymore. It seems like a long time ago that I was able to ski up to the glacier. The Glacier is looking like a tourist spot now. We now have buses of people checking the glacier out. After a winter of just locals, having tourists wandering around is different, even weird. Juneau just seems quite different when cruise ships show up.

Grass is turning green and trees are starting to leaf out - spring is here. It is light until 10 PM. The warm weather is causing problems for towns along the Yukon River. Quick melting has caused the break up of ice which has gone into a village or two and ripped apart villages.

Mendenhall Glacier

I know a person who skied into Mendenhall Glacier last weekend. I might try it but not go on the lake. I just missed the duck that was on the water. Just imagine a duck washing himself there in the water.
Raining in Juneau since the Cruise Ships started coming into Juneau. Steady drizzle for 4 days.

Tiring Week

The last two weeks have been tiring. I even took a day off sick. I think I have allergies instead of a cold. Allergy medicine takes care of the symptoms but I still feel like less than good. My students have been a bit crazy the past week too. I have had staff out which made things weird as well. The sun is shining but I am too tired to enjoy it. I am doing the end of year scramble, like all teachers. Today, my students were finally settling down somewhat. It could be a hard end if the kids are wired up all the way to the end.

Spring is here!

I will be able to get signs of spring this weekend. With the 60+ weather, plants are popping through the ground and buds are showing on the trees. Spring is here. The snow on the mountains is melting fast.

Juneau is beautiful on sunny days.

Sun and 55 degrees again

Too bad I am inside but it sure is beautiful outside. The playground at my school is about half snowless. The snow melted this past weekend. We still have about a foot of snow on the half shaded by the mountain. Snow is taking its time to melt.

The Eagle is at Eagle Beach.

Mishmash of pictures

I gave away my camera and was given my daughter's camera and it takes video. I have a video on here, I think. the video is either Eaglecrest Ski area or Mendenhall Glacier.

The pictures are either: Eaglecrest Ski Area, Eagle Beach, Mendenhall glacier or the end of the road. We had a sunny and 55 degree day. Totally beautiful. I went cross country skiing on ice and a little snowboarding. It is sure a lot more work to do when you do not have a ski lift to take you up the hill. I thought about camping at the end of the road but when I woke up and saw the rain Saturday, I was glad I did not camp.
Have a good Monday!

Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier

The Glacial ice is huge. The picture with the slab frozen on top that will fall with a little melt. That slab is quite large but it looks small when compared to the Glacial ice.

more glacier

here are more shops of Mendenhall Glacier. These are from inside the glacier.
I have a busy week or two and might miss a blog day on occasion. I must say that the State of the Union Speech by President Obama was great!!!!