Passage to Juneau

I am not alone. There is a small migration of people driving to South East Alaska for summer jobs who have filled the one hotel and all the AirBnBs in town. We are waiting for the next ferry.

A 21-year-old from Minnesota is heading to Sitka to be a kayaking guide. A couple from Idaho will be driving tourist buses in Juneau. Hardy rock climbers are practicing their belaying skills on the side of a building. They will stay in Skagway to lead backpacking trips up the Chilkoot Trail, where thousands of mules, donkeys and dogs died in the Yukon gold rush hauling gear over the mountain pass. Canada required prospectors to carry a year's worth of supplies. Today, the gold is found in tourist dollars. Skagway gets its first cruise ship next week, and the shops are starting to prepare. But most of the town is still shuttered.

The rain blew through overnight. I walked the rocky shorelines in the morning and climbed up to the shoulder of a mountain with Eiger for views of the snowy peaks. Our ferry left at 1:45 pm, cruised down the Lynn Canal to Haines, where I began this adventure rafting last summer. Eiger rested quietly in the car on the vehicle deck throughout the trip. We arrived in Juneau at 8.45 pm.

For hours, I sat on the deck in the bow of the ship, bracing myself against the wind to absorb the majesty of range upon range of Chilkat Mountains, glaciers creeping down steep rockfaces and the reflections in lake-still waters. Magical.

Leaving Skagway, entering Lynn Canal

Hanging and tidewater glaciers

Chilkat Mountains

Sunset over the Chilkats

Alaska Girl Guide in the making