The Last Juneau

 I saw Sitka for the last time this past weekend, and all I could think about as I walked about the town and at the bridge was my friend Ty Jones.
Then, I got back aboard the Wilderness Discoverer and my mind was wiped clean by the torrent of all sorts of things going on at once.   We stopped again at Pavlof harbor and there were bears there.  Mama with her little cubs have gotten a lot bigger!  This other bear is what I would like to call "papa" but I don't know.  The days are blending together and I am getting more and more mindless.  I can't remember any names anymore and the sun rises quite late and sets early.  Alaska is settling down for the long dark days ahead.

Still, there is beauty in the world.  A beam of sunlight shone down on John's Hopkin's inlet and we passed through it and found the fall colors delightful.


  I did the hike up the side of Lamplugh Glacier this week and we went high on the hillside overlooking the ice, then clambered down to it to get a closer look.  Looking up at the blue ice is magnificent, and the rocks that might cloud the surface fall off, so the ice is relatively clear.  The tops of glaciers tend to have a lot of dirt on them, but the bottoms are drippy and clean.  And shine with a blue dream.

 Pam was driving one of the skiffs and I got this shot, one of my best this season, I think.  She might have been traveling at mach 2.

 Just as we got to the bottom, we looked over and the ice calved in front of us.  It was magical.