Juneau, Sitka, and the Wilderness

On April 23^rd I packed my backpack, left the Van in Skagway, and jumped an overnight ferry heading south. I camped out on the floor in my sleeping bag, along with a bunch of other people that didn’t want to spring for a berth, we fell asleep and woke up in Juneau – the Capital of Alaska. It was 5AM and I found someone to share a cab downtown. I arrived at the Alaskan Hotel a classic two hundred year old building with eclectic rooms that make you feel like you stepped back in time to the gold rush days. Showing up at this early hour, I surprised the night manager along with the hookers he was hanging out with in the lobby. He practically fell over himself trying to get me a room and shuffle me upstairs.

Juneau is a beautiful town nestled between the water and snow-capped peaks. I met up with two locals Chris and Dru at a bar one night and we got to talking and they offered to take me out the next day and show me around. We checked out the Mendenhall Glacier an impressive site within spitting distance of Juneau. It has a one-and-a-half mile face that flows twelve miles into a lake where pieced of itself calve into the chilly waters. We drove north to the “end-of-the-road”, where the road, well, ends – Juneau being completely landlocked and all. We also visited the Shrine of St. Terese, a very cool Catholic chapel that sits on a small island connected to land by a small causeway. Large spruce trees cover the island and shelter the natural stone chapel that looks like it grew out of the ground by divine force rather then built by the hands of man. A spiritually harmonic place that leaves an indelible impression long after you’ve left its solitudenous shores. It was great to get the local take on things and hang out with a couple of super cool guys – Alaskans rock. (more…)