Alaska USA

December 2024

Day 1 Sunday 29 December

A trip to see our gang of friends in Seattle combined with driving from there to Comox on Vancouver Island to spend 5 days for Christmas with old London friends Alex, Tony and kids Isobel and Jude, took us so close to Alaska a US State we were yet to visit, that we added it on as a 3 day excursion. Turns out it was easier and cheaper to drive back over the border to Seattle, drop off the hire car and get a 2 and a half hour hopper flight from there to Juneau. Landing before lunch we picked up a hire care at the small airport, scraped the ice off the windscreen and set off for the short drive to the Mendenhall Glacier. Dave’s 50th US State! My 49th.

It’s a simple 10 minute drive from Juneau International Airport to Mendenhall Glacier following the Mendenhall Loop Road. A car park (empty) and a visitor centre (closed in December) mean we have the place to ourselves other than 4 other people and 2 dogs. The shaded part of the trails are thick with snow hardened to slippery ice (I buy ice spikes for my hiking boots later in town) so we walk the short photo point trail to get views across to the glacier and Nugget Falls. It must be heaving with visitors here in warmer months. We feel lucky. Ice trapped plants form fragile crystals…mist hangs thick and white, low below the mountaintops.

Juneau is a small town, hilly and deserted in December. Most visitors come in summer, many on cruise ships…but as luck would have it temperatures hung around minus 10 centigrade during the day staying dry with brilliant sunshine. We left the glacier checked in to our Airbnb, an old wooden house in the centre of town split in to units and backdropped by mountains…everything is backdropped by mountains…they loom snowcapped and glorious. We wander town, my new ice spikes giving me a confident stride across black iced inclines. We stop to chat with a young man in floor-sweeping robes long hair and a chunky wooden cross around his neck, accompanied by his dog and a young woman in brightly coloured all-weather gear. Friendly ready to chat, they’d recently moved to town from a much warmer State. Near to our Airbnb surrounded by a white picket fence, the tiny St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church (built 1893) caused me to ponder if he was working there.

Day 2 Monday 30 December

A morning stroll along the Northern section of the Juneau Seawalk to see carved totems and the whale statue with views across the Gastineau Channel. Each totem accompanied by information about the indigenous clans and their designs.

The Yanyeidi pole topped by an Eagle, the Tsimshian pole by a killer whale above a grizzly bear, the Haida pole with a raven. We see so many ravens in Juneau…huge and glossy, imperial and Bald Eagles perch atop streetlights…one after another…tilting their heads to watch us.

Walking back downtown, cups of hot chocolate warm us at the locally popular and crowded Rookery Cafe. The person serving us advises us where to visit next…so we pick up the car and head 30 minutes out of town following Egan Drive onto the Glacier Highway, through the Mendenhall Valley, by Auke Lake…through Lena Beach and Tee Harbor to The National Shrine of St. Therese. Its beauty takes our breath away. A trail from the parking area in the woods (strung with fairy lights) opens to water lapping against ice covered rocks on the side of the Lynn Canal…whilst minutes away at the opposite end of the causeway lies a luxuriantly moss floored forest, surrounding the small church of St Therese.

The concept of the shrine, chapel and a retreat centre started in the 1920s when St Therese of Lisieux was named patroness of Alaska. The plan realised in the 1930s by a Jesuit priest Father William LeVasseur with land secured by Bishop Joseph Raphael John Crimont. The first mass was held in 1941, Crimont died a few years later in 1945 and was buried in the shrine’s crypt.

Forced to close in 1985 due to economic issues the shrine and land were saved by local people. Thomas Fitterer took over as Sanctuary Director and the area restored with more sites added; the Columbarium, Rosary Walk, Jubilee Hut, the Little Flower Hut and the Labyrinth of Merciful Love. Walking the snow encrusted causeway by plants rimed with ice, in to the small forest where sun warms the trees…is like walking through a John Milton poem. It’s magical.

Day 3 Tuesday 31 December

Breakfast in the Airbnb, a wander through the higher streets in town, by the Governor’s Mansion, crossing a wood and steel walkway down steps back in to downtown to the Sealaska Heritage Institute. Closed to the public but in the entrance lobby we see the carved wall art celebrating Alaskan heritage. A 22 foot tall 360-degree totem stands outside representing the three tribes of Southeast Alaska…Lingit, Haida and Tsimshian. The large gift shop closed for a stock check.

To the Alaska State Museum which is an impressive place and a must see to appreciate more about the indigenous people of Alaska and their culture. The Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Athabascan, Inupiaq, Yup’ik, Alutiiq and the Unangax are all represented plus artifacts and historical information from the times of Russian colonisation. A carved wood Xeitl X’een Thunderbird screen, a squirrel and reindeer fur women’s parka, a Sukilpaq atkuk sewn bird skins parka, a whaling outfit and rows of Billikens good luck charms.

Remarkably day 3 of being here and it’s still brilliant sunshine, clear sky no rain or snow, so we drive across the Juneau-Douglas Bridge on to Douglas Island to walk the trails of the abandoned Treadwell Mine. Fascinating and creepy as abandoned places often are, it was once the largest hard rock gold mine in the world. Between 1881 and 1922 over 3 million troy ounces of gold were extracted. There were tennis courts, a swimming pool, baseball field, shops and houses built here for the mining community. In 1917 the Treadwell, 700-Foot and Mexican mines (excavated to a depth of more than 500 feet below sea level under Gastineau Channel) suddenly began leaking and were evacuated with no loss of human life. Just hours later the mines collapsed and completely flooded. Remains of concrete structures now scrawled with graffiti, wooden foundations softened by years of decay, frozen pools and abandoned machinery make for an interesting exploration through woods opening to views across the channel to the mountains.

Dinner at a small Vietnamese place the Lemon Tree cafe… we’re the only customers but it’s warm and the Chinese owner is friendly and talkative. Back at the Airbnb we’re tired and have an early start the next day…we lay in bed and listen to the New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Day 4 Wednesday 1 January 2025

Up at 4.30 and on the road by 5.15am to drive to the airport for our flight back to Seattle…and what an incredible parting gift! Our first time seeing the Northern Lights, they dance glowing green and mauve pin pricked by stars the road illuminated by red taillights from a passing car… . The camera catches them better than the human eye; we laugh, incredulous…seeing this long hoped for natural wonder simply driving to the airport. Tomorrow we fly home to New York….this is, hopefully, a great start to 2025.

Is it worth visiting Alaska in winter? From our experience of Juneau I’d say a definite yes but then we were extremely lucky with the weather. 3 days of constant sun and no rain or snow is unusual for this time of year. It was cold but that was expected and we layered up well. A lot of shops and activities for tourists are closed in winter so check ahead if you have specific things you want to do. Also keep in mind that Juneau is milder than other parts of the State. We found that 3 days was a perfect amount of time to spend here for the things we chose to see.