Canada - Alaska discovery trip Aug-Sept 2019

[davenn]

hi all

For the last week - 28 Aug - 2 Sept ( and still going) trip through the Canadian Rocky Mountains and then a cruise up the Canadian and Alaskan coast.

Just a few hi-light photos to share

Lake Louise, Alberta with hanging glaciers

Bow Falls, Banff, Alberta

Main Street, Banff, Alberta - a beautiful town

Sunrise in Canmore, Albert

 

[davenn]

Moraine Lake, Alberta. close to Lake Louise
This place is just magical !

A wee drop of the good stuff. I'm not really much of a spirits drinker but this stuff is good

Columbia Icefields, Alberta
Truly stunning - 5-6 glaciers all close together

A brief glimpse of a foraging black bear ( taken through the tour bus window) Not too far from the icefields on the return trip

 

[davenn]

A model of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Rogers Pass area ( at the visitor centre)
Showing the rail link, before the Trans-Canadian highway went in

the Rogers Pass visitor centre
A very worthwhile visit

One of 2 105mm Howitzer gun used for clearing avalanche threats

The commemorating of the last spike of the completion of the CPR

That last spike

 

[davenn]

Hope, British Columbia
Two claims to fame
1) Has many chainsaw carved wooden sculptures ... very cool
2) Location for the filming of Rambo "First Blood"

Steam driven Clock, Vancouver, BC

Totem poles, Stanley Park, Vancouver

Aurora Borealis, from the cruise ship 1 Sept 10:00 - 11:00 pm local time

 

[berkeman]

Looks like a fun trip!

 

[davenn]

Looks like a fun trip!

lots of beautiful scenery

 

[DaveC426913]

We just did the Alaskan cruise last year aboard the MS Volendam.

I spent 7 straight days sitting on the open stern deck just watching the scenery go by.

I am in love with the BC West Coast. You're going to love it.

 

[newbiegirl]

beautiful collection of photos, thanks for sharing 🏞

 

[PeroK]

@davenn Thanks for posting. Those photos bring back some memories. We did a road trip from Calgary to Vancouver 11 years ago. This was the background on my laptop for a while:

We visited "Moose Lake" and found the moose at home!

One day we followed an overgrown path and came to a beautiful spot called "Gattling Gorge" that was well off the beaten track:

 

[davenn]

We visited "Moose Lake" and found the moose at home!

Haven't seen a moose yet

This morning we are on our way up to the Hubbard Glacier and the fog has cleared and am being greeting with stunning snow capped mountains along the SE Alaskan coastline

 

[Ibix]

Haven't seen a moose yet

You moost look harder.

Lovely photos. Seeing an aurora has been on my bucket list for years, and I'm debating adding the steam powered clock...

 

[Bystander]

https://www.google.com/search?q=agg...ome..69i57.24834j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[DennisN]

Lots of gorgeous photos, @davenn & @PeroK!

 

[jtbell]

That’s an awesome trip. Something like that is on my bucket list.

Fifteen years ago I did a whirlwind trip focusing on the key cities: flew to Calgary, bus to Edmonton, train to Vancouver, bus to Calgary, flew home. Unfortunately I went through the best parts of the mountains at night both ways.

 

[davenn]

That’s an awesome trip. Something like that is on my bucket list.

yes, it really is awesome, stunning scenery. time for you to do a day time road trip through there

Dave

 

[DaveC426913]

Fifteen years ago I did a whirlwind trip focusing on the key cities: flew to Calgary, bus to Edmonton, train to Vancouver, bus to Calgary, flew home.

"key cities". Did you ever get time to go to any? 😄

 

[davenn]

next sets of photos
Whale watching out from Icy Strait Point, a bit west of Juneau

Dave

 

[davenn]

Beautiful sunset as we made our way back to the cruise ship

That's our ship on the right. seriously huge. 15 decks

fur seals on a channel marker buoy
The one on the right was up there first and was doing lots of growling at the other one
( this is my spot) before the one on the left finally got up there

 

[davenn]

Yakutat Bay and the Hubbard Glacier -- Alaskan coast
The Hubbard Glacier is one of only a few in the world that is still advancing
whilst all the rest are in retreat because of the warming.
The longest source for Hubbard Glacier is 122 kilometres (76 mi) from sea to top,
and an elevation around 11,000 feet (3,400 m).

location map from Google Earth

coastal mountains

first view of the glacier

Dave

 

[davenn]

There was lots of glacier calving occurring, the loud cracking sound of the ice then the booms ( like thunder) as the ice broke away and fell into the bay were awesome.
The ships' captain navigated the boat up to ~ 150 - 200 metres from the ice wall.
With the thrusters on these modern day cruise ships, they can pretty much rotate on the spot.

We were told by an onboard glaciologist that the dark bands were ash deposits from volcanic eruptions

Dave

 

[davenn]

A glacier that has all but disappeared

even this iceberg was regularly calving and chunks falling off

Another cruise ship heads towards the glacier as we bid farewell

Dave

 

[OmCheeto]

Yakutat Bay and the Hubbard Glacier -- Alaskan coast

I checked that out when you mentioned that on Wednesday. I was somewhat amused at the name of the bay at the base of the glacier:

Disenchantment Bay

I suppose it's because I was familiar with a similar name: Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River, about 330 km south of Vancouver BC,
and I had just finished watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a few days earlier, and imagined that the robot named these places.

ps. I've been to a total of one Canadian town: Victoria, on Vancouver Island.
pps. I did live in Anchorage Alaska for 3 years, but remember very little, as I was only 7±1 at the time. Hence, all my "likes".

 

[davenn]

and I had just finished watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy a few days earlier,

The original TV series episodes ( awesome) or that poor rendition of a movie ?

I did live in Anchorage Alaska for 3 years, but remember very little, as I was only 7±1 at the time. Hence, all my "likes".

Ahhhh
Tis really a beautiful part of the world , aye

 

[OmCheeto]

The original TV series episodes ( awesome) or that poor rendition of a movie ?

Both! I never read the books, so I enjoyed both versions.

Ahhhh
Tis really a beautiful part of the world , aye

As long as you stay out of the middle. My mother shipped me off to live with my father in the interior when I was 16, for the summer. After that experience, I vowed never to return to that wretched state.
Galena, specifically. Don't waste your time googling it.
Blech.

 

[davenn]

Both! I never read the books, so I enjoyed both versions.

The TV series and movie only covered the first 2 books.
First time I heard it was in the 1970's when it was released as a radio series.
Then I read the first 2 books ... Hitchhikers guide... and Restaurant at the end of the universe
then it came out on TV
Then the other books appeared ... Life, the universe and everything and then So long and thanks for all the fish... there are a couple of others that I have read

 

[Ibix]

there are a couple of others that I have read

Five in total, I think, although Wikipedia lists another published posthumously. It's billed as "the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy". There was also a fiendishly difficult text adventure computer game.

 

[dlgoff]

Wow @davenn. What an awesome trip. I wanta go.

 

[davenn]

Wow @davenn. What an awesome trip. I wanta go.

Go, go, go ... I highly recommend it


Last sets of images from Canada Alaska trip before docking back at Vancouver, BC

Nugget Falls, Juneau, Alaska, near Mendenhall Glacier. Not too many years ago it used to flow under
the side of the glacier

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska

Bald Eagle, Juneau, Alaska

 

[davenn]

looking along valley towards the cruise ships. , Juneau, Alaska

Salmon Bake ... nice place for lunch and relaxing.
An old gold mine on site, can do gold panning and roast marshies over open fire

 

[davenn]

last set
nice falls after a short bushwalk at Salmon Bake

Salmon Bake bar

Ketchikan Alaska ... note the sign on the left side of the building haha

 

[davenn]

Thanks to everyone for looking and commenting
Cindy and I have had some wonderful holidays over the years
but this one was by far the best


cheers
Dave