We ended our trip in Fairbanks. The final part of the tour was a Sternwheel Boat Ride, which talked about the history of the area, from Susan Butcher winning the Iditerod to a “Living Museum” Athabascan Village.

I didn’t take many pictures in Fairbanks, so this last post is just random pictures of things I liked.

Whittier

Byers Lake

Salmon wheel

Fairbanks (June 23):
Sunrise 2:59 AM
Sunset 12:48 AM
Temperatures 55 – 72 F

Fairbanks (June 24):
Sunrise 3:00 AM
Sunset 12:48 AM
Temperatures 52 – 68 F

Fairbanks (June 25):
Sunrise 3:01 AM
Sunset 12:47 AM
Temperatures 50s – 70s F

Fairbanks (June 26):
Sunrise 3:03 AM
Temperature 56 F

We saw a brief glimpse of Denali from Talkeetna and Denali State Park, but for the most part the mountain stayed hidden.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of other gorgeous scenery, however.

How’s that for a hotel view?

Denali State Park (June 21):
Sunrise 4:05 AM
Sunset 12:01 AM
Temperatures 44 – 70 F

Denali National Park (June 22):
Sunrise 3:40 AM
Sunset 12:19 AM
Temperatures 47 – 70 F

At Denali State Park and Denali National Park we got to do a lot more wandering around in the woods, in addition to the Byers Lake Nature Walk and Denali Walking Tour we took.

There was also a Natural History Bus Tour through Denali, where almost as soon as we entered the park we mother moose and foals.

Further into to park I saw snowshoe hare.

And plenty of birds everywhere, but the only bird I got a half decent picture of was this magpie

On our hike we saw several Red Squirrels

And at the end of that hike we got to see a goshawk nest with babies (none of my pictures turned out anything but blurry) which according to our guide is very rare.

In Fairbanks, Tania took us to the UAF large animal farm where we got to see Musk Ox (they might have been one of Jules’ favorite parts).

Although we didn’t get to take the train from Whittier to Fairbanks, we did get to spend several days in Denali.

From Talkeetna, we went to Denali State Park / Trapper Creek, AK.

There were did a nature walk at Byers Lake, where (despite it being mid-June) I got to see lots of spring wildflowers.

Ground Dogwood/Bunchberry

Black Lily

Arctic Starflower

Beach-head Iris

Then we got on another bus and went to Denali National Park (this was one of the least interesting legs of the journey) where there were even MORE spring wildflowers.

Arctic lupine is really pretty.

Although I think the bluebells we have here a prettier, the tall bluebells were still pretty.

Maybe a Naked-stemmed Wallflower?

Small-flower Anemone

Yes, it did rain on us briefly, but it wasn’t cold, so the rain just made everything sparkly.

Snow Arnica

Ground Dogwood/Bunchberry

All in all, I was delighted to enjoy a new batch of mostly new-to-me spring wildflowers.

As I said, one of the reasons for this trip was so Jules could see the Glaciers before they melted.

This trip we not only got to go through Glacier Bay, but also through College Fjord.

One of the things I really loved about this cruise was how the ship naturalist made sure we knew when the most interesting things would be happening.

I don’t have a fancy zoom lens, and ended up just using my normal lens so I could pay attention to what I was seeing instead of paying attention to my camera, so I don’t have great close-ups of all the animals we saw.

And there were quite a few: humpback whales, sea otters, sea lions, mountain goats, and even a brown bear (Michael and Jules saw the bear, I didn’t catch it.)

It was drizzly and overcast (and cold) but we did get to see the glacier calving.

And honestly, it was just amazing seeing the glacier.

The following day we went into College Fjord, which is something we hadn’t done on our trip in 2011.

Although still cold, the weather was beautiful.

We saw lots of animals.

And it was astounding to see the glaciers.

Glacier Bay (June 18):
Sunrise 3:56 AM
Sunset 10:14 PM
Temperatures 46-58 F

College Fjord (June 19):
Sunrise 4:08 AM
Sunset 11:27 PM
Temperatures 46-61 F

Going to jump around here a bit; we’ll come back to Glacier Bay and College Fjord.

Our third stop on the cruise was Skagway. For many, this was the starting point for those who were part of the Klondike Gold Rush.

A look at the trail should give you a good idea of the insanity that was part of this dream of striking it rich. Take a look at the “Golden Staircase” up which men had to carry the ton of goods they were required to have before being allowed into Canada.

As fascinated as I am by history, I am more interested in nature, so we did a hike up part of the Chilkoot trail and a float back down the Taiya & Chilkoot rivers.

Things I learned: they really don’t want you to fall into the river, as it’s a glacial river and the average June temperature is about 48.

The other thing I learned is that glacier rivers are not good to drink from.

That green color you see? It’s from the glacial silt suspended in the water, which is not particularly good for your digestive tract.

After the cruise portion of our vacation ended, we rode the train from Whittier to Talkeetna, which was a shorter train ride than I had really wanted, but still a good way to see the sights.

Whittier is an odd place, accessible only by boat or through the 2 1/2 mile single lane tunnel. We had zero chance to explore as we immediately got on the train to go north.

But as I said, the views from the train were incredible.

It was about 6 hours to travel 174 miles, surrounded by mountains and passing rivers and marshes and towns.

The visit to Talkeetna was a melancholy one for me.

When we visited in 2011, it was soon after my cousin Ben had climbed Denali. Talkeetna is the starting point for climbers, so we discovered we’d hung out in some of the same places he had while preparing to climb.

It was also the anniversary of the day my mother died, and I’d managed to wrench my back while on the train, so I was relatively miserable. Yet the views were amazing and it was impossible not to appreciate the surrounding beauty.

Skagway (June 17):
Sunrise 3:42 AM
Sunset 10:23 PM
Temperature 51 – 56 F

Whittier (June 20):
Sunrise 4:22 AM
Temperature 49 F

Talkeetna (June 20):
Sunset midnight
Temperatures 58 – 72 F

The second port stop was Juneau, which is the capital of Alaska, and also is accessible only by plane or boat.

Juneau is the cruise stop for whale watching, which we of course did.

Because we were visiting in June instead of July this time, we didn’t get to see the humpback whales bubble feeding like we did in 2011, but it was still an incredible privilege to see these amazing animals.

Jules and Michael got to see a humpback breaching from the cruise ship–I missed it.

On the whale watching cruise we also got to see sea lions.

It was good we didn’t have to do much beside stand around for the whale watching, because that morning we took a hike a Mendenhall Glacier.

It was a fantastic guided hike and we had a marvelous guide who was knowledgeable about the area and (importantly to me) the things we saw on our hike.

We went partway up the West Glacier Trail, to get a view of Mendenhall Glacier.

Mendenhall Glacier, however, made me a bit melancholy. For all I’d been saying for a year we wanted Jules to see the glaciers before they all melted, it was still a shock to see how much Mendenhall glacier had retreated.

Here is Mendenhall Glacier as viewed from Mendenhall Lake in June 2026.

Here is the view from Mendenhall Lake in 2011.

Juneau (June 16):
Sunrise 3:50 AM
Sunset 10:07 PM
Temperatures 48 54 F

Yup, that’s right, we made our THIRD trip to Alaska in June!

We took Jules so they could see the glaciers before they all melt, and we had a marvelous time.

Because I know I need to keep my sleep consistent, we tried to keep to Eastern time as much as we could, which meant I was out and about at 5AM local time most days.

Still wasn’t early enough to catch the sunrise once got to Alaska, even when on the days I woke up at 4.

We did the cruise North from Vancouver to Whittaker, so our first day was at sea, and our first port was Ketchikan.

Ketchikan is in a rainforest–part of the Tongass National Forest.

Rainforest was a hint that we should have remembered to pack rain gear, so after getting raincoats, we went on a damp–but still amazing–boat ride and hike.

Tongass is 16.7 million acres, which makes the Tongass about larger than the entirety of West Virginia (but smaller than South Carolina), and it’s the largest (intact) rainforest in the world.

The hike was through an island rainforest, so zero permanent human habitation, and the walk was on a boardwalk, which minimizes the impact on the forest.

On the ride back, we saw harbor seals, and beautiful foggy mountains.

I would have enjoyed more time to wander around the town, which has plenty of history, but Ketchikan is the shortest stop on the cruise, and I wouldn’t have missed the rainforest for anything.

At sea (June 14):
Sunrise 5:15 AM
Sunset 10:07 PM
Temperatures 51-61 F

Ketchikan (June 15):
Sunrise 4:05 AM
Sunset 9:30 PM
Temperatures 52-57 F