Alaska - July 2012

A 5-day land tour, starting in Fairbanks through Denali Nat'l Park and on to Anchorage, followed by a 7-day "inside passage" cruise from Whittier (near Anchorage) to Vancouver, BC, with stops in Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan.

Closer view of that ship as it unloads a bunch of kayakers (colored bit on its left)
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Those kayakers beneath cliff streams, as they head toward glacier (off screen to the left)
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A string of kayakers paddling along base of glacier.
String of kayakers moving along base the glacier
A, pair, of, seals, basking, on, some, of, the, "chips", of, ice, that, have, calved, off, of, the, glacier. They look like just two more dirty bits of ice...
...until you zoom in closer!
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Waiting to board a helicopter for a tour of the mountains and visit to a sled-dog camp on top of a glacier
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Rising in helicopter to what looks like a smaller portion in the snowy mountaintops.
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Only to find huge mountains with glacial valleys.
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The edge of a high glacier many miles wide as it "pours" through a gap and down into the larger glacier below, which you can see in the next photo.
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Land of glaciers! Photo from helicopter that took us up to the glacier to go dog-sledding. This shows how gaps between mountain ridges pack with snow that becomes glaciers (the bluish tinge denotes glacial ice - turned that color by the immense pressure). "Hanging glaciers" like this move down, join others, and make their way to the sea.
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These smaller glaciers are known as "hanging" glaciers, and there were hundreds of them, each many miles across. They feed the larger glaciers below, which in turn make their way down to the sea.
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Here you can see a hanging glacier as it breaks from the huge glacial field atop the mountain, and falls (to the larger glacial channel lower below). It's hard to judge the scale, but this portion is probably 30 miles wide!
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Our summer sled-dog camp atop one of these high glaciers. This helicopter tour/sled-dog camp experience was one of the highlights of the trip - we highly recommend it!
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Another chopper landing at summer sled-dog camp.
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The buildings in which the humans live while up here.
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It doesn't take long for Cheri to connect with the canines!
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Because sled dogs have an extra layer of skin that acts like Gore-tex insulation, they are totally comfortable sleeping on the snow.
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More face-time for Cheri!
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And Cheri gets to be "musher-in-training!"
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The view from the sled as we get ready to take off. Note how the lead dog is looking back to get the go-ahead from the musher?
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On top of the world! Crossing a glacier high atop the mountains. Alaska is full of breathtaking vistas, and this was certainly one of them!
(More dog-sled photos later)
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And we're off! You can see how each dog is harnessed. Pulling the sled takes almost no effort by any individual dog, so this is mostly an excercise in running...and endurance. These dogs can run for 6-8 hours without stopping - amazing athletes!
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It was a beautiful day to be on top of the world!
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Pausing for a rest - Cheri chats with our musher, who owns this particular team of dogs, and races them in wintertime.
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Cheri checking harnesses.
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Cheri and our musher
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And arriving back at camp.
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Each dog has its own box, and they sleep in them all year-round. During the coldest (way below zero) periods, some hay might be added, but because these dogs are bred to endure the elements, they do fine...and can't wait for a chance to be on a team and run!
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Some future members of the sled teams - not sure they want to come out and meet us.
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Once Cheri got her paws on them, though, her natural animal connection put them at ease!
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A very happy Cheri!
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Atop a glacier at the summer sled-dog camp they've got up there. These are some early recruits...
(BTW, the thing on my hat is a GoPro Hero2 video camera - video to be posted here later...after I remove all the jerky footage!)
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And back in the co-pilot seat for the chopper ride back to the ship!
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Back seat passenger.
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Taking offf, past the rows of dog kennels staked in the ice atop the glacier.
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Dick, with downtown Juneau in the background
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Downtown Junea from high on the tram.
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Junea - on the tram up the mountain. These are a few other ships that were there.
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Our ship (at left) and those others - all huge! Like small floating cities!
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Our ship, docked in Junea, with some of its many pools visible. It is truly an amazing craft!
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Our ship, with a "little" tour bus for scale
Our ship, with Cheri by the line for scale
Cheri with our ship behind

Alaska - July 2012

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