August 10, 2007 by annie.

July 27, 2007 - Juneau, Alaska (more specifically - Stephens Passage)

Tyler and I have this joke. I’ve already explained my intense fascination with all things watery. What I failed to mention was my numerous previous attempt to find whales. I’ve even been on a boat, in the Pacific Ocean, during the migration season…and had everyone on the boat see a whale. Except me. I missed it. Needless to say it became the source of much comedy in our household…especially when planning the whale watching trip.

We booked a whale watching trip with Orca Enterprises. While doing my research I found that they saw humpback whales on every trip and orcas on one in every five trips during the summer. They quoted a 99.9% success rate.

Tyler, of course, insisted that by being on their boat, I would ruin their average.

The day we left for our whale watching trip, I had already seen humpback whales while traveling through the inside passage…so I figured, anything is good. Still, I couldn’t help but feel like Alice Walker in her essay, Looking for Zora. In the story, Alice is looking for Zora Neale Hurston’s unmarked grave. The cemetery is no longer used and has been extremely neglected. Alice is standing in waist-high weeds, her feet in sand, with unseen snakes and ants all around. Desperate, she starts to yell, “Zora!”. I love that story. Although it seems odd (and probably wrong to most people), there’s a quiet desperation in my heart. I can imagine it. Standing at the bow of the boat, shouting, “Whales! Where are you? Show yourselves! Please!!!”

It turns out. I didn’t have to yell. However, I did decide that I was the luckiest woman on earth.

I should note before I go any further that I didn’t manage to take any pictures. I was too busy being shocked. Literally. Lucky for me, Tyler thinks he might want to be a photographer, so he was able to keep his camera rolling.

Bubble netting or bubble net feeding is unique to humpback whales. It also doesn’t happen in all places. The Alaska Whale Foundation has a great page that explains it in detail. Humpback whales are individual animals. They don’t travel in groups. Yet, with bubble netting, a group of humpbacks will come together to feed. The whales blow bubbles to form a “net” to force a school of fish together. The whales then rise together with their mouths open to catch the fish. (That is the lay version of bubble net feeding.)

On the boat, we were watching this process from a distance. Then all of a sudden, right next to the boat, the water started bubbling. And the whales came too.

I cried. I know it’s silly…but it was so amazing. I felt so honored that I was able to witness it. Tyler has admitted that I’m probably not cursed anymore. Oh…and we also saw eagles and sea lions.

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August 10, 2007 by annie.

date hiked: July 26, 2007
distance: 1 mile
highest elevation: unknown
elevation gain: unknown
time: approximately 1 hour

Tyler has decided that he doesn’t hate all hiking. In fact, he loved the hike to Nugget Falls. Somehow, instead of being thrilled, I’m filled with apprehension. It figures.

Nugget Falls sits just next to Mendenhall Glacier roaring down into Mendenhall Lake. You can get to the bottom of the falls from the visitor center, by walking along the beach of the lake. Kind of. When you leave the visitor center to make your way along the beach, you come upon several signs. “Going to Nugget Falls is not a trail! You may have to wade in water. There is a recent rock avalanche to climb! Every week people need to be rescued! It will take over an hour to reach you! This is not a trail!”

I look to Tyler. I ask, “You want to go?” He says, full of excitement, “Yeah, absolutely!” So off we go. Inside, I secretly wonder if this is one of those things I’m going to be kicking myself about later. I mean…neither one of us could be considered very graceful. I’m pretty sure I have an affinity for hazardous situations. Throw my equally accident prone awkward teen in the mix…and you could have a SAR. Yet, here we are, hiking on a non-trail to a waterfall a half-mile away.

The first challenge we came to was a choice: climb a rock wall or cross the water. I let Tyler choose. He chose the water.

Tyler thought it was great. Water up to my knees (he’s taller than me). We both thought it was freezing! We had to cross the water three more times (although since Tyler was leading and he liked it so much, it could have been on purpose). After that, we walked along the beach for a while. Then we came to the rock avalanche. It was massive. We climbed huge boulders, over and over, slowly making our way across. I looked back at Tyler and he was smiling so big. My heart leapt. We were having so much fun. After the rock avalanche, we made it to the falls.

Nugget Falls is amazing. You are so close; the spray soaks you with freezing cold water. Sitting right next to the falls, is the glacier. The icebergs are floating so large and massive in the lake. Tyler and I had to yell at each other over the roar of the falls, even then we could barely hear.

Heading back, we climbed the boulders, crossed the water…and laughed a lot. Tyler says he’d hike like this anytime. I said…okay we’ll just have to keeping finding trails that aren’t there.

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