Day 4 – Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau, Alaska

We woke early to be on deck for the sailing through the Tracy Arm Fjord as the crew on the Aleutian Ballad recommended being out at 5:30 to see a pod of whales just at the entrance. It was cold and rainy, but I did manage to spot something in the realm of a whale jump, although it was quite far away. I don't have a picture to prove it, so I guess it didn’t happen.

The Fjord was beautiful and the captain was able to get us closer to the glacier than they had been all season. Got lots of great pictures and really enjoyed the beauty of the location.



We enjoyed another nature lecture, this one about the wildlife that was in Alaska. Was amazed that the naturalist even knew the words to Baby Beluga and made note of the fact that is a Canadian classic.

The ship docked in Juneau about 2pm and we headed out into the rain to catch the bus for the tour to the Gold Rush Dog Sled camp. It was an interesting ride up the mountain, very reminisent of the trip up the mountains in Jamaica. The road was only 1 lane, very steep, and very bumpy. At the site we were greeted by more than 100 dogs, many sitting on their dog houses. After a quick introduction to the history we were matched with a musher, a young guy from Ohio, Matt, who has been at the training camp for 2 years. He gave a little more information about the Iditarod races in Alaska and the history behind them. Matthew was able to relive a little of his experience of his Algonquin dog sledding expedition by demonstrating the wardrobe and sled stance for the other members of our group.





Next we met the team of 10 dogs that would take us on our ride. They were very anxious to get going and the ride was on. Had a few problems at the start and we had to stop to change one of the lead dogs so they wouldn’t be running off course all the time. Enjoyed the ride, a couple turns were a little scary and due to the rain there were a couple places on the trail that were flooded.

We got to spend some time with the puppies when we returned to the camp and have our picture taken with them. The one we had liked to chew or lick anything in sight. Tigger will not be impressed with the dog cologne on my coat when I get home. They were so cute I could have brought one home, unfortunately they grow up.




We headed back to town to do some more shopping. Many stores have sales on due to the fact that it is the end of the season here. The jewelry stores are very aggressive to make a sale. The Alaskan Shirt Store had pretty much everything on 50% off, so we found quite a few things to bring home. Found the Red Dog Saloon, which we took a few pictures of since we have a Red Dog bar at home. According to the shop keeper, there is also a Red Dog (not the same as Juneau or Peterborough) in Minnesota.