Exit Glacier and Harding Icefield

Claire Talking to two European young women who’d just been scared by a black bear protecting her cubs on the Harding Icefield trail.

Dall Porpoise

We seldom take tours, but after checking out the logistics of renting a kayak and gear, getting ferried to a drop off site, and then having the weather go bad on us, a very high probability this summer, we decided on a six hour tour of the National Park. The captain did a great job of getting us close, but not too close, to lots of wildlife. Being able to stay near a calving tidal glacier, hearing the crack and splash of house sized pieces of ice was quite an experience. I noticed a group of kayakers headed toward the glacier, and get turned back by a sudden change in wind direction, and I felt for them.

Aialik Glacier

Humpback Whale

Puffin

Stellar Seal Lions

Nesting Black Legged Kitiwakes

Claire on Harding Icefield trail

Young Lupines and Water Droplets near Exit Glacier

Lichens

Bergie Bit

Our Home For Three Nights on the Resurrection River below Exit Glacier

]]> http://newbohemians.net/prince-william-sound-exit-glacier-and-some-sunshine/feed 0 http://newbohemians.net/midnight-sun-blues http://newbohemians.net/midnight-sun-blues#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:50:52 +0000 Bob Rogers http://newbohemians.net/?p=1462 The best place to see wildlife in Alaska in on the multi-use trails around the city, particularly the coastal trail west of Earthquake Park. This moose was being harassed by some shutterbugs, and gave me a dirty look as he lumbered past. Claire let me know he was getting too close and I should move. She used the same, “Boooobbb!” she uses when I get too close to a cliff edge while taking pictures. She knows she’ll be left with dealing with the aftermath if my lack of caution leads to a bad end.

Barry and Joyce, friends of friends in Tucson, took us on a hike up Flat Top, the most hiked mountain in Alaska. We had spectacular views and good weather, meaning it didn’t rain on us, but as usual so far, no sun. The trail in some ways reminded me of the Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park, but a little higher with no steps to ease the climb. Both have spectacular ocean and mountain views. On a clear day you can see Denali, but this summer clear days seem rare.

There is something about the light here this past week: soft and heavy and long nearly through the night; long and soft and ineffectual. I find it vaguely depressing, sometimes not so vaguely. An hour of blessed sunshine makes it worse, knowing it will go away and take the mountains and the spectral highlights, the sparkle, with it. The sun, slow to come, always going away, soon. I know I shouldn’t feel this way about the North. I feel guilty about, which doesn’t help any. All the beauty; moose, bears, lakes, mountains, and still snow patches and sometimes glaciers. But the light is just not there, just not right, yet.

There were days during the months we spent in Iceland, worse days, sleet and snow and biting wind, seemingly endless wind, forever wind. But. There wer days of impossibly blue skies and sparkling seas, and brightly painted houses and tall church spires against the blue. It was hopeful light.

The locals swing between apology, “It was beautiful two weeks ago.” to resigned, “if it’s not raining, it’s a good day.” I’m not buying it, yet. I’ve become addicted to sunshine, or at least light with power, light with hope.

I’m writing this in the little village of Hope, and there are patches of sun between rain showers. Hope. Nice name for a town in Alaska.

A fun example of the cultural mixing here was the jig contest. Now, I’ve always thought of the jig, danced to a fast fiddle, as an Anglo-Saxon tradition: Irish, Scottish, French, but here it’s a local tradition, with most of the dancers of First Nations descent, with plenty of mixed and white faces giving it a go.  Oh, by the way, the really really excellent fiddler seemed to be from the orient. Go figure.

A bannock winner at Whitehorse First Nations Day celebrations.

My favorite dancer was an older lady who jigged her moccasins a bit slower than some, but in perfect time, and with a style the youngsters watched with rapt attention.

First Nations Day is celebrated on the Summer Solstice, June 21, just a week or so before Canada Day. When you live in the North, you notice and appreciate the longest day of the year, because you can remember the near total darkness of the shortest day, and coldest months.

That night I was up until sunset, around 11:20, and when I awoke around 3:00 noticed the sunrise, long past, had taken place just a few degrees to the east of sunset. The sun carves a giant parabola this day in Whitehorse. I’d be curious to see sun hug the southern horizon briefly each day in winter, but not curious enough to face a cold dark winter.

We walked a beautiful five kilometer trail beside the Yukon River, enjoyed the full summer bloom of wild roses, listened to the birds and exchanged pleasantries with locals. Whitehorse is a very small town by most standards, but seems to have a vitality not found in similar sized towns in lower Canada or the U.S. Perhaps it is the length and severity of winter that sharpens appreciation of their short summer, but it seems to be more complicated. I’d be willing to be they have as much fun in their dark winter as they do in their bright summer.

The relations between First Nations people and pioneers (people who come from the south are still pioneers as far as I’m concerned) seem better than some places we’ve been in Canada, and the U.S. We stopped here mostly to catch up on housekeeping chores, but will end up staying several days to enjoy the town and surrounds, and the people.

We ended our In Search of Shangri-la tandem bicycle tour in December of 2009, and all was quiet. The last time the Red Shirts demonstrated they closed the airport, and thousands of Westerners were trapped in Bangkok for some time. Not that we would mind all that much. We stayed eight days this visit, and after our Around Australia by Tandem journey, we visited for 12 days.

I wrote from Bangkok that it was a Shangri-la of major cities, and despite a few inconveniences now and then, I stand by that assessment. It is a great place to get a taste of Asia without getting too far out of your comfort zone, a place from which to launch more adventurous forays into the most important continent in the coming century.

Here are a few random photos from our most recent stay. Give Bangkok a chance. You will not be sorry.

Breathless in Tibet

Facebook friend, Sara, an athlete from the Pacific Northwest, posted a great quote today that took me back a few months when we were climbing the seemingly endless mountains of Tibetan Sichuan. She didn’t credit the source, but maybe someone else knows,

Life is measured best not by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away…

Tibet took our breath away in more than one way. We were not over 13,000 feet in elevation when I took this photo of Claire, it was early in the day, early in the climb. We saw this skull beside the road and decided to take a break. We took several pictures with each of us, and Lucky our stuffed panda, replaced the skull and got back to the business of making circles with our legs, circles with our wheels, writing another day on the map of our days.

Our ostensive purpose for this journey across Tibetan China and SE Asia was to search for the real and mythical Shngri-la. But of course we were looking for much more; more breaths, more encounters that would take our breath away, with simple happiness, pleasure at living.

Take note of the moments in your day that make you notice your breathing, such a miracle, and the times that take your breath away. Live in thankfulness.

Continued appropriation of their bamboo woods habitat has led to designation of them as an endangered species. Captive breeding has reasonable success, but there is not enough habitat to warrant reintroduction to the wild. China’s increasing population leaves little hope of that changing.

We recently rode our bicycle from Chengdu across the SW China mountains (Himalayas and Tibetan plateau). We began in Chengdu and visited the Giant Panda Breeding Center. Lucky, our stuffed panda, made the visit with and was not sure what to think of the really really big (to him) pandas. We did not see any pandas as we climbed through the life zones of the mountains. Though we certainly saw enough bamboo, it was interspersed with villages, farms and other human uses of the land.

Some Photos from the Giant Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu:

Lucky at the Giant Panda Breeding Center, Chengdu, China

Giant panda doing what pandas do best, eat.

Breakfast

Focused on food

This panda found a stash of bamboo, and a good place to watch tourists

A young panda looking for trouble

Panda Cubs Like Climbing

The Chinese love their pandas!

Uighur in Far West China

We were there a few years ago on our Silk Road Crossing on our tandem bicycle. Relations between Uighurs and Hans were strained then. Neither side will give up easily.

We recently crossed Sichuan Tibet on our tandem bicycle and saw even more stress between the majority

We were stopped at least once each day, to check our passports

Han and  the Tibetans, though they are still the majority in mountainous Sichuan. China has its hands full with minority populations, and it only will get worse if economic conditions do not improve for the poor.

China is a big and complex country with wide racial divides and challenging economic conditions. We should be aware of their major issues for the betterment of future relations.

Guardian Figure at Wat in Bangkok; Scary eh.

Claire: With so many temples and shrines around Bangkok, a poor tourist can’t go wrong visiting any one of them–they’re all beautiful. The best part is that the less famous of them still stand apart from the hustle-bustle of the city and provide a welcome relief of quiet and reflection without the crowds to interfere. Morning is a good time to observe Thai acts of generosity and devotion. Put down the camera, pocket the map, forget the time and just take it all in.

Golden Stupa

Bob: This is the second long tour we have ended with a stay in Bangkok. After 11 months cycling around Australia, we spent 10 days here, and this time we cycled from China and will spend eight days here before flying out on Christmas Day.

It’s very easy to lose a week in Bangkok. It is more Western than it was when we were here last nearly 10 years ago, but still exotic, still endearing in so many ways. The people are beautiful, the traffic reasonable, compared to China, and the food, the food, heavenly, and inexpensive. Oh, the weather is not bad either, after you become accustomed to sunshine and 90f.

The air quality has improved, or perhaps it is the season, with reliable winds each afternoon; there are fewer motorcycles and more cars, a bad thing, but the motos and tuk tuks are now mostly four-stroke and cleaner.

Bangkok is a great city for your first taste of Asia. Among large cities of the world, it is a Shangri-la.

Longtail Boat on Chao Phraya River

Fertility Linga Among the Fish at a Neighborhood Market in Bangkoki

Orchid, one of many found all over Bangkok

Stupas and Offerings in Bangkok

Most Important Buddah In Thailand

Woman Making Offering At Market Shrine in Bangkok

Beautiful Wat architecture in Bangkok

Peppers In Bangkok Market

Bangkok, Stupa in Wat

World's Largest Reclining Buddah

Monitor Lizard in Bangkok Canal