Mists and a sprinkle of rain, the intense bright green of new leaves, low clouds laying across the mountains, pink apple blossoms and red tulips followed by a great burst of sunshine. Alaska’s beautiful little capitol city is bursting with spring! Settled by gold miners in the 1880s, those turn of the century buildings now offer gold in the form of jewelry to the streams of visitors that shop the main street.
Macauley Salmon Hatchery was the first stop in our tour. Regulating the fishing industry, the largest employer in the state, was some the first legislation enacted when Alaska gained statehood in 1959. There are 15 non-profit hatcheries scattered around Southeast Alaska, and millions of smolts are released into Pacific water to enhance the populations of wild fish. Hatchery fish spend the same amount of time in the open ocean as wild fish, and return to the hatchery at maturity.
The new trail to Nugget Falls near Mendenhall Glacier offered a perfect hike through young successional forest. Willows and Sitka alders unfurled their leaves and catkins almost as we watched, and droplets of water on lupine leaf and pussy willow gave photographers additional reflections. In the past week the volume of water in Nugget Falls has doubled as the spring snowmelt gets underway, so the roaring of the cascading water was especially impressive.
Most of us took a bit of time to explore some of the finer shops in Juneau town and wandered back to the ship for lunch. Our afternoon was spent at sea, watching seabirds, looking for whales, and enjoying several fine presentations.
