July 10th-13th – Wrangell

Massive Calving

The splash and ensuing Tidal wave are a bit daunting

LeConte Glacier from afar

Fossil emerging from a Bergie Bit

Slip Sliding off!

Alaska Marine Highway Ferry - 40 knots

Another Alaska State Ferry we met in narrow "Wrangell Narrows"

What are all those people doing on that boat

A very Happy Bean & Scott to see their accomodation

Wrangell Haida Totem

Wrangell is a quaint town that caters to a small fishing fleet, small pocket cruise ships and the logging industry. The people are fabulous and extremely friendly here. There are three taverns, 2 large grocery stores and a few trinket and trash stores. Population 1600. As in most towns in Southeast Alaska that we have been in, the over 40 crowd is seemingly always from somewhere else in the US while the new generation can boast that they were born and raised in Southeast Alaska.
We had pre-arranged our Leconte Glacier tour in Wrangell through the same company that Mike/Gayle and myself took 4 years ago. "Breakaway Adventures" is a great family run operation and we highly recommend them! The trip did not disappoint!
LeConte Glacier is the southern most Glacier in S/E Alaska that is still active and reachable by water. It too is receding but we hope it will be around for a lot more years for all to enjoy. It is not advisable to take your own boat in as the entrance and route to get in is ever changing and very shallow.
It’s an all day event going into the glacier due to the tide timings. On the jet boat, we need a minimum of 8 ½ foot tide to ensure we can cross the Stikine River Delta without coming to abrupt halts on the sandbars. We have 8.7” tide, so its seatbelt time until we clear the delta. There are 6 other people on the trip with us, and I do believe we would have them "Canadianized" prior to the end of the trip! With lunch, appies and cold beverages, we were able to pass the day in fine form. The drawback to all those cold beverages, was the “pee in a bucket” washroom! Oh well….roughing it isn’t for the faint of heart!
Our guide, Jarrod was very knowledgeable and he was able to get us very close to the glacier safely. He had some good knowledge on glaciers that we did not know about and he was very kind in making sure we received two trips to shore for washroom duty. We were treated to some pretty spectacular calving by Leconte Glacier and dodged a fair amount of ice bergs on the way out. The noise of the calving is quite loud and the ensuing spray and tidal wave are a lot of fun to enjoy when with experienced guides.

We managed to hit two of the three taverns in Wrangell and we had pizza and pull tabs for dinner one night – a $200.00 winner was had by CJ and Cathy! Thanks for buying the pizza! Gayle, Bean and Scott flew out on the 13th and we head down to Anan.

Forgotton Moment: As you are aware, we have the three boat meal rotation. On our arrival in Wrangell, it was Cathy's turn to make Dinner. So all 10 of us piled onto Sambuca for Shepards Pie. After a day of catching up and an impromptu Secret Cheese and Port Meeting, it was time for dinner. In the blink of an eye, the smoke alarm goes off and there are flames in the oven.....picture this: Mike running around looking for a fire extinguisher, Wayne yelling "Noooooooo" - don't ruin our dinner....Bean sprinting for the door, Betty Looking for her camera, CJ wedged in between his uncle Scott and Dave deciding that sitting between "older than Dirt Dave" and the past president of the "Sausage Club" Scott, his only recourse to get off the boat was to open the window and jump into the water. Thankfully Cathy had a calm head, turned off the oven, closed the oven door tight and let the fire extinguish itself. It was a very funny sight, in retrospect!