Rosie and The Operator hired a car for a couple of days in Juneau Alaska. Hired a car? In the town of 32,000 people where you can only access it from the air and sea because of the tall, deep, impenetrable mountain ranges that keep it landlocked from the rest of the world and prevent travel into it by car?
Yes, Rosie and The Operator have hired a car. Believe it or not, there are so many cars here for such a small road network that stretches a grand total of 67km in a straight line from one end of Juneau to the other. The mileage on the cars in this town must be low as there isn’t a lot of driving you can do. At each end of the main road which is called The Glacier Highway is a huge sign that says END…and that is well, THE END…of the line. You then turn around and go back!
As you can see from the map, there are a few suburbs and industrial areas branching off the main road, The Mendenhall Glacier is a wee way out of town and the transport costs on the Glacier Shuttle alone were the same amount as hiring a car for the whole day…so, lets have a cruise around and see what we can see.
There are plenty of cars and trucks here in Juneau and the small road network is first rate with a beautiful surface and dual carriageways linking the suburbs and Glacier. The taxi driver said on the way into town when we first arrived that Alaska is one of the richest states in the USA and if things were not nice and well kept, the people would complain because this state has ‘plenty of money in the bank’!
Off we go, we are going to drive from one end of the road to the other and see what we can see! The day is a little drizzly and grey, but that’s OK seeing we have our own wheels. The water of the bay was on our left as we drove out and the mountains on our right, we thought we would drive straight to the end of the road at the top of Juneau and make all our stops on the way back when the scenic pull ins and sights to see were on our side of the road.
The dual carriageway had petered out to a single lane up and back and the large waterfront mansions had long ago disappeared. The trees along the waterfront have never disappeared, they grow right along the bay down to the waters edge and up the bank to the roadside making a tunnel along the roadway with the forest on the mountain side, driveways leading to solitary cabins are built in amongst them overlooking the water.
To take advantage of a wee break in the rain we broke that rule early on the drive and made our first stop at the Shrine of Saint Therese
We turned into a tree shrouded driveway where the Shrine is located, drove through a tunnel of trees and parked under the spruce. We followed the walking track and burst out into the grey daylight with a splendid beach vista in front of us. The Shrine itself sits on a island linked by a wee stony causeway. The peace and quiet is immense and so big with the bay looking like a sheet of glass, so big flat and reflective.
The silence is surreal, the only sound is the crunch of our feet on the gravel as we cross the causeway and enter onto the small wooded island where in amongst the tall straight dark green trees sits the stone church of St Therese made out of beautifully rounded river stones with welcoming glowing windows in the gloomy, grey twilight. Moss has overtaken the grass and the gardens are well tended by volunteers.
St Therese is the Patron Saint of Alaska and she stands in front of the church greeting all-comers. A giant crucifix is planted amongst the fallen leaves and needles from the trees set inside the glorious cathedral of nature which looms over you as you, it is truly an amazing sight.
Stepping inside the church it is beautiful, simple, cosy warm and golden compared to the cold grey day outside. What a beautiful wee haven in the middle of nowhere.
The grounds of the 46 acres here are beautifully tended and there is a log lodge that is used for retreats, a group of gardeners are sheltering from the rain which has lightly started again and they are talking and laughing on the porch their trolley full of flowers to be planted abandoned until the shower has passed.
The stone circles in the garden that look out over the bay is beautiful and reminds Rosie of a giant ripple in the sea…if she were to throw a stone into the calm water now this is exactly what it would look like.
We drive on and cross a few bridges….The Operator would pull in past the bridges and we would walk back to look over the edge. Why, said Rosie? We are literally the only people on this road just stop on the bridge and I can take a photo through the window if I fancy. This was now our new modus operandi and it worked well…we totally were the only ones on this lonely stretch of road.
A few miles out from the end of the line the smooth tarmac turned into a lumpy bumpy surface and just like that a sign emerged saying 1 mile till the end of the road…and then there is was THE END…such a let down. Lol. Rosie was expecting a more grandiose barricade and signage…but the road just slipped away.
Around we turned from the road to nowhere and headed back toward town. As we were the only ones on the road we could do a few things we normally wouldn’t do on the road…
A group of four cars caught our eye parked up on the side of the road with a wee track in the bushes leading…somewhere. It wasn’t marked on our map as anything and if locals are parked there it must lead to somewhere interesting, right? We get out and have a look, we thought we were close to the water but a sign a wee ways into the bushy track said that Echo Cove was a 3.5 hour hike away….um, not for us thanks. A note on one of the cars windows caught Rosie’s eye, it was written two days ago and you had to laugh…this seemed so Alaskan style….as well as the number plates.
Rosie and The Operator stopped in at Sunnyshine Beach, one of the many small unmarked coves on the map. We had the whole beach area to ourselves it was so peaceful and tranquil. A small twin island in the mist sat just off the beach and The Operator found a couple of flat stones on the shoreline to skim towards them, the skipping stones the only ripple on the water. The beach was sandy and there was a BBQ drum cum fire pit sitting there looking out to sea with a couple of logs as seats surrounding it. In summer, this would just be a beautiful place to hang out.
Eagle Creek Recreational Area was quite a big park, this had a ranger station and cute public log cabins doted around the park. You had to pay a nightly fee at the ranger station to overnight and the cabins were pretty much like ours at home. Equipped with a small kitchen, wood burning stove and large communal wooden bunk platforms.
Eagle Creek is home to a lot of bird life and apparently bears and eagles ate salmon trapped at low tide on the sand banks…there were none today, just heaps of gulls. Walking over a wooden bridge on the riverside track The Operator pointed to the surface of the bridge and said look, there are bear claw marks. And sure enough there they were, about half a meter apart scratch marks on the bridge from the claws of traversing bears! Rosie thinks that is as close as she will get today to a bear.
The road is starting to be peppered again with driveways to houses branching off into the trees on the riverside. Most of the houses cannot be seen because of the dense cover or the fact that the houses are lower down the banks. What Rosie can see is heaps of letterboxes, US Mail approved, of course, or so the stamp says on the metal. Some are certainly more decorated than others.
Buried deep in the damp bush of the roadsides is also refuse from another time, slowly rusting and breaking down.
Amalga Harbour has a long floating jetty down the side of its boat launching ramp and the biggest boat trailer parking area ever! This place must heave in the summer, it looks like it could be fun. Floating out in the bay is a swimming platform with a Christmas Tree still on it from last year. A family pulled up with their boat and said they were off crabbing. It was lightly and persistently drizzling by that time, better them than me thought Rosie.
We have bypassed Juneau town and are nearly at the other end of the road again. The tide is still out and on its way back in as we pass Sheeps Creek where multiple cars line the narrow roadside. The salmon are running and are actually jumping in the water all around the fisherman. A serious couple of fisherman are waist deep in the cold grey water showing off their dedication to the pastime.
A wee way along are the fisherman who just want to capitilse on the plentiful bounty of the sea and are pulling in giant salmon after giant salmon. It is sure a sight to behold and a smelly one. The tidal flats at low tide are a fishy stench of gutted fish and old frames from dead spawning salmon. The air might be ripe, but no one fishing here seems to care as hampers full of fish are carried away by guys with big grins on their faces.
Then, a couple of kilometers on…THE END…Rosie feels a lot better finishing on this note….it is a little more picturesque.
Rosie and The Operator spent the whole morning doing this wee drive. It wasn’t the most exciting and scenic drive we have ever done whilst on holiday but it was interesting to cover one side of the town to the other and showed us some pretty, peaceful and beautiful spots along the way.
The weather is clearing tomorrow and we are planing to take a hike around the Mendenhall Glacier early in the morning and beat the cruise ship visitors….hopefully, seeing as we will be out early we might even see that bear said The Operator.
