Day 28 of trip – Juneau

Friday June 30– Day 28 of trip – Juneau

The ladies and Luke enjoyed a leisurely start to the day in camp.  Late in the morning they went to a local thrift store in search of treasures and then went to town to ride the Mt. Roberts Tramway.  This is an aerial tramway that rises 1800ft from the docks below, and it provides some amazing views of Juneau and the Gastineau Channel.  Once off the tramway they visited the Nature Center and saw Lady Baltimore (a bald eagle that was found by a hiker after being shot, and her injuries prevent her from going back into the wild, so she serves as an educational bird on site).  They also watched a film on Tlingit history and then enjoyed a live performance by the Alaska String Band. (They are an amazing family band who are from Juneau.) After this they took a short hike to Father Brown’s Cross before riding back down to town in the tramway.  The weather was overcast, and it sprinkled intermittently, but the views were still beautiful.  After coming back into town, they visited a few more shops before driving back to camp.

Lady Baltimore

Father Brown's Cross

Four cruise ships at dock- on July 4th they'll have their limit of 7

Men woke early and headed to the Auke Bay Harbor to try and catch herring (baitfish). After about an hour of walking the boat stalls looking for schools of herring (which are normally stupid-easy to find), I asked a grizzled old man where the herring were and he told us that a pod of 5 whales had come into the harbor about a week ago, and spent 5 days cleaning up all the baitfish.  To make matters worse, a ship had been set afire last weekend and burned up in the harbor, eventually sinking and creating a bit of a hazmat issue. All in all, not good for baitfish. So, we headed to the DIPAC fishery on the bay. 

DIPAC is the Douglas Island Pink and Chum fish hatchery and pier.  We fished there for a couple hours, and missed a couple fish. A local caught a “dog” or “chum” salmon that was fairly dark (meat turns white and doesn’t taste as good) and gave it to us.  Eventually, we got cold enough to leave so we headed to the local sporting goods store for advice, tackle, and to warm up a bit. 

Following the sporting goods store, we headed out to Douglas Island to fish a spot called “fish creek pond” but didn’t get bit there either. Did see lots of eagles up close, feeding on salmon other folks had cleaned earlier in the day.

Then we headed to a spot Erik had identified two days prior. It’s called Lana Beach, and had really good access.  The salmon were in there fairly thick but a decent ways off shore.  Erik and I changed into our waders and got as deep as we could and casted as far as our reels would allow. In short order, I hooked about an 8# pink salmon (the stuff you get in cans).  Travis helped me net it!   We fished for about an hour longer, and hooked at least 1 more fish, but didn’t get any more in the net.  The tide was quickly on the rise, and actually swamped Erik’s “fishing box”, which is a milk jug crate with all his gear attached to it. 

We later heard that a black bear entered the Cracker Barrel in Juneau (during business hours) today. It was run out of the store by an employee waiving their hands and yelling at the bear.  This doesn't happen back home.