Banff, Alberta was the final stop on our Rocky Mountaineer journey. We had an opportunity to spend time in the town, which is certainly interesting itself, but the best scenery was Lake Louise and Moraine Lake in Banff National Park. After that, we were ready to head to Calgary for our flight home. Here are some photos:
Morning view looking north from our hotel. The Rocky Mountaineer had brought us to Banff late the day before, and after a good night’s sleep and hearty breakfast we were ready to see the sights. We found this view when we came out of the hotel to board our tour bus.Classic view of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. We did not see any wildlife, but the combination of mountains, ice fields, and lake had no problem holding our gaze.Here we are in front of the lake, trying to stay clear of other visitors. Lake Louise is at about 5200 ft above sea level and the weather was a little cool and breezy, so a hat and either a vest or a jacket felt good.Shooting photos while standing on the rock wall seen in the previous image. This additional height let me shoot over the heads of the people. Dorcas was not happy with me clamoring up onto this wall, nor was she pleased when I jumped down, but you do what you have to do to get the shot! I took the first image of Lake Louise (shown above) and the image below from this spot.Why another photo of Lake Louise? I was setting up a historical comparison, so keep reading. This image of Lake Louise looks different from the photos above because the lake area was shadowed by clouds and because I cropped the photo to come close to the view seen in the next image. Like most of my other photos, I took this shot with a Canon R7 digital mirrorless camera equipped with a Canon zoom lens.The previous shot was taken on August 10, 2025, but I shot this rather darker photo from essentially the same spot in June, 1986 with a Nikon SLR film camera and Nikon zoom lens. I recalled this image from my personal photo library and include it here for comparison. There is more snow in this older photo, but it was taken at the start of the summer rather than towards the end of the summer. In fact, it looks like fresh snowfall up along the ridge in the back of the scene. On the other hand, as you compare the two photos, it looks like climate change over the past 39 years may have had some effect on the permanent deep snow fields, but not as much as I would have expected. What do you think?After leaving Lake Louise we traveled to Moraine Lake, also in Banff National Park but about a thousand feet higher in elevation. The lake was ice-free, with clear, turquoise-blue water, and the skies were a little sunnier.Looking into the sun at a rocky slope leading up to a nice overlook (not the square-topped peak in the distance) for Moraine Lake. The trail wound up the left side of the slope, but we decided not to scramble up to the overlook, partly because of time, partly because we are not used to rock-hopping at over 6000 ft elevation, and partly because we did not want to risk a fall. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.We saved the best for last. This is my favorite view of Moraine Lake. I encourage you to double-click and enlarge it on your screen if the web page will let you do that. I shot this photo with my backup camera: the ProCamera app on my iPhone 15 Pro. The clouds, shadows, and sun work to add depth and drama to the image, and I like it so much that I ordered a metal print (metal prints make the colors pop) of this picture for our library wall. Hope you like it, too.
This is the last of our 12 blog posts sharing photos with captions from our Viking Alaska Cruise with its Rocky Mountaineer post-cruise extension. Thank you for taking the time to relive the trip with us! If you go to my blog’s home page, you can find a link to a short personal photo gallery (Electrons are Cheap) and links to a series of blog posts from our Viking Iceland & Norway’s Arctic Explorer cruise in 2024. Enjoy, and stay tuned for Viking West Indies in 2026!
We followed up our Alaska Cruise with Viking’s post-cruise extension that included time in Vancouver, two days crossing the Canadian Rockies by rail, and a day in the spectacular mountains around Banff. Our previous two posts included captioned photos from Vancouver and Victoria, both in British Columbia. This post covers our two-day trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. Here are photos:
It was an early call, but here we are preparing to board our Rocky Mountaineer car for two long days of scenic travel across the Canadian Rockies. I did not have a good way to include it in this post, but as we waited in the railway station, we noticed a man preparing to play his bagpipes for the assembled passengers. When the time came to go to our assigned passenger cars, he played “When the saints come marching in.” Funny, and a nice way to get our attention and send us on our way.Here we are in our observation car. There were two levels to the car: this upper level was built for sight-seeing visibility, while the lower level held a kitchen, dining room, restrooms, and a small outdoor observation platform. Access between the two levels was by a tight spiral staircase, but the car also had a simple platform elevator so that people with mobility issues could move easily from one level to the other. We had breakfast, lunch, and a light supper on the train, along with drinks and snacks, and it was all wonderful!Rafts of logs on the Fraser River. We knew of such things, and probably saw pictures at one time or another, but it was interesting to see them first hand. And there were a LOT of logs stored on the water near the sawmills we passed. I used a polarizing filter to reduce window glare in my photos, and it worked most of the time, but there was nothing I could do to avoid the blur of the bushes close to our moving train.Looking back over our train as we roll along the Fraser River. Our car was only four or five back from the engines, so we were near the front of the train. We were in one of the taller cars, which have two levels; the other cars have only one level and large plate glass windows rather than domes. On the first day we travelled from Vancouver to Kamloops, where we spent the night in a hotel. At Kamloops this long train was split into a shorter train that we rode east the next day to go to Banff, and another train that went north to (I think) Jasper.Hells Gate on the Fraser River. This is the narrowest and probably most turbulent point on the river. A pedestrian bridge provides a close look, although our schedule was tight and we did not have time for a stop. You can see another railroad track above the river on the far side of the canyon. The Canadian Pacific Railroad owns and maintains one track and the Canadian National Railroad owns and maintains the other.Railroad bridge over the Fraser River. Our two locomotives are in the far right side of the photo, about to pass under the bridge.A rugged part of the Fraser River Canyon, with the other track on the far side of the canyon, near the bottom of the slope. Steel and concrete sheds (like snow sheds in the Sierra Nevada) provide protection from recurring rockfalls. We were told that the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National share their tracks through the canyon to expedite rail traffic; eastbound trains all use one track and westbound trains use the other.Bighorn sheep on the skyline watching our train roll by. Gray skies made the color and contrast a bit of a challenge for photography.Nice waterfall in the canyon wall, with a hint of great scenery to come in Canada’s Banff and Yoho National Parks.
We finished our cruise from Seward down the coast and through the inside passage to Vancouver. However, our itinerary after the cruise still included two full days in Vancouver, two days of travel by rail across the Canadian Rockies, and a day in the Banff area, so stay tuned for future blog posts! For our time in Vancouver, Viking surprised us with a full day excursion to see Butchart Gardens and Old Victoria. The gardens were one of the best highlights of our trip, and here are some photos:
Butchart Gardens is privately owned and operated, or we think it would become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We have been blessed to visit Shaw’s Garden in St. Louis; Filoli Gardens in California; botanical gardens in Hawaii and other states; and royal gardens at palaces in Vienna, St. Petersburg, and other parts of Europe, but Butchart Gardens in Victoria would give any of them a run for the roses (pardon the pun). It was that good!The story goes that a man made his fortune mining limestone to make cement back East somewhere, and decided to sell out, retire, and move to Victoria. Once settled in Victoria, he was restless and decided to once again mine limestone to make cement. His wife took him to task for leaving a big, ugly hole in the ground, so he said that she should take it over and see what she could do to give it a better look. She had money and ideas, and the result was Butchart Gardens. This photo shows part of their Sunken Garden, in what used to be a limestone quarry. I think she did pretty well!A different angle on the Sunken Garden. Note the people on the path for scale.Yet another view of the sunken garden. Dorcas was in a wheelchair because of her knee, and I pushed her all over this place for at least two hours, up hill and down dale. Plenty to see, and we had a great time!Closeup of Royal Lily plants. My only quibble with this garden was that none of the plants were labeled. I used the “Identify This” app on my iPhone to find out what they were. The app uses a photo of the plant to do the ID process, tells you if the plant appears healthy, and suggests what to do about it if the plant is not doing well. I am pleased to report that all of the plants we identified in Butchart Gardens were in fine shape. No surprise.This is a Showy Lily, also known as a Japanese Lily. Guess lilies caught my eye…A different part of the Sunken Garden, with dahlias in the foreground.Flower basket hanging near the entrance/exit. Butchart Gardens included a rose garden, Japanese garden, and other gardens, but the Sunken Garden was the most spectacular, so it turned up the most in my photos. Needless to say, there were plenty of colors everywhere we looked. We had only 2-3 hours there, but could have easily spent all day.Near the waterfront in Old Victoria. Think that is the Hotel Grand Pacific in the background. The weather was back to its sunny best behavior, and it was a good day to see flower gardens, sight-see, and people-watch, so we did all three.Here is the ferry that took us back to Vancouver. It was getting late by the time we left Victoria, so we grabbed a light supper in the cafeteria on the upper deck. A good day, and not to be missed.
We reached Vancouver via the Inside Passage, and that was the end of our cruise but not of our trip. Future posts will cover our day in Victoria, B.C., our journey by rail across the Canadian Rockies on the Rocky Mountaineer, and a stunningly beautiful day in the Banff area. However, we needed to finish the cruise first, so here are photos from the Inside Passage and Vancouver:
The inside passage was not just one channel, but a number of intertwined waterways passing between forested islands overshadowed by majestic mountains. This view, towards the mainland, shows some of the not-quite-snowcapped peaks looming above the rainforest.Looking west, we saw forests, occasionally dotted by logging operations. The whole area is remote, and in this view you see the smoke plume from a small forest fire smoldering through damp vegetation. This smoke plume was the one exception to what was mostly very clear air. Other than this fire, there simply was not much of anything to degrade air quality.A cruise ship emerging from an adjacent channel. According to my ship tracker app, this vessel was headed towards Victoria, B.C. rather than to Vancouver.The building with a roof that looks kind of like white sails is the cruise ship terminal in Vancouver, B.C. We disembarked and went through Canadian customs here, and the process was welcoming and efficient. Our hotel was off to the left in this photo.Blue bridge over part of the Vancouver harbor. We were on a bus tour of the city, moving too quickly to take good photos through a reflection-prone bus window, but the view of the bridge was stable enough for a shot, so here you are…Another float plane! Apparently taking a local plane flight was an easy option if you wanted to get out of town to see wild country. We did not have time or inclination to try it, but these planes were leaving or arriving every few minutes, so apparently business was brisk.Our hotel for three nights in Vancouver. Nice location, and we did go out once or twice to forage for food in nearby restaurants. The only real downside was that after so many days at sea, the floors kept moving under our feet! It took a while to get our land legs back.
The rainforest lived up to its reputation, with a steady rain falling by the time we reached Ketchikan. We came prepared, though, with raincoats and hats. Our ship, Viking’s Orion, had loaner umbrellas, but it is hard to juggle a camera with an umbrella, so we ventured out with only our raincoats. This day’s shore excursion involved a guided tour of Potlatch Park to see totem poles and other carvings, and to see how they were made. Here are a few photos:
Potlatch Park is a privately owned display of native American totem poles and similar types of woodwork. The place was informational, and our guide did his best to educate us about the meaning of the carvings in the indigenous cultures that created them. The park has its touristy side to pay the bills, and here we are standing under an arch made for photo-ops.This is a replica of a lodge house (my words, since I did not take notes and cannot recall exact titles). An extended family of perhaps 20 or more people would live in a house like this. The rocky pit in the middle would hold a fire for heating, light, and cooking; the raised platform around the fire pit provided a place out of the rain for men, women, and children to eat, sleep, and work. Carved pillars holding up the roof might represent some of the family history, or maybe elements of their religious beliefs.A reasonably well-maintained totem pole. Each pole told a story of sorts. Recurring figures included ravens, eagles, bears, owls, fish, whales (orcas), or people. This pole looks to include an owl at the top and a raven at the base. Unrestored wooden dugout canoe, gradually deteriorating in the rainforest climate.Two more totem poles, not as well maintained. The original colors came from berries, minerals, or other natural pigments that could be found within a reasonable distance. Our guide noted that totem restorers these days are more likely to go to the nearest hardware store for paints with the correct colors.Murals carved on the ends of buildings often told stories or commemorated major events. Like other cultures world wide, the indigenous people had oral traditions with their beliefs about the origin of humanity, an epic flood, and so on. The story in this culture was that a raven plucked man from an oyster at the beginning of time, and this was the start of humankind. Like most other creation stories, this acknowledged that humans had to come from somewhere, but did not explain where the raven or oyster came from, or how the world started. Oh, well…But wait! What is a potlatch? A potlatch is a big feast, or party, that a chief held for a guest of honor. A totem pole would later commemorate the guest of honor by including him in the story told by the pole. The carving of the guest of honor showed him with a hat, like in the figure above. The number of brims on the hat indicates the number of potlatches held in his honor. Two brims means two separate potlatches, and so on. There was also a bit of a catch: if a chief held a potlatch in your honor, you were expected to reciprocate by throwing a party in his honor at a later date. If you did not live up to that social obligation, your carving would be painted with red cheeks and a red nose to shame you. The fellow above has a red coat, but not a red face, so apparently he was OK.Our stay in Ketchikan was all too short, and by the time the weather started to clear we were on our way back out to sea, headed south for a day of sailing through the Inside Passage.
Sitka was our next port of call, and we decided to take Viking’s “Fortress of the Bears” shore excursion. Who could resist an outing called Fortress of the Bears? As it turned out, we saw brown bears and black bears at a bear rescue/recovery center, but we first visited a homestead out in the wilderness, and saw several bald eagles, perhaps watching for the salmon run. Here are some photos:
Bald eagle in classic profile view, perched near the water. This is in the coastal rain forest where everything is damp if not wet, and you can see moss growing from some of the branches. We were near the homestead site which, while remote, did have electricity. There was even a small hydroelectric plant nearby, manufacturing electricity for the power grid.Sight-seeing boat that brought us to the homestead site. It was a comfortable ride, as we were cruising in fjords branching off from a sheltered bay, and the water was quite calm.Adult bald eagle on the left and an immature adult bald eagle on the right. Our guides said that eagles do not get their characteristic white heads until they are about five years old. These birds were near a fish hatchery, and we noticed that the hatchery had screens in place to keep birds from raiding the tanks.Another adult eagle, looking at us head-on. We did not see any eagles fishing, but maybe they fish only at certain times of day or at a certain stage of the tides. And yet another mature bald eagle, spotted in a striking pose. All of the eagles we saw were perched, alert, and watchful.Salmon attempting to swim up a waterfall. The flow was unusually heavy because of recent rains, so we don’t know if any of them made it.By now you may wonder what became of Fortress of the Bears. It came later in our tour, and here is our first photo of a grizzly, or brown bear at the refuge. A poster in the lobby attempted to explain that grizzlies, brown bears, and a third kind of bear that I can’t remember are all sub-species of a kind of bear that differs from black bears and polar bears. Kodiak bears are part of the brown bear sub-species, or maybe they are a sub-sub-species? Guess we should have taken notes. Regardless, the brown bears on the Alaska coast are larger than grizzlies we have seen in Yellowstone, Glacier, and Denali National Parks. Time for the annual Fat Bear contest?Healthy-looking black bear at Fortress of the Bears. This black bear was more active than the brown bears in the other enclosures, but we don’t know if this was a matter of health, personality, or ??? Bears are brought to this center as accident victims or perhaps as orphaned cubs. After rehab they are released to the wild, but some bears may have to kept here indefinitely for their own good.Float plane near Sitka. A road map of Alaska would not need much ink because there simply are not very many roads. It is a huge state, and float planes, bush planes, or boats are often the most practical way to get around, depending on where you want to go. It was always impressive to see these planes take off or swoop in for a landing; for some reason it reminded us of crop dusters flying close to the ground and making daredevil turns on no notice.Evening view as we leave Sitka. Mostly cloudy skies, calm seas, and smooth sailing.
After visiting Juneau we sailed back north to Skagway. Why not visit the ports of call in order from north to south? Maybe Viking varies the sequence slightly according to how many cruise ships will be in each port at a given time. This may have something to do with the availability of on-shore excursions, too. At any rate, Skagway was fun to visit, with the town having tried to retain much of its frontier character from the days of the Klondike Gold Rush. We spent most of our time riding the spectacular White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railway to the top of White Pass and back. Here are some photos:
A powerful diesel locomotive pulled our narrow gauge train of vintage passenger cars from Skagway, at sea level, to a turn-around loop at the top of White Pass. We climbed to nearly 3000 feet above sea level in about 20 miles, roughly following the path of the Klondike Gold Rush prospectors as they hauled their gear from Skagway to the summit and then over into Canada for the trek to the gold fields. For the railroad, this was an average grade of better than 2.5%, so our climb was not very fast. This almost obliterated path just below the “Trail of ’98” sign is a remnant of the original prospector’s trail to the summit. Canada realized that many gold rush prospectors were arriving unprepared for a northwest Canada winter, and that they needed to do something to avoid having to rescue thousands of starving, freezing prospectors. The solution was to close the border; each prospector was required to have about 2000 pounds of supplies on hand (to demonstrate that they could support themselves) before they could enter the country. So they each had to carry that ton of supplies, load by load, from Skagway up to the border checkpoint. The market for a railway was obvious, although building it would be another matter.We had a mix of sun and clouds as we rode to the summit and back, but the beauty of the scenery could not be hidden. Cliffs, peaks, waterfalls, gorgeous gorges, tracts of coniferous forest, and even a few patches of snow above the timberline. And certainly rugged!Distant view of our track tracing its way along the mountainside. It took about two years to build the railway from Skagway over into Canada, and, except for a few years in the 1980s, the route has been in use ever since. This part of the route is known as the “high line” due to the steep cliffs above and below the track. You can see a wooden trestle bridge about 1/3 of the way from the left side of the photo; the next photo gives you a closer view.Here is the wooden trestle seen at great distance in the previous photo. This area gets a lot of snow in the winter, so for the first few decades the trains ran when not snowed in, and to serve the mines. The Alaskan Highway, built during World War II, connects with the far end of the railway, and during the war the trains ran year round with only an occasional interruption by avalanches. After the war, the railway went back to mostly summer operations, and eventually tourism took the place of freight service as the main business.This was once the highest iron trestle bridge in North America, with the track standing at least 200 feet above the river below. Eventually the engineers and surveyors opted for a different route, and the wooden part of the trestle fell into disrepair. Or you could say it literally fell. We were happy to see that we were not taking this part of the old route.View looking back at the old bridge, and the rushing water it crossed. Amazing that this railway was even built; it ranks up there with the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal, and other international engineering accomplishments.Marker at the top of the pass, decorated with fireweed and some trees stunted by the severe winter weather. Our turnaround loop was perhaps a mile past this point, in Canada. The track from Skagway to the summit was mostly single track, but did include several long sidings to let trains pass. On the day we were there, I think we saw perhaps four other trains on the route, one of them pulled by an old steam locomotive. The track is well maintained and, as mentioned before, continues past the summit and turnaround loop to reach the towns of Fraser and Bennett in British Columbia and then Carcross and Whitehorse in Yukon Territory. The full length of the route is 110.4 miles.Think this is a replica of the cabin used by the Canadian authorities to enforce border security back in gold rush days. In addition to the US and Canadian flags, we see flags of Alaska, Yukon Territory, and British Columbia. The main track is in front of the cabin; at this point we are going off into the turnaround loop that will eventually send us back down the track to Skagway.Two happy tourists in the railway station back in Skagway. The town also hosts the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, which is probably worth a visit if time allows (ours did not), and an assortment of saloons, shops, and frontier-style tourist attractions. But the White Pass & Yukon Route was the highlight of our day. Over the years we have been blessed to be able to ride the Cumbres & Toltec, Durango & Silverton, and Roaring Camp & Big Trees railroads (all narrow gauge), and the White Pass & Yukon holds its own against any of them!
After Icy Straight Point, our next stop was Juneau, capitol city of Alaska. Viking’s Orion was one of several cruise ships docking at Juneau that day, so we had to take a tender from the Orion to the dock. No worries, it was a smooth ride and well orchestrated. Between whale-watching, museums, sight-seeing, and other activities, Juneau offered more options than time allowed, so we had to make some hard choices. Given that we had already seen whales, bears, and lots of scenery, we opted for a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier. Here are some photos:
My favorite tourist seated near the Juneau waterfront. This is between where passengers disembark from cruise ships, float planes, and ferries and where they find the taxis, buses, and other ground transportation. Our tour group for the Mendenhall Glacier mustered here, and, not coincidentally, there are plenty of restaurants and shops all around the area. We even chatted with the Executive Chef from the Orion here as he waited for a taxi to take him to Costco!Tender moving folks from the Orion to the dock. It was a smooth ride, but we noticed that float planes were using this same stretch of water for takeoffs and landings. No collisions, so the pilots must know what they are doing. Or maybe someone was providing traffic control under the radar.After a short bus ride through town and out into the forest, we arrived at the Mendenhall Glacier. The USDA Forest Service runs a great visitor center there, with nice natural history exhibits and a balcony view of the glacier and some adjacent waterfalls. And, for those who might have a problem with the many stairs from the sidewalk up to the visitor center, they have an elevator!Mendenhall Glacier, kind of ragged looking as it terminates near the water. The blue color is characteristic of glacial ice, and the dirty look comes from the rocky material the glacier carries. Interestingly, some glaciers in Alaska are retreating while others are advancing, and this changes from decade to decade. The whole climate-weather-glacier system is more dynamic than a single photo can show.We found this sign on the trail towards the glacier. I guess bears like to walk an easy path rather than shoving their way through the underbrush, just like people do. No bears showed up to claim right of way, but we kept our eyes open just in case.Large (maybe 15 feet tall) rock surface polished and gouged by glacial ice. This was near the visitor center, a long ways from the point where the glacier currently terminates, but it shows that ice was here at some point in the past.Two bear cubs playing near their mother. No bears on the glacier trail, but here they are in Juneau. A fish hatchery next door might have brought them here, but the hatchery was (supposedly) bear-proofed, so it was probably wishful thinking on the part of the bears.Sunset as we sail away from Juneau: a beautiful evening in a beautiful area.
After sailing past Hubbard Glacier we continued to work our way southeast, eventually arriving at Icy Straight Point, on Chichagof Island. A community of native Americans owns and operates this remote port, and it was well-run. We had booked a wilderness excursion through Viking to look for wildlife, and Chichagof Island has one of the highest concentrations of brown bears in the world, so we were optimistic. Here are some photos:
Bald eagle soaring overhead as we entered the wilderness to look for bears and other wildlife. Our clear, sunny days had come to an end, at least for a while, but visibility was good otherwise. Chichagof Island is large enough to include the Spasski River, so that was our destination. Our guide and a driver took us into a muskeg area to start our search, but even while en route we spotted black-tailed dear and various kinds of birds.Our path to and from Spasski River was a half mile loop through muskeg and coniferous forest. Muskeg is essentially a northern swamp (my description), with a lot of water and soft ground, so we hiked on a boardwalk. The most dangerous bear is probably a surprised bear, so our guide carried a radio to stay in touch with what I would call a security perimeter. The tour company had two spotters along the road where the minibus dropped us off, and maybe a couple more in the woods around us. Their job was to help us avoid surprising a bear by letting our guide know if one was headed in our direction.The loop trail led us past three different observation platforms along the Spasski River. There was no action at the first platform, but at the second we found a young brown bear fishing for salmon. The salmon run had started just a few days earlier, and every minute or two we saw fish thrashing their way over shallow riffles in the river. Here you see the bear looking for fish in deeper water. The telephoto lens you saw in our previous blog post served me well in shooting these photos.Coming up for air. So what is the difference between a brown bear and a grizzly? Practically speaking, brown bears live on the coast where there are a lot of fish and edible vegetation (roots and berries), and tend to be better fed than grizzlies living in Yellowstone, Glacier, or Denali National Parks. This bear seemed to be relatively unskilled at fishing, though, and in the 20 minutes or so that we watched him, he never did catch a fish. Not for want of trying.Standing up to look around. I don’t know if he was curious about us, of if he sensed the possible approach of another bear. Shortly before we started back to the road, one of the spotters radioed that another bear seemed to be headed towards our path, so we waited while the spotter verified the bear’s location and direction. The approaching bear changed course, and once it was safe we finished the loop trail to get back to our minibus.Old fishing boat near the harbor. How old? Well, old enough to be fallen into disrepair, but new enough that it has a radar antenna on top. We found this near a shopping area, after our bear search and before returning to our ship. Picturesque, and it made for an interesting end of the visit.
We spent a full day at sea sailing from Valdez to our next port of call. The route was not just an unswerving path past magnificent scenery; the weather was clear and the sea calm, so we took time to sail close to the Hubbard Glacier. Here are some photos:
Regency’s Seven Seas Explorer headed northwest while we sail southeast on Viking’s Orion. Beautiful weather for this day at sea, so it was easy to see the mountains in the background. These are probably part of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. I used to have an app to identify mountains in distant views, but it was not on hand to help me name the peaks as we sailed past this gorgeous mountain range.Mount Saint Elias as seen from our approach to the Hubbard Glacier. Stock photos of Mount Saint Elias look very different, depending on your viewpoint. We really like this view, which almost reminds me of the mountain used in the introduction to old Paramount movies. The trees where you might expect some kind of beach are actually the edge of a broad, flat outwash plain stretching from the base of the mountains to the sea. The peak itself is probably 40 miles or more away from us (as measured on Google Maps), which accounts for the haze in the photo.Here we are on an upper deck of the Orion, with Hubbard Glacier and various pieces of floating ice in the background. You can see one of my two workhorse cameras hanging by my side: a Canon R7 with Canon’s 100-500mm zoom lens. This combination weighs about four pounds, so you have to get used to the weight, but it is great for distance shots, closeups, and wildlife. A friend took this photo with my other camera: an iPhone 15 Pro. As you might guess, it was windy with a chill was in the air, even in late July. A glorious day, regardless!Wide view of the Hubbard Glacier where it meets the sea. We did not see ice calving off the glacier (too far away), but you can see pieces of ice floating all over the bay. The main glacier flows down a valley in the far right side of the photo; another, smaller glacier comes down the valley near the center of the photo to join it. The glacier is more dynamic than you might expect: sometimes it advances for years in a row and then sometimes it retreats. To be clear, the flow of ice is alway downhill towards the sea; it never reverses and moves the other way, even when the glacier “retreats.” So if a glacier retreats, that simply means that the edge at the sea is breaking off or melting faster than the ice flows downhill into the sea. Conversely, if the glacier advances, that means that the ice is flowing downhill faster than it can melt at its front edge, effectively pushing the front edge further and further forward.Part of the front edge of the Hubbard Glacier. The highest parts of this front edge tower at least 400 feet above the water line, giving you some idea of scale. Further back from the water, the glacier is quite a bit thicker as it flows down out of the mountain range. Ice dynamics on a large scale!
