Our guides are what make us extraordinary! With their inspiring knowledge and passion we’re excited to start our new weekly series “Guidelines” to help visitors learn more about the wonderful individuals that make Gastineau Guiding Juneau’s Premier Guiding Company. “My name is Nathan Kelley I’m a Photo Guide with Gastineau Guiding the past three […]
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Many visitors travel to Juneau with the hope, and often the expectation, of seeing glaciers, bears, whales and salmon. We often experience these wonders on our Alaska Whales and Rainforest Trails and Photo Safari excursions. However, not expected, but surprisingly savored by our guests, are the enchanting wildflowers that punctuate the endless green landscape of […]
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Spring in the shadow of Mendenhall Glacier means a symphony of new sights, sounds and smells on the trails. Migratory birds are arriving, looking for mates and filling the air with song. Lupine, saxifrage, and skunk cabbage that have been dormant for the long, dark winter, are putting on new leaf and flower to regale […]
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We stand on a bridge overlooking Steep Creek in the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area on the edge of Tongass National Forest in Juneau, Alaska. Behind us, lost to our view in the dense summer understory, we can hear the crash of Dipper Falls. Beneath and before us, a narrow tongue of fast water flattens into […]
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Whether whale watching, bear watching, or dining on fish and chips with a window table, a visit to Juneau is almost guaranteed to include plenty of bald eagle sightings. Scanning the Sitka Spruce trees along the miles of coastline and river bank reveals the polk-a-dots of white heads contrasted against dark green boughs. During salmon […]
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The thought of whale-watching in Southeast Alaska evokes in some people visions of shiny black orcas — killer whales — the largest of the dolphin family that hunt the world’s oceans for seals, sea lions, or salmon. Who doesn’t recognize their stout, starkly-patterned black and white bodies?And who isn’t chilled by the sleek, black foreboding […]
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It is mid-summer in Southeast Alaska, near Juneau, where a large flock of gulls is floating in Lynn Canal—the deepest inland fiord in North America. If you encountered this raft of birds, you might logically think they are just resting, being social, or finding safety in numbers. And, maybe, you would be right. When, suddenly, […]
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I was scanning the shore line on a perfectly cloudy and cool summer day in Juneau, as our small whale-watching boat eased up to the dock. Inside the boat, my guests passed their cameras back and forth, sharing photos of humpback whales, sea lions, and glaciers. I stood in the door, lines in hand, ready […]
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Alaskans lovingly and proudly refer to the 49th state as the “Last Frontier,” and rightfully so. Encompassing almost 580,000-square miles, Alaska is one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined. It offers 33,900 miles of shoreline, 3,000+ rivers, 3 million lakes, the highest mountain in North America and 100,000 glaciers covering 29,000-square miles. Let’s
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When I woke up in Haines Junction; a small Canadian town, feeling like frozen herring wedged in the driver’s seat of my truck, I knew my journey to Alaska was almost complete. Some would say I resigned myself to that fate for trying to drive to Alaska in only three long days. If I knew […]
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