He’s baaaack. Back where it all started, BIG WILD beautiful ALASKA! 5 years ago, my run journey began in Anchorage. Marathon Numero Uno. Saturday in Juneau, targeting #124. Whatta life adventure – 50 States, 4 Canadian provinces, 5 continents.
Predawn flight outta Denver, 2-hour connection in Seattle, Juneau arrival just after noon. Lyft ride downtown (no rental car this trek), hotel check-in, bag drop-off (backpack/extra run shoes/travelled lite) – much too early to settle in, plenty of daylight hours to explore. Summer sunset in the Great White North not ‘til 10pm, up again before 4am. Nothing free airline eye-shades couldn’t fix 😊
Juneau, Alaska’s official state capital but as residents will tell ya, everything happens in Anchorage. More than 40% of the state’s sparse population reside in Alaska’s largest city. Juneau’s a former GOLD rush town. Large Inuit population, the Tlingit, still call the peninsula home. Lotta Russian influence too, Alaska’s caretakers ‘til 1867 ☭ 🇷🇺
Another unique trait? No roadtrippin’ here. By air or by sea ONLY.
BIG, WILD, primitive & GREEN. Surrounded by mountains, closer to British Columbia than mainland Alaska. Scoped out lunch/early dinner options on my walk to the Tramway. Ticket please. UP UP UP Mount Roberts, lift every 30 minutes.
Top of the tramway: restaurant, gift shop AND a trailhead. Just 2 hours in Alaska, already found myself a hike. BESTEST views of Juneau & Gastineau Bay.
LUSH vegetation, mountain flowers, BALD EAGLES & bugs. Crazy HUMID too. POWER HIKED UP, movin’ fast/protecting my blood supply from insect vultures. Whole lotta, whole lotta going on. Limited to only four months of temperate weather – live, breed & die.
Father Brown’s Cross, Gold Ridge, Gastineau Peak. Snapped my scenic shots & trail-ran returned. Felt GREAT to RUN.
Bathroom splash bath, cooled-off watching a documentary ‘bout the local Tlingit’s Raven & Eagle clans. Crab bowl at Tracy’s King Crab Shack (gotta/hafta/must); SPRUCE TIP ice cream for dessert. Voted Juneau’s BEST Ice Cream – how could I go wrong?
Tomorrow’s kayak/crampon-hike itinerary: Mendenhall Glacier ❤️
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- diggin’ the summer temps
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- UP UP UP Mount Roberts
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- Tlingit totem
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- BIG, WILD, primitive & GREEN
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- Father Brown’s Cross
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- Gastineau Peak
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- downtown Juneau
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- Alaskan King Crab
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- Native Soldier Memorial
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- Lady Baltimore
Mount Roberts Trail, Juneau
Shot a few videos to highlight my day @ the Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve.
Africa’s Big 5 all represent. Ostrich mating dance? Something ya gotta see to believe. LOL>
juvenile GIRAFFE, mighty RHINO
Hungry Hungry HIPPO
Dance, OSTRICH Dance
Predator CATS
ELEPHANT Parade
Sleeping in an elephant lodge, super cool experience – but, can’t travel to Africa & not see LIONS, right? Week before flying out, pre-purchased a safari drive in a nearby game reserve. Just me/solo travel, easy enough to tag along with a larger group.
Seeing Africa’s Big 5 today: Rhino, giraffe, lion, hippopotamus, cheetah. Ok, maybe these were my Africa Big 5. More interested in giraffes than Cape buffalo 😊
Breakfast early, elephant lodge checkout, 40 minute dirt-road drive to Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve. Good to be off the N-2. Traded shoulder-driving humans for an active cattle train with zero intention of leaving the roadway. Inched my way through the half-mile caravan, entered the game reserve grounds, ‘nother dirt mile to Reception.
Very different experience from my past 2 days [Elephant Park] conservationist talks. Like going back in time early 1900’s. Animal heads posted to walls, zebra skins tanned & available for purchase. Bully bully. That said, animals actually killed on the reserve were limited to culling growing herds – and didn’t include any of the Big 5. Herd animals (wildebeest/zebra/deer) mostly male, majority later fed to the predatory eaters. Safari hunts today are limited to South Africa’s northern neighbors: Namibia, Botswana & Zimbabwe. South Africa is a mining country, industrialized & heavily populated, no large swaths of tribal wilderness.
Today’s drive: FAR exceeded expectation. Didn’t come with preconceived ideas, so didn’t realize these exotic animals would be roaming free. Predatory breeds were fenced apart/separate & away from herbivores. Found it interesting which animals the guide gave distance [game reserve/notta drive-thru zoo]. Hippos. Unpredictable, most dangerous animal in Africa (most human deaths). Lion. Male dropped his head in the grass, guide backed our jeep & did a full loop through shrubs/hill area. Approached the lion from a direction he did not feel threatened. Elephants. Spook easily, BIG, run fast. Least threatening predator? Cheetah. Limited short bursts of speed. Otherwise, they’re lazy sun worshippers [took no chances/kept a healthy distance in the Jeep].
No Kruger, no Cape Town on my South Africa itinerary. Hard to do it all AND marathon. Another time. Still managed to see all of Africa’s Big 5 plus finish out my holiday living B-I-G in a posh B&B overlooking the ocean. Happy life ❤
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- everyday road sign?
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- Plettenburg Bay Game Reserve
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- wall o’ heads
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- wildebeest & zebra
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- the mighty Rhino
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- juvenile Giraffe
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- Hungry Hungry Hippo
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- STARE down
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- deadliest in Africa – TEETH!
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- (endangered) wild dog
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- CHEETAH mates
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- brothers (same litter)
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- Lion King
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- ELEPHANT parade
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- water-hole social
