Strange happenings at the Mendenhall Glacier! Apparently a lake in/on the glacier burst and released a lot of water into the lake and caused a lot of flooding. Read more here.

Enjoy the photos!

Juneau is an incredible place.

Some people can become claustrophobic given the fact that due to the mountains and water surrounding us, you can’t easily just pick up and leave. However, those same mountains and water provide such an incredible array of things to do and see, with most things being within a 20 minute drive from wherever you are.

Case in point: a halibut fishing trip. Not only did everyone come home with plenty of halibut and enough shrimp for a great dinner, but we saw whales, eagles, beautiful scenery and… a snailfish. It was a completely awesome day. Enjoy the photos!

Anyone else remember where they were when the Skinner Building in downtown Juneau, Alaska, became The Pit?

I remember I’d been out on a hike to Windfall Lake – it was a hot, clear, sunny summer day, with temperatures pushing 80. It was awesome. Then I got home and had a weird message on my answering machine (who uses those anymore?) saying to come downtown. I had no idea what was going on, but as I rounded Norway Point, I noticed a strange haze and starting picking up the smell of smoke. Then I got past the high school and found out really quick what was going on. Luckily, I had my camera with me, so I parked and started taking photos.

It was a weird scene. People gathered anywhere you could see anything, passing rumors about how the entire downtown area was going to burn down because everything is connected by underground wooden pilings, etc. Luckily, that didn’t happen. The Juneau-Douglas Fire Department did a great job of preventing the fire from spreading even to the next building, which was physically connected to the Skinner Building. So while a bad deal, it could have been worse!

It was a beautiful summer in Southeast Alaska!

To show you just how beautiful it was, here are some random photos taken in Juneau and Haines this year. We had a ton of sunshine, warm weather, and awesome sunsets. There were a few rainy days in there too, of course. We are in a rainforest, after all.

On Sunday, June 6, 2010, it was sunny and warm here in Juneau and I decided to hike up Mt. Roberts and stop at the tram. I made it to the tram and neither felt like stopping nor going back down the mountain, so I kept going. I made it to the cross (if you’re not familiar with Mt. Roberts, there’s a large cross planted in the ground a decent hike away from the tram) and still neither felt like stopping nor returning to the bottom. This cycle continued until I found myself first on top of Gastineau Peak and then finally, legs burning, on Roberts Peak, 3,819 feet above the world around me. 500 photos and couple of sore legs later, I present the 23 best of the pack below. Enjoy!

A panoramic view of Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island as seen from from Mt. Roberts.