Our second excursion on our Alaska cruise was my wife’s favorite trip as we left Skagway on the Klondike Highway into Canada. My wife loves to hike in the Tetons and loves the scenic views with lots of lakes mingled with subarctic and Arctic terrain.
As we entered Canada on the White Pass into British Columbia, we traveled through vistas which were awesome. We followed the route of the infamous gold rust into the Yukon Territory. Connor, our guide, recounted the struggles that those miners experienced.
The two highlights of that excursion for me were seeing and photographing six cinnamon-phase black bears and viewing Emerald Lake. The bears were feeding on dandelions along the side of the road and were very tolerant of smaller vehicles, but scurried off when a large truck or bus would pass by. Emerald Lake had the most beautiful colors of water that I have ever seen.
The beautiful Emerald Lake in the Yukon Territory. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
Our final excursion was out of Juneau, looking for whales before hiking to the Mendenhall Glacier. I have always dreamed of being up close and personal with a whale, and after forty-five minutes out from Auke Bay, we saw a group of boats but were informed that they were fishing boats. Disappointed, I thought it was going to be a bust; but boy, was I wrong.
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Fifteen minutes later in a channel between Shelter and Lincoln Islands, our captain announced that we were entering a pod of 10 to 15 humpback whales with some sea lions.
A humpback whale “fluke-up” as it begins its deep dive. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
It did not take long for me to find out that trying to keep up with that many whales was difficult – particularly locating the whales early in their surfacing. I would watch for them to create “water spouts” as they blew air from one of their two blowholes. Some of them were “resting,” with just about a foot of their backs showing while others would be feeding by making shallow dives. After three or four of these dives, a whale would show their large hump, on their back, called a “fluke-up”, indicating a deep dive. This meant that their tail would come out of the water as the dive started.
A humpback whale’s tail indicates that it is making a deep dive which will last about five to 10 minutes. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
As I was trying to photograph these whale dives, I saw a frenzy on the top of the water with salmon flying out of the water.
A salmon jumps out of the water trying to escape for a Sea lion near Juneau. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
A very large sea lion had located a school of salmon and was trying to collect brunch. It finally captured a fish and was chewing on it with gulls trying to get a free meal by landing on the lion’s head or back to get a bite. After the fish was consumed, the animal appeared to grin at me, did a barrel roll and waved at us. This was a highlight of the excursion for me.
The sea lion captures and begins eating a fish as a gull tries to steal a bite. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
After two hours of watching the pod of whales and a few more sea lions, we headed back to shore passing Lincoln Island where we got a glimpse of a female humpback with its calf. The 15-foot baby looked small against its 50-foot, 35-ton mom.
At Mendenhall Island, the highlight for me was watching the Arctic terns as they tried defending their nests on the beach from raiding birds. Part of our group who did not go on the whale watching, observed a bald eagle raiding some of the nests as they hiked to the glacier.
We had a wonderful cruise from Juneau to Ketchikan where we encountered many more humpbacks, and I watched pods of orcas (killer whales) hunting as we traveled the Inland Passage. For the first time on the trip, I was finally able to photograph the breaching of both the humpbacks and the orcas.
An orca (killer whale) breaches near Juneau in Alaska’s Inland Passage. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
For me, the cruise was one of the highlights of my life. I was with most of my family, the meals were good, we had great weather, sunsets were awesome, and the excursions were terrific. I hope to do it again – it was a dream come true!!
A beautiful sunset over the Alaskan mountains along the Inland Passage. | Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
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GENESSE – The Avista planned power outage for Friday, April 24 in Genesee has been cancelled and rescheduled due to weather. Approximately 337 Avista electric customers in Genesee will experience a planned power outage on Tuesday, April 28. The planned outage will start at 8:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m.
All affected customers will be notified in advance. Traffic control will be in place from Laurel Street north of Chestnut Street.
During this time, Avista crews will be replacing aging infrastructure, including power poles and equipment, in the area. These updates are part of Avista’s ongoing efforts to enhance the safety and reliability of its infrastructure.
GARDEN CITY – A Boise-area girl is competing in the 2026 Junior Ranger Competition, and she needs your vote to advance.
Eleven-year-old Cali Lindsay of Garden City is currently in the top 10 in her age group. The first place contestant in each group will advance to the semi-finals, which will wrap on July 17.
The final round concludes on July 24. The winner will be awarded $20,000 and be featured on the cover of Ranger Rick Magazine. They’ll also win a trip with Jeff Corwin.
Cali’s mom, Emily Edginton, tells EastIdahoNews.com how the competition works.
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“You’re allowed one free vote every 24 hours. People can also pay (to vote),” Edginton says. “The contestants have challenges every week to learn about animals and share what they’ve learned. People vote for the answer they like best. If you have enough votes, you move to the next round.”
Cali needs to secure enough votes by Thursday in order to advance to the next round.
The competition is a fundraiser for the National Wildlife Federation, the largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization in the United States.
Edginton says they recently moved to Idaho from San Bernardino, California. Her daughter acquired a love of wildlife living in Lytle Creek, a community near the San Gabriel Mountains and San Bernardino National Forest.
“She’s already like a junior ranger. We picked up trash (in the forest) for fun,” Edginton says. “We try to keep it clean because we get a lot of visitors up there in the summertime and they trash the place. It affects the animals.”
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Edginton says they moved to Idaho in February to be closer to family.
She’s grateful her daughter can be part of what she feels is a great cause, and hopes to see her advance, and even win the tournament.
“It’s a good cause, plus it’s a learning experience,” says Edginton.
To vote for Cali or learn more, click here.
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