Taku Lodge

I guess it has been 2 weeks since I last wrote. Things are going well. We have been entertaining kids, teaching them cool stuff, and hanging out in the great Alaskan wilderness as per our job. These two weeks were extra special for me though because Dan came up to visit. We hung out in Juneau and then the next day he flew to Skagway and we had almost all day together there. Finally we returned to Juneau the following week and he was still there. He met the ship as it docked in Juneau with a fabulous surprise. We finally got to go to Taku Lodge! A friend of ours, Betsy, works for the airline that sends out tours to the lodge daily. We also know the son of the owners of the lodge (Ryan Ward), but until yesterday, neither of us had ever been out there. It just happened to be our lucky day and we flew out there in the fog and rain. After a 20 minute flightseeing tour over 4 glaciers, the DeHaviland Otter landed and docked at the lodge. We got out and there was a guy standing next to a tree with a stick. Turns out, there was a momma black bear in the tree on the lowest branch, while her cub was lounging up higher in the tree. Just about 30 meters from the tree is the grill where they cook all the salmon for the feast we were about to have. Once all the salmon has been cooked, the guy with the stick lets the bear climb down from the tree and she gets to lick the oils that dripped down to the sandy bottom of the grill. They don’t feed the bear ever, but they allow her to have the fish oils. If they did feed the bears, they would probably have to shut the place down because the bears would expect to be fed and if they aren’t, they could hurt someone.

The lodge is very well kept up, with amazing flowers all around and a breathtaking view of the Hole in the Wall glacier. It is located on the Taku river and surrounded on all sides by the Tongass National Rainforest. After about a half an hour of exploring, we had a feast of king salmon, biscuits, etc and while we ate, Mike Ward (Ryan’s brother) gave us a little history of the place. Turns out, at one point it was well known for its sled dog breeding. A young woman lived there, bred sled dogs, and kept the place running as a fishing and hunting lodge, all on her own. She seemed like a pretty amazing woman, even traveling 1000 miles by sled to a snow festival in Fairbanks to show off her amazing breed of sled dog. She put the Taku lodge on the map and it is on the register of Historic Places. Hopefully next time we go back to Juneau we can spend more time at the lodge. It’s a pretty amazing place and I’m sure they have some good parties out there!