ALASKA: Imagine its dramatic landscape, wildlife and rich history revealed through a lens of comfort and impeccable service. For 65 years, Holland America Line has brought the best of Alaska and the Yukon to our guests and our expert planning allows for these natural wonders to unfold. Choose from a wide-array of 7 or 14-day cruises or expand your adventure with a cruisetour and go into the great interior of Alaska and the Yukon. A cruisetour is a seamless and effortless land and sea vacation offering extra time in the best places like Denali National Park, home to North America’s tallest peak Mt. McKinley.

To enter the contest, new visitors to Holland America Line’s Facebook page must become fans and answer a few questions to be entered. Existing Holland America Line fans simply fill out the form for their chance to win the cruise. (The sweepstakes is limited to legal residents 18 years of age or older from the United States, District of Columbia, Canada — except Quebec — and the United Kingdom.)

“With a rapidly growing fan base, Holland America Line’s Facebook page has become an engaging way for cruise enthusiasts to interact with the company,” said Richard Meadows, executive vice president, marketing, sales and guest programs. “Fans are able to connect with each other, explore our worldwide cruise offerings, and enter to win a fantastic Alaska cruise.”

The contest is just one of the cruise line’s latest Facebook initiatives. To further enhance its interactivity, three new Facebook tabs, Connect, Plan a CruiseandRoll Call, enable Holland America Facebook fans to access the line’s other social media platforms, plan a cruise vacation and find fellow guests sailing on the same cruise.

Using the Connect tab, fans can view Holland America Line videos on YouTube, check the latest Twitter and Holland America Blog posts, and flip through numerous photo albums — all without leaving Facebook. The Connect tab also lets fans create a pre-cruise message to post on their wall, while the Roll Call tab enables fellow travelers on the same upcoming cruise to connect with each other.

The Plan a Cruise tab has all the tools to plan a Holland America vacation, including a cruise finder, featured destinations and shore excursions, and the ability to sign up to receive special offers. Fans can also post reviews of shore excursions and cruises.

For more information on Holland America Line’s cruises and cruisetours, consult a professional travel seller, call 1-877-SAIL-HAL (1-877-724-5425) or visit www.hollandamerica.com.

Find Holland America Line on Twitter, Facebook and the Holland America Blog.  Access all social media outlets via the Online Communities quick link on the home page at www.hollandamerica.com.

The sounds of the calving and cracking of the glacier can be heard in the video.

Landsat image of Hubbard Glacier

I would highly recommend a helicopter excursion on your Alaska cruise!

Beginning Saturday, May 14, 2011 Alaskan Dream Cruises will feature an eight day, seven night itinerary departing from Sitka, Alaska calling on natural wonders such as Icy Strait, Point Adolphus, exclusive Hobart Bay, Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay National Park.

True Alaskans with intimate local knowledge
Alaskan Dream Cruises’ itinerary has been carefully planned by the owners and operators, the Allen family, who are members of the Kaagwaantaan Clans of the Tlingit people. With the Allen’s keen insight, Alaskan Dream Cruises is designed to experience the Alaska less traveled, reaching the more remote and spectacular wilderness.

Smaller Vessels
Because of the use of smaller ships, Alaskan Dream Cruises tour vessels bring the visitor up close and personal with the country, the wildlife, and the everyday people of Alaska. Using its own shipyard, Allen Marine is renovating three vessels to its precise specifications; the Alaskan Dream, the Admiralty Dream and the Baranof Dream.

Sustainability
Alaskan Dream Cruises is committed to green and sustainable tourism practices including the use of local resources, organic materials and foods. Through the implementation of a strong onboard educational program Alaskan Dream Cruises will share with guests a sensitivity to the wildlife, the land, the sea, and the people that occupy them.

Treading Lightly- Environmentally responsible operations
Organic and locally produced products are utilized in the selections of guest room amenities. Preference will be towards the use of cleaners and soaps with organic and biodegradable materials. Paper products and service items such as cups, glasses, and trash bags are biodegradable, made from organic materials rather than oil products. A strong recycling program is in place.

Organic local food
Alaskan Dream Cruises menus will feature organic local food product. World famous Alaskan Seafood such as locally caught crab, halibut, shrimp, and wild Alaskan salmon will be expertly served. Free range chicken and eggs, organic dairy products, grass fed beef, and organically fruits and vegetables locally grown and purchased highlight the menu selections. Even feature local beer and alcoholic products in our bar selections.

Alaskan owned, supplied and supporting local businesses
Local companies are employed whenever possible for supplies and services and wherever possible for our off-vessel excursions and various port calls.

Fulfilling the Dream
With an insider’s knowledge of where go and what to do, Alaskan Dream Cruises is committed to deliver the Alaska of guests’ dreams offering the wonderment of the Greatland’s wildlife, glaciers, mountains and wilderness through true Alaskans eyes.

About Allen Marine
Allen Marine Tours, a Native owned and operated Alaskan family business, is one of Alaska’s oldest and most respected businesses. Begun by Bob Allen as a boatbuilding business in Sitka, Alaska, Allen Marine Tours has grown to encompass three tour divisions in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Juneau with over two dozen day tour vessels in operation in summer, and numerous charter and contract operations in winter.

Confluence of Snowmelt and Glacial Runoff in Toklat

The wide gravel bars of the Toklat River are braided with ribbons of crystal clear snowmelt mixing with the murky sediment-laced runoff from a faraway glacier in the Toklat River. This is a wonderful place with so much to feast the eyes on from near to far: huge mountain ranges capped with snow, tumultuous clouds riding the peaks and valleys, melting glaciers miles away washing silt and gravel from eons ago to mingle with the melting of last years winter snows.

With so much area to observe, the sun and clouds above cast huge and amazing patterns out over the tundra and up the mountainsides. We highly recommend capping your Alaska cruise with a trip into Denali and taking the shuttle bus into the real wilderness of Alaska.

Denali Park Bus Crossing the Toklat River

Just don’t miss the last bus out of the park or you’ll be spending the night with the bears.

In Denali National Park, all glaciers monitored are retreating, with an average retreat of 20 m (66 ft) per year. The terminus of the Toklat Glacier has been retreating 26 m (85 ft) per year and the Muldrow Glacier has thinned 20 m (66 ft) since 1979.

This young Brown Bear (or Grizzly) deftly hauled himself from the open tundra up the few hundred feet of rubble/scree to the side of the road where our bus was parked. He climbed with such speed he was upon us before we or the driver knew it. Although typically we would avoid such close encounters this juvenile got the jump on us and I was able to photograph about a dozen frames of his golden September coat backlit by the setting sun.

These pictures were all shot at 200 mm, 1/250th, f/2.8 or f/3.2

The National Park Service gives the following guidelines for bear encounters:

Denali National Park and Preserve is home to both black bears and grizzly bears. Black bears inhabit the forested areas of the park, while grizzly bears mainly live on the open tundra. Almost all bears seen by visitors along the Park Road are grizzlies. The bears of Denali are wild creatures, free to behave as they wish. If annoyed, these solitary animals can be very dangerous to intruders. For your own protection, and to keep Denali bears healthy and wild, please carefully read and abide by these rules.

If You Encounter a Bear

• Running may elicit a chase response. Bears can run faster than 30 mph (50 km/hr). You cannot outrun them. If the bear is unaware of you, detour quickly and quietly away. Give the bear plenty of room, allowing it to continue its activities undisturbed. BACK AWAY SLOWLY IF THE BEAR IS AWARE OF YOU! Speak in a low, calm voice while waving your arms slowly above your head. Bears that stand up on their hind legs are not threatening you, but merely trying to identify you.
• SHOULD A BEAR APPROACH OR CHARGE YOU—DO NOT RUN, DO NOT DROP YOUR PACK! Bears sometimes charge, coming within ten feet of a person before stopping or veering off. Dropping a pack may encourage the bear to approach people for food. STAND STILL until the bear moves away, then slowly back off.
• IF A GRIZZLY MAKES CONTACT WITH YOU, PLAY DEAD. Curl up into a ball with your knees tucked into your stomach and your hands laced around the back of your neck. Leave your pack on to protect your back. If the attack is prolonged, fight back vigorously.
• IF A BLACK BEAR MAKES CONTACT WITH YOU, FIGHT BACK.

Report all bear incidents and encounters to a ranger! Park rangers and biologists need this information to document bear behavior for research and management purposes.

No, I don’t have a giant telephoto lens; we were just in the right place at the right time. This majestic fisherman was on dry land on the arm of its tender as it was rehabilitated from injury.

I did shoot at 200mm so I could keep a fair distance and still get as many photographs as possible as quickly as possible without stressing the bird or the handler. Now you know my secret on how I capture these Bald Eagle photographs but I will still tell friends and family that we had to rappel through the rainforest and wade chest-deep in icy glacial rivers to capture these.

We grabbed a quick, but exceptional and complimentary, bite to eat at the Main Lodge and headed to the Park.

Quick check list of must have items to pack for a day in Denali National Park

• Jacket – preferably a windbreaker
• Hiking boots or shoes
• Water
• Snacks / Lunch
• Camera (extra batteries and memory)
• Map / Bus Schedule
• Compass

(My brother would also like to note that a tripod doubles as a great walking stick.)

Things to Know about Getting Around Denali

There is only one road, 92 miles in length, in Denali National Park. Typically, one may only drive fifteen miles up that road into the Park to the Savage River Check Station. This station is where you will catch one of many types of buses to take you the remainder of the way through the park. We chose to take one of the shuttle buses.

These buses will pick you up and let you off anywhere along the road as you travel through the park. You do not have to return on the bus you originally started. They also stop at each of the visitor’s centers located along the way: Toklat River, Eilson, Wonder Lake and Katishna. The earlier you arrive to catch a bus, the further into the park you can go.

You want to make sure that you arrive at your final destination before the last bus of the day leaves there to return to the entrance so that you aren’t stuck on an impromptu camping adventure.

One other important thing to note is that there is no food or beverage available along the route. It is IMPERATIVE that you bring both of these items with you, you will need them. There are gift shops at both the Toklat and the Eilson stop, but they have no food items available for purchase, not even a token Denali candy bar. There is a shop at the Wilderness Access Center so if you make it into the Park without food or drink, you can purchase these items there.

We did find a wild blueberry patch however at the Wonder Lake stop, a very nice treat after a lunch of granola bars and cheese crackers.

Our Denali Experience

We found ourselves discussing how nice it would be to reside in Alaska as we drove through Denali. The view was again remarkable, brilliant, beautiful. I believe we saw approximately one hundred thousand twenty-two wild hares along the side of the road, a good year for them. We also saw a mother bear and her cub drinking at the river, a bear viewing us from road side and a bear scratching his shoulder on the back of the bus as he crossed the road behind us. We saw moose, wolves, Dall sheep, did I mention hares?

Our stop at the Polychrome Overlook was probably most impressive to me. Before us lay multicolored mountaintops, flowered fields and the East Fork River.

We decided on the return trip that we would get off the bus at the Toklat River rest stop and hike up the road on our own for awhile. The light was perfect, we crossed a shallow river on foot and we just enjoyed the serenity and quiet of our surroundings. We spent an hour, just Ryan and I, along the main road. We even found a location where glacier melt met the river, the contrast was amazing.

Just the trip to Wonder Lake and back is 11 hours. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the Park early enough to get the trip out to Katishna, I guess we have a reason to return.

Moose Cow and Calf in Denali

Fireworks in Haines by Gary Lidholm

Haines festivities on the 3rd and 4th included: a Mt. Ripinsky Run, Golf Tournament, Mad Raft Race, Flag Raising, Parade, Pies & Coffee, Book, Bake, Hot Dog, Hamburger and Garden-burger Sale, Mud Volleyball, Children’s Games, Balloon Twisting, Face Painting, Nail Pounding Contest, Pie Eating Contest, Cannon Firing, and Fireworks!

Check out Haines Alaska News and Comment for article and pictures.