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Alaska Inside Passage finale to the Canadian Journey

22-29 August

‘North to Alaska…’ the old song was playing in my head as we headed north to Anchorage, Alaska. The investigation phase of my Churchill fellowship is over and we have one week before heading home. I booked a cheap cruise down the inside passage of Alaska because it should be beautiful, and because everyone recommended a wind down after two months of full on interviews and travelling. I wanted some time to gather my notes and thoughts for the report. Additionally some of the surveys that other drs were sending me who couldn’t meet in person were still rolling in. Ron also needed some recuperation time before heading back to our hectic lives after his long days of driving. This seemed perfect.

I was on a roll with airport security it seems- first it was the knife( see previous post) and today I stood there clueless whilst the security guard unearthed a blacksmith made iron nail from my bag which had been given to me at the Ukrainian heritage centre by the blacksmith and I forgot I’d chucked it in my bag!

The bus drive to the boat was fantastic and about the nicest day we’d had for a while weather wise. Driving past we saw a magnificent moose with antlers standing in a swamp with a glacier covered mountain in the background. If the bus could have stopped I reckon I could have got a magic photo! But great to see nonetheless.

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Weather after that was miserable and foggy which apparently can happen at this time of year which is why the specials are on. Best time is June and July.

But despite the cloudy weather and fog obscuring the scenery still got to see some amazing glaciers and lots of otters, seals, porpoises and some whales.

I also got to spend lots of time working on my notes and report which is great because it’s going to be a huge job to write up when getting back home to our full on life.

Cruising through Glacier bay was a bit of a bummer because it was the foggiest day of all and we didn’t get to see much except three glaciers we sailed in close to and even much of those were obscured by fog. Apparently that’s not uncommon.):

The Hubbard glacier was impressive and we saw and heard some calving of the glacier. The constant moving and cracking sounds like loud thunderstorms.

Marjerie glacier is meant to be even more active but we didn’t see it calve today.

Lampulgh glacier was also beautiful . The blue of the compacted ice was magic and even the little pieces or ‘berg bits’ floating past us were pretty.

In this area we saw loads of sea otters just floating around in the sea on their backs looking oh so cute! Ron even saw a raft of otters hanging out together. We also saw seals and Dall porpoises.

One day was at port in Skagway. We took a tour which we booked independently ( don’t ever book tours from the boat!) that took us over the Canadian border and into the Yukon which was great. We saw beautiful waterfalls and incredible scenery. This little taste makes me want to come and explore Alaska some more – it’s such wild beauty!

We drove over a fault line between the pacific and North west tectonic plates – we had to go over a special suspended bridge that allowed for movement of the fault line which is moving quite regularly apparently. Alaska has had some big quakes that have caused devastating tsunamis in the past.

We also saw the International waterfalls at the border which branch into two – with one branch flowing into Alaska and the other into Canada!

The tundra and the lakes were beautiful. We dropped into a First Nations community that had set up some shops and tourism but most things were closed because it was a Sunday. It used to be called Caribou crossing and then they shortened it to Carcross so now it sounds like the ferry crossing and much less appealing but I guess it’s shorter …

We stopped for lunch at a place called Cariboo ( different spelling!) crossing. They have a dog sled team that races in the Iditarod which is a crazily gruelling dog sled race in Alaska. The teams were there pulling summer dog carts as part of their training and there were very cute sled dog puppies. Although they weren’t so cute when they jumped all over me with muddy paws and started tearing my scarf to pieces.

The place also had a wildlife museum full of taxidermied animals. Normally I would find that kind of revolting and we’d certainly already had our fill of stuffed animals in Canada – mostly mounted on businesses walls! But this place was simply amazing. It is an incredible collection of huge wildlife including some reconstructed ice age animals. Some animals such as mammoth have been found in the glacial ice here. The animals were the most lifelike I’ve ever seen and included the world’s largest mounted polar bear. They did assure us that the animals weren’t hunted for display but had died for other reasons?

The weather was a bit cloudy again by the end -Emerald lake was still amazing colours but would have been even more amazing if it was sunny.

We were talking about bears and the driver mentioned that in Alaska cyclists are called Meals on Wheels! Apparently cyclists are at particular risk because they are more likely to surprise a bear at speed which they don’t like. In fact we read about a mountain biker in Canada who accidentally ran into a grizzly around the corner and the grizzly smashed him to pieces. Note to self- no biking in grizzly territory.

Walked around Skagway for a while – it’s a quirky little town- very touristy but it’s pretty cool how they’ve kept the Gold rush era feel of the town. Learning the history of the Klondike gold rush and Skagway’s role as the main gateway to it was interesting. Wow people really will risk everything to make it rich. Some of the tales of hardship were incredible with people trekking over gruelling mountain passes in -30c with gear on their backs having to do the trip several times to carry their supplies in. Some who chose the harrowing inland route all the way took more than two years to reach the Klondike by which time the rush was over! But then the crazy thing is how much of their fortunes many spent on the saloons , brothels and gambling dens – who seemed to be the ones who made the most out of the whole thing.

Skagway is full of lots of free historical information and little museums with amazing old photos. Worth checking out.

Back onto the boat where Ron looked out for whales and I did more work on my report.

Next day was a stopover in Juneau. Caught a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and on the way the bus driver was telling us you can buy your pistols at the same checkout as your steak- “That’s Alaska!”

Juneau is the capital of Alaska which is interesting as it has no road into it. You have to catch the car ferry to get anywhere by ocean. It’s history as a boom gold mining town in gold rush days is how it became the capital.

As we got out the bus at the glacier we walked over to the creek first and straight up we saw a beautiful black bear with two gorgeous little cubs walking past us into the forest. Then we looked over to the creek and saw the bright red sockeye salmon making nests and spawning.

The salmon were splashing all over the place and it was fascinating to watch the males fighting and competing to mate with the nesting females.

At one spot you could see the remains of a spawning salmon that had been eaten by a bear on the bank. Other people there has seen a bear catch a salmon earlier.

As part of an amazing cycle of life the fish remains that bears take into the forest act as fertilising nutrients for the forest floor.

We also saw a cinnamon black bear with two little cubs go and sit in the forest near us and suckle her cubs! Wow so amazing!

The glacier was impressive too but quite shocking to see how much it’s melted in such a short time. A lady on the bus confirmed that she had been there in 1965 and could almost touch the glacier from the visitor Center and now it was across a wide lake and heading behind a rock a couple of miles away. The park ranger said the town has actually been having meetings about what to do as it recedes out of sight of the visitor centre and is no longer the tourist drawcard. They are doing up contingency plans to possibly move the centre or start up electric boats that take you over the lake to where you could view a receded glacier. Tidewater glaciers do normally recede and advance in cycles but apparently many of these glaciers at the Juneau Icefields (& many around the world) are receding at an unprecedented rate.

Back to the boat for more report writing.

Ron was watching out and spotted whales for us so we got to see loads of humpback whales as we sailed out of Juneau. One literally popped out from underneath the boat in front of us as if it had been given a fright by the boat poor thing!

Next day we had a few hours in Ketchikan. This was a lovely little town where again they are trying to maintain the historical feel of the town.

We went to the bridge in town near Creek st and straight up saw the salmon running. These were the pink salmon- different to the sockeye salmon run in Juneau. And the king ( or chinook) salmon run has just finished. Until I came to Canada and Alaska I didn’t even realise that there were different types of salmon let alone that they had different runs in different months.

There were also harbour seals hanging around the bridge. Talk about an easy dinner.

We followed the creek up through the town and up to the salmon hatchery.

The salmon spawning was an incredible sight that we had both really wanted to see.

You could see the king salmon that had previously spawned and then died ( which is what they do) and now the much more numerous pink salmon were going to do the same. Locals apparently do complain a bit about the stink which I imagine must be unbelievable ! What was the most amazing was watching the salmon jumping up the rapids to get to the spawning grounds. I knew they did that but until you see it it’s hard to comprehend what a fantastic feat it is for them to power their way up multiple roaring rapids- what a sight!

The hatchery was really interesting and worth doing. It was free and the staff there were happy to answer lots of questions and were full of information. It turns out that back in the 70’s Alaska banned fish farming and the commercial fishermen agreed to pay a levy to support a hatchery that helps replenish wild stocks which was quite forward thinking. It seems the Alaskan salmon fisheries are far more sustainable than elsewhere.

The signs for a tsunami escape route were serious because this area has had two big tsunamis, the last one being in 1964. The area sits on some major fault lines.

The museum and discovery centre were really great and the locals seemed to appreciate that we were looking at those things rather than going with the “touts shoving tours in your face” as one put it.

Back to the ship where Ron spotted some more whales and porpoises and I did some more report writing.

We had a full day of sailing which was a great chance to do lots of work.

So I thought this was the end of the story as the remaining days of going to the airport and flying back home would be too boring to report on. But turns out we did have some drama on the flight home. An older gentleman collapsed with chest pain and was likely having a heart attack. They called for doctors. I figured I should at least make myself known given that not all doctors have the right experience and I had both emergency and aviation medicine experience. Anyway I ended up looking after this guy with another GP and two lovely junior doctors all from Brisbane. I ended up doing the liaising with the onground support Medlink in Phoenix , Arizona and had to go in the cockpit with the pilots! We ended up being diverted to Honolulu where the patient was offloaded in a stable condition and we headed on to Brisbane where another flight was arranged for us.

All of us doctors got upgraded to the more comfy seats so we got a better sleep for the last eight hours.

Whilst most unfortunate for the poor gentleman and his wife ( and all of us missing our connecting flights) it seemed kind of an appropriate way to end this journey. As I helped manage this emergency with a very experienced city Doctor and two very bright capable junior doctors I became aware how versatile and useful being a remote doctor makes you. On an aircraft we have no nurses or paramedics to support us as they do in the hospital or city setting and it became clear that my colleagues were not comfortable or even able to do some of the basic things that a nurse would normally do but I was able to put my hands on all the equipment in the packs, use all the equipment, work comfortably within confined and awkward spaces and with limited equipment and medication. Because sometimes that’s what you have to do in limited resource settings. In fact dare I say in this situation I was probably more useful than an urban emergency physician.

This realisation rounds off a journey across Canada where I learnt so much and was invigorated and inspired by the contact with my fellow remote professionals and reminded of the calling we have and what we have to offer. And working with those lovely junior doctors as I thought about all that I’m reminded how much I want to pass this on and encourage the next generation of young doctors.

Now all that’s left is to finish my report and do something good with the information I’ve garnered. Stay tuned!