DougS wrote:
Since you asked about June, the salmon will probably not be 'running'. That being said, there is a King Salmon run in June. We were invited to go 'early run' King Salmon fishing with our B&B hosts out of Wrangell, on the 30th of May. We also saw some being harvested inland, south of Tok, about a week later.
We saw a 'barn door' halibut leaving the marina at Glacier Bay. Most (virtually all?) of the small communities have charter fishing up and down the coast. We saw 'weigh-ins' while visiting the docks at Valdez and Seward. The Halibut were in the 20-30lb range, with some Rockfish, and possibly Lingcod. These were during the first 2 weeks in June.
Don't sell the Marine Highway short, it is spectacular scenery all the way! I spent most of my time on the outside decks, fore and aft! The only one that is overnight is between Wrangell and Juneau (ignoring Washington to Ketchikan, which is 2 nights), and the sunset over Petersburg is spectacular! I asked to visit the bridge, via the purser, and got permission! It is quite interesting! Much better than flying over all that scenery. Check it out!
If you need to use the Marine Highway, keep in mind they are subject to changing their schedule, they are supposed to notify you if you have a reservation, of any changes. They didn't notify me, but I checked in advance and made arrangements to fly from Juneau to Glacier Bay, with no issues.
We saw our 1st black bear along the Stikine River, several along Tracy Arm, 3 more after disembarking at Auk Bay (turned the opposite way from Juneau, as we were early).
Along the Inside Passage, you will probably have the 'tourist' area's of the towns to yourselves, since there will not be any large cruise ships in port (usually 3 or 4 everyday, with multiple thousands each!).
Approx. # Picts I took at each local, and time spent there (I actually spent more days at each location, but the major areas, and not travel time, are what I am counting here)(since I drove, these were actually over about 20 days): Misty Fjords/Ketchikan 500+; Wrangell and/ferry to Juneau 900 (2days); Tracy Arm 1200+(approx. 6 hours); Glacier Bay 850+ (1 day); Haines 300+ (3 days); Skagway 250+ (1 day); Seward/Kenai Fjords 750+ (2 days); Katmai NP 800+ (approx 6 hours)(guide also tried to find the wolves, just got a fresh footprint)(at least a dozen brown bears); Kenai Peninsula 450+ (2 days).
Since you asked about June, the salmon will probab... (
show quote)
Sounds like we need to just spend the summer there! (I wish). Thanks for your help.