– Doug

This morning in Marin County, California, the low clouds and fog are dense. It’s gray and cool. I find myself bundling up and thinking about more northerly and even cooler places where I’ve lived and traveled over the years.

Right away my thoughts drift up the Inside Passage to Southeast Alaska where I lived for a few years in the early 1970’s before moving to Anchorage where I stayed until 1982. I get back up quite a bit to do television stories, visit old friends and favorite haunts and discover new places. I’m also on the board of the Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF) which, among other things, raises and distributes money to support critical conservation groups and programs in the state. I’ve had a long love affair with Alaska and I go, in real life and in my imagination, whenever I can.

Photo: Inside Passage by the17pointscale

We have a few of our Alaska stories here on OpenRoad.TV: Alaska’s River of Bears; Sitka, Alaska’s Russian and Tlingit Heritage, Juneau, Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier with more to come. Many of you have traveled there, some numerous times. Some of you even live in Alaska today. Please send us your thoughts, tips and stories about your journeys in the Great Land. We’d love to know about them.

Many many people who go to Southeast Alaska see it from the decks of cruise ships and in short stops in little towns that can feel overrun by tourists. I’ve only gone to Southeast on a cruise ship once and we’ve posted stories from that trip here. It was fun for sure. We traveled with a terrific bunch of people, saw fabulous sights, ate great food and allowed ourselves to be totally pampered. We unpacked our bags the day we boarded the ship in Vancouver, British Columbia (one of my favorite cities,) and we didn’t repack them until we disembarked ten days later in San Francisco. Now that’s luxury!

It was strange and a little unsettling, however, to see Alaska the way so many visitors do. Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway especially seemed a little like Disneyland versions of the very real towns they actually are when the big ships are gone. And that was ten years ago. Now, the boats are bigger and the crowds are larger. The gigantic floating cities dwarf the little towns they visit.

For many people, cruising is the only way they easily can or will see Alaska, and I know how much they enjoy themselves. But there are other ways to see Alaska that I personally prefer. If you’re looking for a little more authenticity in Southeast Alaska, for example, try taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferries, hop from town-to-town on your own and spend time in each place. Let the grand ships come and go and feel the off-hour rhythms of the communities and the land. Stay in the small hotels. Eat in the local restaurants. Meet real Alaskans living everyday lives and leave the hordes behind. The ferries can take you to communities the big ships don’t, such as Wrangell and Petersburg. If you’re really ready for genuine adventures and true Alaskan experience, go at times when most tourists typically don’t. Travel in May or September or during the long winter months. There are no long lines and nobody but real Alaskans to talk to. It may be wet and cold, but that’s what clothes are for. You don’t need a car. The OpenRoad of Southeast Alaska is aquatic.

No matter how you get there, (flying from place to place is another easy option, of course,) be sure to spend some time in Sitka. With its Tlingit and Russian traditions and gorgeous setting between high mountains, a distinctive volcano and island-studded waters, it’s my favorite city in the vast Tongass National Forest.

All of this brings me back to ACF and its work. We’re funding many groups working to protect the Tongass, America’s grandest forest, and to help local communities there find ways to sustain themselves economically without logging the forest to smithereens as was done for decades. However you get there, I urge you to visit the southern panhandle of Alaska. Get to know its towns and villages and fall in love with its forest that belongs to all of us. Then, when you get back home, please support efforts to protect the Tongass and sustain its communities for generations to come.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Doug McConnell's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.