Icy Strait Point, Juneau, and Ketchikan are all in the protected Tongass National Forest. On average, this rainforest receives rain two out of every three days, but we were lucky, as it didn’t rain much on our excursion days.
Mike reminded us that the Russians sold something that did not even belong to them. His mother vehemently denied all Orthodox associations as the Indigenous church is the land and their religion is nature.
Along with the beautiful scenery, we had hopes of seeing lots of wildlife, which is the predominant attraction of Alaska. In our first port, Icy Strait Point, we joined a small excursion to look for brown bears and other wildlife. The van was driven by Mike, an Indigenous Tlingit of the Raven moiety. After a short while, I realized the area was hardly any different from the cottage country roads north of Toronto, which is remarkable when you consider how much further north Alaska is. Our reward for spending four hours in a van, eyes constantly strained for sightings of bears in the bushes, was to finally see one mama bear with a two-year-old cub on the road ahead of us. Both disappeared into the woods within fifteen seconds. Thanks to Mike’s storytelling, the excursion was worth our time and dollars. Mike told us much about his people’s history and culture. The Tlingit were all baptized into the Russian Orthodox faith, as they had been under Russian rule before Alaska was sold to the Americans. Mike reminded us that the Russians sold something that did not even belong to them. His mother vehemently denied all Orthodox associations as the Indigenous church is the land and their religion is nature. Much of what Mike had to say resonated with me.
