August 4, 2005

TIMESTRAVELS

Slow-distance running in Alaska

By Mike Cleary
Special to the Times

My saint of a mother-in-law and our two daughters think Mary Ann and I are nuts. It all has to do with our choice of sport, namely, slow long-distance running. We are very good at distance and absolutely excel in the slow department. Jogging works for me because it requires zero hand-eye coordination and it works for both of us because it allows us to dive guilt-free into our other passionate pursuit, namely, eating.

The Chilkat Mountain Range is a backdrop to popular river rafting.

On our recent cruise to Alaska on the Crystal Harmony, we batted a thousand; logging great runs and tasty meals in just about every port of call. Oddly, on this trip every time we hit the road or a trail we inevitably ran like a couple of excited teenagers trying to get home before curfew. "Alaska Adrenaline" is the name Mary Ann gave our new getup and go. I wish we could bottle it.

She invented the phrase during a running tour of Haines and its environs. Haines is a small, artist-friendly community situated on the northernmost banks of the Inside Passage and backed by the dramatic Chilkat Mountain Range. While returning to town along the shoreline, we were carrying on about how great we felt when we noticed in a clearing across the road what appeared to be an unbelievably large dog napping. Our chatter caused it to raise its head and, lo and behold, we were exchanging glances with a bear. For some reason, maybe he had already eaten his daily quota of Californians, he dropped his head and paid no more attention to us. Seeing the local marina and buildings just ahead, we relied on whatever adrenaline was left to get us there as quickly as possible.

Round-trip sailing from San Francisco
Sail round-trip from San Francisco to Alaska and your route is the along the coastlines of California, Oregon and Washington to Puget Sound where the Inside, or Inland, Passage begins. The rest of the trip north is on this breathtakingly beautiful Alaska Marine Highway that stretches 1,000 miles to Skagway. Ports of call include Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and the aforementioned Haines and Skagway. Most ships also drop in on Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia. Some include day-long visits to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve where you’ll spot whales, bald eagles, cormorants and watch in amazement at calving glaciers. If your lucky and the tides are right and the ship has it scheduled, you just might visit Tracy Arm, a Norwegian-like fjord that turned out to be the highlight of our cruise.

I asked Bill Knight of All Cruise Travel (allcruise.com) about the popularity of Alaska as a destination. He said some eight cruise lines now visit Alaska with a limited number of round-trip cruises from San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. The most popular cruises are one-way Vancouver to Anchorage sailings where travelers can then explore the Alaskan interior. In 2006, while Celebrity will offer a few, only Princess will have a regular May to September schedule of round-trip San Francisco cruises.

There are real advantages to cruising to Alaska from San Francisco. If you are reading this, the odds are good that you’re within driving distance to San Francisco’s Pier 35. That means no flying, no airports and no transfers. That is a huge plus. Also sailing out of San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge is an experience you will treasure forever.