Alyssa's Alaskan Adventure

  I leave for Georgia today for Graduation, but first a full day of training. Today I had a Guides choice hike tour which involves a 4-5 mile strenuous hike in Tongass National Forest. My lead Guide was Mike and he is a glaciologist, which is super cool and unique. I had to speak a lot more during this tour and it felt a bit more real that I will start leading tours next week. I was able to talk about plants so I was happy, but since this whole training session lasted from 9-4pm, I was completely pooped. Once I got home I quickly showered, put my final items away and got ready for my flight at 6:50. I read the boarding and departing time wrong, but since Juneau’s airport is so small I walked through security and to my gate in less than 5 minutes. This flight also was my first ever empty flight, and I got a whole row to myself! I got to Seattle around 10:30 their time and waited till 11:30 for my Atlanta flight home. I got some sleep on my flight to Atlanta but not enough since th...

An even longer training day was about to happen today. We started off training at the Rainforest Trail which involved a detailed walkthrough of the trail with a lead guide. We were supposed to do two detailed walk throughs, but the lead guides figured a four hour tour was good enough and scrapped the second walk through. I learned some new plant species as well as a few stories here. I was glad since I had to shadow a tour  that needed me back at the office by 3:15. I used my hour or so between training and shadowing to look through Scott’s book and I got to meet a new person. His name was Dennis and he astonished me with his Whale knowledge and experience. He has been a part of research programs as well as other whale tours and you could just tell that whales were his passion. After talking with him some, we made a deal to trade information about whales and plants! By 3:15 it was raining, not sprinkling and a group of us had to get ready for Keith’s Disco whale tour. As we wer...

  Monday started off early with a National Forest Training Session from the park rangers as well as Bear Training. The bear training involved us learning when and how to use bear spray as well as what to do with tourists. Right after these two sessions we hopped on a bus back to the office to get ready to go shadow tours. What I am going to have to get used to is the little amount of free time as well as learning how to periodically eat with the small amounts of time I have. Right when we got back,  a small group of us headed out on a Whales and Trails tour with Jodi. As a shadow we are supposed to take notes on what to say or do on a tour as well as act like an undercover tourist.  Our group started off on the water and for a long bit we didn't think we were going to see a whale(which Gastineau Guiding Guarantees whale sightings or you get a small refund). Poor Jodi had to talk for at least an hour and a half before the Captain found a whale. BUT, it wasn’t just a whal...

  Last day of April and officially a month of being in Alaska! WOW, time sure does fly. I am leaving this week to go back home and graduate, which I am excited for, but at the same time, I'm nervous because it is going to be our busiest training week. It was a lazy Sunday; I played with Oyster for a little before I walked to the Douglas Island Library to print off some things. In between doing “chores” or “errands” I found time to get a bunch of crocheting done, I am currently working on a beanie for my head!  After eating some dinner, our GGC team group chat started going off that there was going to be a game night at Keith’s place, one of the lead guide’s houses. I was hesitant, but decided it was a good way to meet Keith as well as other people I haven't gotten close to yet. I am so glad I went, we played two games, and more importantly I got to hold Keith's two snakes, as well as see his turtles. It definitely made me miss my own babies back at home and made me question...

   Saturday means sleeping in! On a side note to sleeping I had my first experience with sleep paralysis and that was interesting. I was able to get back in control and fall back asleep, so no issues. After moseying around, Maddison and I went for a hike around Treadwell meadows. There was still a bunch of snow on the trail so we had to turn back, but we were able to hike  three and a half miles.  When we got back we got ready for a compliance and dinner meeting with the Gastineau Guiding Company. Dawn, one of the owners, made 6 lasagna dishes , two fancy spring salads, loaves of garlic bread, and two dessert dishes for over 50 people. The food was amazing, and it was so nice to have a home cooked meal. I made sure to grab a to-go plate with all the fixings, including extra desserts. Right before leaving the meeting, Richard came up to me and handed me a book that he said I would enjoy. He’s allowing me to borrow his lichen book, since I had such an interest in lic...

  At the potluck, Karina and I decided that we were going to go out in the morning and do a hike, possibly Mt. Jumbo trailhead. We ended up exploring a good part of South Douglas Trails, starting at 105, heading past 95, and then turning down 107(See map for details). We were unable to do Mt. Jumbo due to too much snow, but we were able to make our way around the lower trails(somehow without injury). The views were unbelievable. Five miles and 3 hours later we made it back home, with just enough time to eat lunch and then head out to the boats for presentations. Again we split up into groups of ten with a lead guide, and today we had Mike the Glaciologist! During the presentations we were able to see an array of animals, and to say I was excited was an understatement. Our first encounter was with a pod of Harbor Porpoises, who we could just make out in the distance, then we headed to an area that had a huge flock of  Bonaparte gulls that were feeding. As we were heading off...