What was I thinking? When it said axe-throwing contest I thought it was a joke, but here I am (carefully) angling an axe behind my head before hurling it at a target. Or trying to.
Let’s just say I am not quite as proficient as the guys I’ve just been watching in a lumberjack show in Ketchikan, who also made operating chainsaws look like child’s play and shinned up poles so fast that if you blinked you missed it.
I skipped the show the last time I was here, fearing it would be very touristy. And, to be honest, it is. With two teams of timber sports athletes (yes, there really is such a thing) competing and lots of shouting as we cheered them on. But it’s also great fun, with plenty of jeopardy. Chopping a log while standing on it definitely goes down as a ‘don’t try this at home’ moment in my book.
I’m in Ketchikan on day six of a one-week Alaska cruise from Vancouver on Holland America Line’s Koningsdam. And I’m discovering there is more to do and see in this great land than spot bears and whales or go zip-wiring through treetops as we sail the Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan golden triangle.
In Juneau, I tog up in waterproof coats, trousers and gloves and set out on a bike ride along roads and through forests - about 8.5 miles in all - to the mighty Mendenhall Glacier. It’s wet and windy (just my luck that the weather forecast was right for once) but hey, you don’t go to Alaska for a sun tan! Instead, a raincoat, jumper, gloves and woolly hat don’t go amiss.
In Skagway, I’m off in the footsteps of the thousands of prospectors who raced to the Klondike in search of gold in the 1890s. They risked life and limb climbing over the narrow White Pass or steep Chilcoot Trail. Me? I’m going the easy way on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, built in just two years to avoid the dangers of going on foot. It’s fabulously scenic, taking us through the forest, over bridges, into tunnels blasted through the rock and past snow as deep as the carriages.
Our guide Ben meets us at the journey’s end and takes us back down the mountain to Liarsville, where 20 or so journalists camped during the gold rush and sent articles to their editors in the Lower 48 (as Alaskans call the rest of the US) telling people how easy it was to get to the gold fields and make a fortune. It was a lie. Thousands died trying to get there; others arrived too late and discovered all claims were taken.
Holland America Line turns out to be a top choice for exploring Alaska. For one thing, just look at the ship I’m on. Never mind all the places to eat (including my favourite, Sel de Mer), Koningsdam has a Music Walk, where different venues have live bands playing pop, bluesy soul and rock. Yep, that’s me you see every evening in the Rock Room, where the band looked and sounded the part with their torn jeans and Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones and Deep Purple covers.
For another, this Inside Passage cruise includes a day in Glacier Bay National Park, a huge area covering 3.3 million acres (bigger than Yorkshire) that only a select few cruise lines are allowed to enter and which is home to more than 1,000 glaciers, including the massive mile-wide Marjorie Glacier, which we are heading for.
It’s quite a picture, rising some 250 feet above sea level (and with another 100 feet underwater). The captain holds Koningsdam about half a mile from the glacier face for 30 minutes, then twirls the ship around to give those on the other side a view. That’s my cue to race to my cabin, where I spend the next half-hour glacier-watching from my balcony. With space on the outside decks at a premium and such beautiful scenery to see during the cruise, this is one voyage where a private balcony is a must. And that is no lie! 
