Participants of the Senior Alaska Trip 2011

SENIOR ALASKA TRIP – SPRING 2012

Senior Alaska Photo Gallery
Trip Gear List
Trip Financial Aid Form – Due November 10
Dog Sled Permission Form – Due March 1
Request for Documentation and Information – Due March 1
SAAS Permission Form – Due March 1

Dates: March 22 – April 1
Thursday, March 22:  bus from school in the AM to Vancouver BC, fly from Vancouver to Whitehorse, Canada, then bus to Lake Laberge.
Thursday, March 22 – Sunday, March 25:  At Lake Laberge.
Monday, March 26: bus to Skagway and ferry to Ketchikan.
Wednesday, March 28: arrive in Ketchikan, head out to the homestead.
Wednesday, March 28 – Saturday, March 31: at the homestead.
Sunday, April 1: Picked up by Allen Marine, tour Misty Fjords, fly home that evening.  (The group will return to Sea-Tac in the PM on Sunday, April 1.)

Leaders: Rob Phillips, Erin Aitchison, Gayle Pearl, Tom Flood, Lauri Conner – additional leaders based on signup.

Questions: Contact Rob Phillips, 676-6815, rphillips@seattleacademy.org or Gayle Pearl 206-676-6803, gpearl@seattleacademy.org

Group Size: We’ll take as many seniors as want to come!

Cost: $1500 – Cost includes airfare, ferry, food, boat costs, transportation costs in town, etc. Students only need spending money for personal items. Participants will also need to procure appropriate clothing.

Signup/ Payment: Deposits should be sent to Gayle Pearl, are due by November 29, and are non-refundable. Follow-up $500 payments are due February 1 and March 1.  The $1500 should be paid in full by March 1.

Financial Aid: Applications for financial aid must be submitted to Halsey Bell by November 10.

Necessary Forms: We will be putting together multiple copies of the trip form notebooks, as required for the Alaska Marine Highway and multiple Canada/ US border crossings. We need to make multiple photocopies of the following forms, and we need your help ASAP in accumulating all of the necessary paperwork:

• Passport
• Drivers License/ State ID card
• Signed Trip permission slip
• Current address, emergency contact #’s

Students will be required to bring their passport and drivers license with them; government issued photo ID is required for the ferry and plane, and the passport is required for the Canadian border crossings.

Whitehorse Info

Lake Laberge: For those exposed to the early Klondike poetry of Robert Service the Marge of Lake Laberge is where Sam McGee’s ashes were finally laid to rest in the makeshift crematorium of a derelict steamer the “Alice May”. To us and anyone that has been there Lake Laberge also means coming home, endless summer skies, shimmering northern lights, the rush of waves surging into the sandy shore and the swish of skis along the never-ending frozen expanse of snow.  We’ll stay at a camp owned and operated by Kanoe People, an outfitter located in Whitehorse. The group will stay in cabins. Skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding, ice-fishing, skiing and northern light watching are all daily options.   Lake LaBerge is located near Whitehorse in the Yukon, which is roughly 90 miles northeast of Skagway, across the Yukon/ Alaska border. Whitehorse is roughly 1700 miles north of Seattle.

For more info and pictures on the camp at Lake LaBerge, check out Kanoe People’s webpage:  http://www.kanoepeople.com/photogallery/

Ketchikan Info

Description: We’ll spend a third of our time at the Delong Homestead in Southeast Alaska, a third at historic Lake Laberge in the Yukon, and a third traveling throughout Alaska and the Yukon. The priorities are to have a last high school adventure, to get away from Seattle during a hectic time of year for seniors, to spend a last chunk of time with classmates.. Reflect, Relax, have Fun, see Alaska and the Yukon. Bottom line – this trip can be as strenuous, or relaxing, as you choose to make it. Students are staying in cabins at all times – no tents!

Weather: Ketchikan is similar to Seattle – 40’s – 60’s in March/ April, rain showers, and possibility of snow. The 05 trip had rain, snow and temps in the 30’s; the 06 and 07 trips had sunshine and weather in the 50’s and 60’s. In Whitehorse, we’ll have subzero temperatures, with dog-sledding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and the Northern Lights!

Location: The Delong Homestead, located outside Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska, is accessible only by boat. We’ll have several boats on hand throughout our stay at the house, but the group will be transported in bigger boats to and from the homestead for efficiency and safety.  We’ll be staying near the Naha River, just south of the “B” in Naha Bay on the map above.

Homestead history: Rob’s aunt and uncle built the homestead over a 20 year period, and raised their 3 daughters there.  The house has roughly 2500 square feet of living space in it, and the assorted outbuildings can house another 50+ people.  The homestead is accessed only by boat; it is 12 miles from a marina at the end of the road, and the marina is 30 miles from Ketchikan.