Juneau and Mendenhall
Friday, June 17, 2022
Photos from the ferry:
We got to Auke Bay terminal where our car was thankfully waiting for us, and drove into the City of Juneau, about 20 minutes, to our centrally located hotel. It might have been 9:00 p.m. but the sun was high in the sky. We saw more eagles.
We would be spending two nights in Juneau, Alaska’s capital city, and then going to Glacier Bay. After that, we will return for three more nights in Juneau. The hotel had nice views, and we could count the cruise ships in port, and watch float planes take off, all from our room.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
This morning, we drove from central Juneau to Mendenhall Glacier in the Tongass National Forest. Juneau, with its population of around 33,000, is spread out along the Gastineau Channel, with two main population centers, downtown and the old center (and neighboring Douglas Island) to the south, and the Mendenhall Valley near the airport and glacier, to the north. In between is a beautiful marine channel and estuary with view of mountains in the distance to the west and north and the glaciers to the east.
The Mendenhall Glacier was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. The Visitor’s Center shows a beautiful film of the history of the glacier and what is happening to it due to climate change. We took three hikes to the photo view point, Nugget Falls and Steep Creek. We got some great photos of the glacier and saw an abundance of lupine in bloom. We were astonished by the flowers we saw everywhere on this trip.
We then drove along the Mendenhall River and took a walk along the river. We saw nice wildflowers got a good view of a bald eagle; this part of Alaska has about 20,000 bald eagles. Today was partly sunny with temps reaching the upper 60’s by the afternoon.
We returned to central Juneau and after lunch, took the Goldbelt Tram about 1,000 feet up the mountainside above Juneau. We walked along a trail to see the views, until we ran into a trail- blocking snow patch, where we turned around. We walked back to our hotel through the historic district of Old Juneau, past the Red Dog Saloon.
View of Juneau from the tram.
After that, we drove just outside the town center to the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery where we saw over two million baby salmon, along with interesting displays of live local fish, some of which guests could touch.
Sunday, June 19, 2022
We woke up to very rainy and cold morning! It was going to rain all day and never get about 50F. We decided it would be a good time to wash and dry our clothes at a laundromat. Finding one open on a Sunday took some effort, and we finally found one, back out by the airport where we had stayed our first night. We were putting some miles on the rental.
After completing the laundry and having lunch, we drove though the old area and past the Russian church and then on to the airport for a late afternoon flight to Glacier Bay National Park. The airport for the park is located in the town of Gustavus (pronounced with a long “a” sound). We had a taxi driver who told us the population is 455 in winter and 642 in summer. It sounded to us like they were all her relatives!
The airport is a tiny building and we all waited outside in the cold rain for our luggage. Alaska Airlines broke its 20-minute pledge that day, even though we could see the plane and the suitcases the whole time we waited. We were then driven in an old school bus about 25 minutes to the lodge at Bartlett Cove in the Glacier Bay National Park. Most tourists only visit Glacier Bay by sea, but we would have two nights on land in the park itself.
We learned some interesting information about the glaciers and the bay, as well as the local Tlingit peoples.
We will take boat tours the next two days in and around Glacier Bay.
