How Long at Mendenhall Glacier

[Jen1000]

We are thinking we would take some of the hikes/trails and explore some and take in the visitor center. How long should we plan for? Our ship does not dock until 2 PM in September.

 

Jen in SoCal

[Appygirl]

Depends on how fast you hike and which trail you choose. Half an hour to a couple of hours. Other important considerations is what time your bus departs the dock and returns back to town. You miss the last bus and you have to call a taxi, as told to us by our bus driver who also drives a taxi in his off hours and has made a few trips to pick up people stranded at Mendenhall, and told us how much the fare is, but I don't recall the $$$. Other factors are how long your ship is in port and the weather. It rained when we went to Mendenhall. It was cold even though we wore fleece beneath our rain coats. How far you want to hike in a cold rain might affect your decision. Beautiful glacier and we took lots of photos but due to the dampness we decided not to hike past the scenic viewing areas, about 10 minutes or so walk.

[Jen1000]

Our ship is in port from 2 pm to 11 pm. I checked the website for the bus and it looks like the last one will be 6 pm. Good point about the rain, may not want to hike as much if it is raining. Several in our group are from SoCal and we are not used to rain or cold! I may plan we will be there a couple of hours and if it is too cold we can head back to town earlier.

 

Are there places to sit in the visitors center if some in our group do not want to explore as much or get tired?

 

Jen in SoCal

 

Depends on how fast you hike and which trail you choose. Half an hour to a couple of hours. Other important considerations is what time your bus departs the dock and returns back to town. You miss the last bus and you have to call a taxi, as told to us by our bus driver who also drives a taxi in his off hours and has made a few trips to pick up people stranded at Mendenhall, and told us how much the fare is, but I don't recall the $$$. Other factors are how long your ship is in port and the weather. It rained when we went to Mendenhall. It was cold even though we wore fleece beneath our rain coats. How far you want to hike in a cold rain might affect your decision. Beautiful glacier and we took lots of photos but due to the dampness we decided not to hike past the scenic viewing areas, about 10 minutes or so walk.

[1Alaska]

3 hours for a hearty hike, visitor center, and bear watching at the river.

[DaveOKC]

Jen - Since your ship does not dock until 2 PM, you might not be able to catch the bus until 2:30-3 PM (check their website for departure times). Figure about 30 minutes to get to the glacier. That only leaves you 2.5 to 3 hours at the center, max. Certainly this is plenty of time to take in the center and the short trails there, but the longer trails would be out IMO.

 

There is room to sit in the center. You can watch the folks walking around and of course a very nice view of the glacier. They also have a gift shop (of course).

 

Also, I would take the phone number of a local cab company with me, just in case you miss the last bus, as there is nothing else around.

 

DaveOKC

[Jen1000]

Good point. I think that sounds about right, no time for a longer hike once you really look at the timing. We will shoot for the 2:30 Express with a back up of the 3:00 and plan to be on the 6 PM return. If weather is not good we can return sooner. That puts us back at 6:30 and we can do the tram if the weather is good or walk around the town.

 

Jen in SoCal

 

Jen - Since your ship does not dock until 2 PM, you might not be able to catch the bus until 2:30-3 PM (check their website for departure times). Figure about 30 minutes to get to the glacier. That only leaves you 2.5 to 3 hours at the center, max. Certainly this is plenty of time to take in the center and the short trails there, but the longer trails would be out IMO.

 

There is room to sit in the center. You can watch the folks walking around and of course a very nice view of the glacier. They also have a gift shop (of course).

 

Also, I would take the phone number of a local cab company with me, just in case you miss the last bus, as there is nothing else around.

 

DaveOKC