Mendenhall Glacier - Juneau

[sail7seas]

With all the discussion we have about Glaciers, I am curious why Mendenhall is rarely mentioned. It is such a nice tour, there is no risk of not getting in due to ice and we enjoyed it so much.

 

Why is there rarely mention of it.

 

I brought this up in another thread and it was pointed out it didn't belong there so I thought I'd ask in a separate thread.

 

We really enjoyed our tour there, the National Forest Visitors Center and the salmon bake after. :)

[magandab]

Our first Alaska cruise was about 7 years ago (I say first because we are determined to go again). I have to say that the Mendenhall Glacier visit was our least favorite excursion of the trip. Maybe it was because we had already been to Hubbard Glacier which put on a calving show that still has us in awe. On our whale watching tour in Sitka we saw whales, otters, bald eagles and more. Our canoe trip to Davidson Glacier was interactive and amazing. After those, Mendenhall just sort of "was".

 

I know that many people love going to Mendenhall but we'd skip it next trip.

 

Oh, forgot to mention the float plane trip to Neet's Bay to see black bears fishing for salmon, which was the highlight of the trip.

[LVSue]

Almost all our cruises have landed in Juneau late, so we barely have time for our traditional whale watching. The one time we were at Mendenhall, Harv and Marv had a short stopover there on the way back to the ship, but by that time we were pooped. It was lovely, though.

[NMLady]

With all the discussion we have about Glaciers, I am curious why Mendenhall is rarely mentioned. It is such a nice tour, there is no risk of not getting in due to ice and we enjoyed it so much.

 

Why is there rarely mention of it.

 

I brought this up in another thread and it was pointed out it didn't belong there so I thought I'd ask in a separate thread.

 

We really enjoyed our tour there, the National Forest Visitors Center and the salmon bake after. :)

 

When I was reading the Alaska board for Mendenhall tours for our Alaska cruise there was lots of discussion of the Mendenhall glacier.

I'm very surprised if there isn't current discussion there of it.

We took a private van tour that spent some time and Mendenhall Glacier and also took us out to St Therese Shrine which is really beautiful scenery.

[carri cruiser]

With all the discussion we have about Glaciers, I am curious why Mendenhall is rarely mentioned. It is such a nice tour, there is no risk of not getting in due to ice and we enjoyed it so much.

 

Why is there rarely mention of it.

 

I brought this up in another thread and it was pointed out it didn't belong there so I thought I'd ask in a separate thread.

 

We really enjoyed our tour there, the National Forest Visitors Center and the salmon bake after. :)

We just finished our 4th Alaska Cruise, and we Always go to Mendenhall , the first time we went, we had a tour around the town, and we stopped at a little church that the congregation had built, it was like an "A" frame, and out past the pulpit was all glass, with a stunning view of Mendenhall!!

We have seen quite a bit of changing of the glacier over the years, we were there before the visitor center was! We saw a bear from the trail in 2009, and this last time, although we didn't walk the trails, we did enjoy the visitor's center. We will visit Mendenhall again next time, it is ever changing. I can't imagine anyone not thinking it important!! We went on the tour in 2009, and to the salmon bake, which was delicious, I got the receipe for the "sauce" they put over the salmon, and use it often when I grill salmon!! Linda

[kjw869]

We go to Mendenhall every year on our own. We always rent a car in Juneau and head to our favorite spots, including restaurants.

 

The walk down to the waterfall from the Visitor Center is sometimes a chore with the uneven ground which includes water, rocks, wet sand and other items. But, you get a great close-up view of the glacier.

[spacepotatoes]

It is nice but it really doesn't compare to Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay, which tend to be the highlights of some itineraries. As we've been looking through our pictures from last month, Mendenhall sort of became an afterthought. Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay totally stole the show!

 

We'd have liked to have time to do the Nugget Falls hike and would consider going back for that on a future visit but it wouldn't be at the top of our To Do list.

[PathfinderEss]

On every cruise we have done to Alaska we always go to Mendenhall. I think it is well worth going to. Where else can you get a 2,000 year old glass of water.:D

[RuthC]

When people post about glaciers here it's usually in the context of itineraries, rather than shore excursions. Most, if not all :confused:, of the HAL itineraries go to Juneau, so Mendenhall is available to most of us, should we choose to go there.

Mendenhall is a nice enough glacier, but the entire spectacle of Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier, or even College Fjord or Tracy Arm is just not there. It doesn't have the grandeur that the others do. You won't see the calving, hear the cracks, that you get at the others.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The first time we went to Juneau we had booked a tour that included Mendenhall Glacier.

Well there was a heat wave in Alaska in 1989 and the glaciers were melting more rapidly than usual. The road to get to Mendanhal Glacier was flooded out!! And we didn't get to see Mendenhal Glacier.

That meant that we had to book another Alaskan cruise so that we could see it.

When we did go back -- we took the Blue Bus and went out on our own. We were able to spend as much time as we wanted and we walked a couple of the trails. There is a convenience store about a block from the Red Dog Saloon where we picked up some snacks.

[sail7seas]

We missed seeing Mendenhall calve by just hours. The rangers told us it had calved during the previous night and they found it in the morning. Would have been great to be standing so near it and see that.

 

[BrianC-80]

I loved the Glacier when we visited it during our Alaskan trip back in May. We were lucky as we went so early in the season that the lake hadn't yet filled and so we were able to get a great deal closer than normal.

[Boytjie]

We first had an helicopter excursion that landed on a glacier in the morning and after lunch we took the blue bus out t o Mendenhall. The first excursion is still one of the all-time best excursions but we still had a nice afternoon at Mendenhall.

[fsdj1097]

This past June, we visited Mendenhall Glacier for the first time in 7 trips to Alaska. It seemed like we always had another excursion that took priority. However, on this trip, we made Mendanhall a priority and truly enjoyed our visit. We have friends who live in Juneau that are truly a family band, called the Alaska String Band. If you ever get a chance to see them perform, don't miss it. This year they allowed us the us of their personal automobile while we were in port, and we drove out to Mendenhall and spent a good part of the day there. There had been some recent calving and some of the icebergs were huge! It was a beautiful sunny day with highs in the 60s. The local teens were out in force, swimming in the lake!

 

I would definitely recommend a visit to Mendenhall Glacier.

[sail7seas]

I'm so happy it isn't just DH and me who enjoyed our visit to Mendenhall so much.

I was starting to think no one else appreciated it the way we did. :)

 

[dakrewser]

Mendenhall is nice, you can approach very close to it, you can stay as long as you like. But we find Exit glacier (in Seward) and Portage glacier (between Seward & Anchorage) to be even easier to approach the face of.

 

And there's really no comparison to Glacier Bay. Nothing else comes close, even on a cloudy, overcast day. When the sun is out - it's glorious!

[Harley57]

We visited Mendenhall Glacier on our cruise to Alaska and loved it. I agree that it doesn't match the majesty of Hubbard Glacier and isn't quite as easy to reach the face as Exit or Portage Glacier, but we truly enjoyed it.

 

We took a ship excursion on a 12 person canoe across Mendenhall Lake and as close to the face of glacier as as safe. At that point the glacier calved. It was awesome, however you had 12 people paddling as fast as possible away from the glacier. There were some large bergs in the lake at that time (2006) and we were amazed at the size when we paddled by them.

 

One note...there were 12 of us, including the guide in the canoe. Only 11 of we're actually paddling. My then 14 year old son sat in the back of the canoe taking picture and fishing small bits of ice out of the lake. I think he took something like 20 pictures of himself eating the ice. (No, he didn't get sick, but we got quite a laugh out of it when we returned home and were reviewing the pictures).

[Robkat]

Another vote for loving our excursion to Mendenhall Glacier during our stop in Juneau. We went out there on our own on the bus that picks you up in the parking lot beside the pier, spent as much time as we wanted hiking around, and saw our 3rd bear of the trip, but this one was only about

25 yards from us (we were on one of the trails). That was spectacular!

That "wildlife photo" was the most ooohed and aaahed over by everyone when we got home!

We had a gorgeous day as well, although a little on the coolish side, so no swimmers in the lake; but there were several large bergs floating around.

Of course it was different from our visit to Glacier Bay and College Fjord, but we found the proximity to town amazing and enjoyed seeing it immensely. Loved it! :)

[MightyQuinn]

Last year, we did a helicopter landing and walk-about on Mendenhall Glacier. We thought it was stunning by air and it was very neat to walk amidst the ice and crevices. Later that same day, we returned on the Blue Bus to see it from another perspective and to hike Nugget Falls Trail. We enjoyed it very much and even saw a black bear in the stream by the boardwalk leading to the Visitor Centre.

 

Mendenhall is very worthwhile but much less dramatic than the multiple glaciers of Glacier Bay or the massive expanse of Hubbard Glacier. But it can't be beat for accessibility.

[TiogaCruiser]

We've done mendenhall on all our triPs and will do so in the future.

We did the public bus with several hours hiking the nature trails, heli- hike and private hike onto the ice with an outfitter. We will likely repeat the latter as it was awesome and more economical than the helicopter.

[Himself]

I have not been to Mendenall in years. It just did not do anything for me. I guess I like calving glaciers.

[Watson's aunt]

I loved Mendenhall Glacier. Last year I took cheap bus and walked down to the waterfall. The sun peaked out and weather was great. Took a hundred photo's along the way with sun out and two camera's At the water fall we lost the sun and it started to rain I was there a 1/2 hour . I went to change my batteries in both camera's and to my horror I did not have any flash card in the camera's. I went back this year weather was crummy I walked part way down and turned away. Don't miss this the large bergs are great .

 

 

Mary

[Watson's aunt]

opps I forgot

I took the helecopter trip to land on the glacier well woth the trip. We did not have any rain. It was great when I returned to bottom and I could see the helecopters landing and taking off where I had been that morning.

 

Mary

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We have been to Mendenhall several times but I guess after seeing Marjorie Glacier, John Hopkins Glacier and Hubbard, little bitty Mendenhall is rather anti-climatic :o. I think everyone's first time to Alaska it is a must to go see Mendenhall and hopefully your stop in Juneau is prior to see the big Glaciers :D I did find the Visitors Center interesting the first time but we have been there now 3 times and going there again will most likely not happen nothing has changed since our first visit in 2004. Unless we wait another 10 years and see how much more it has shrunk :(

[Krazy Kruizers]

In previous years we used to always find time to go out to Mendenhal Glacier -- vis the Blue Blus.

But this year since I use a walker -- we decided that some of the paths/trails would be just too narrow for my walker.