Juneau with a car?

[kstetser]

We had planned to take the Tracy Arm boat excursion, but we all afraid we will end up sea sick (small boats are a problem).    We love nature, hiking, exploring and can rent a car for the day.   We also like to have great food!

 

Suggestions?   2 adults (50s) and one 18 year old.

 

Thanks!

[rubytue]

We do you go? I’ll be there on the 19, and our excursion for the day is a dear old friend picking us up and taking us around. So I may come back with info. 

[tetleytea]

Mendenhall.  Alaska Brewery.  Auke Bay.   Glacier Gardens.  St. Therese.   

 

That'll make a day of it right there.

 

[kstetser]

On 7/9/2022 at 2:09 PM, rubytue said:

We do you go? I’ll be there on the 19, and our excursion for the day is a dear old friend picking us up and taking us around. So I may come back with info. 

Any tips from your trip?   We will be in Juneau on August 4th!

[rubytue]

2 minutes ago, kstetser said:

Any tips from your trip?   We will be in Juneau on August 4th!

We made 4 stops.

1. Eagle beach. https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/southeast/eaglebeachsra.htm. We were between salmon runs, so this apparently wasn’t as cool as it would have been during a run. 
2. The Jensen Olson Arboretum, which was closed but had an easy trail from the same parking lot that was really awesome. We were the only people there. (https://juneau.org/parks-recreation/jensen-olson-arboretum). 
3. Mendalhall Glacier. Of course. This was insanely crowded. We found a parking spot, but it was blocked by a bus. So we waited for the bus to leave, and ended up blocked in again when we wanted to leave. 
4. the salmon hatchery. Which is right off the main road on the edge of town. We didn’t go in, just watched the run. Saw a seal pop his head up a couple of times, oh man, he was living his best life. 
 

Timing wise, we arrived at 1. Met up about 1:15 and the hiked to his car (bc, no local would drive and park down by the ships 😂). Probably on the road about 1:45. And he dropped us back downtown by 6:30 or so (he had something he had to do that evening, so he couldn’t stay til our ship left. East coast me was fine with that because 6:30 was about my bedtime 🤣). 

[rubytue]

Just to add, as we were hugging our goodbyes, friend said “sorry the float plane didn’t work out.” 

us: 😳😳😳

 

Apparently, he was trying to get us in with a buddy to do some trip on a plane with a guy who does supply runs. But buddy had been grounded for a couple days for weather and was making it up that day. And didn’t have room for passengers.

[Glaciers]

@kstetser

Yours is the 3^rd ship into Juneau on the day you arrive so as rubytue mentioned it can be very busy at Mendenhall Glacier as the tour buses will have already started arriving from earlier ships by the time you get your rental. You may want to make that an afternoon visit. The Shrine of St Therese as well as Eagle Beach are good visits.   Another option for hiking is the West Glacier Trail. It’s located across the lake from the Mendenhall Visitor Center near Skaters Cabin. The trail gives you fantastic views from above the glacier.  

[Oceanman Waverider]

Don't miss a trip to the Alaska Brewery, the fresh Alaskan Amber is not to be missed. We always liked the coastal trail at Boy Scout Beach too, just before you cross the bridge to Eagle Beach. It's a few miles roundtrip and we saw a porcupine for the first time on that trail and whales too when we got to the coast.

[dfilpus]

In addition to the stops along the North Highway, we took the bridge over to Douglas Island. There is a nice view of Mendenhall from the North Douglas highway. The town is different, not as touristy. The beach with remnants of mining activity is interesting.

[donaldsc]

The Alaska State Museum in Juneau us excellent - https://museums.alaska.gov/asm/.

 

DON