Which trails to hike in Juneau?

[WesC]

I think our crew is going to hike the East Glacier trail at Mendenhall Glacier but the West Glacier trail looks great too! We will have about 5 hours of good daylight while we're there in late August. Help!!

[photodoodle]

Wes, where did you get details about the trails at the Mendenhall glacier? Thanks!

[Dream Fish]

I think our crew is going to hike the East Glacier trail at Mendenhall Glacier but the West Glacier trail looks great too! We will have about 5 hours of good daylight while we're there in late August. Help!!

 

Both are great trails. The main difference would be the East (hopefully I have my east and west right) trail by the visitor center makes a loop and you end up back at the visitors center. The west trail, across the lake is one way up and one way back, you'll see less people on this trail. Both look out over the glacier and are about the same for difficulty. If it's raining it will be muddy. Hope this helps.

[WesC]

Here is a website that helped me out: http://www.juneau-guide.com/juneau-alaska-hiking.htm

[photodoodle]

I found this about the west glacier trail:

 

http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/Other/WMenGlac.htm

[tee_harbor]

I think our crew is going to hike the East Glacier trail at Mendenhall Glacier but the West Glacier trail looks great too! We will have about 5 hours of good daylight while we're there in late August. Help!!

 

I just did about two hours (up and down) of the West Glacier trail before I left Juneau last week. (We had sun, glorious sun!) Be sure to take in the glacier views from along the lake before hiking. (That's where the bathrooms are too.) The beginning is flat and goes quickly. There's some lovely creeks with moss and thick tree cover. Then the trail starts going up, and up steeply. There's segments of rock, but in the beginning, there's railings to help. But when wet, it can be slippery and uneven.

 

After the first big climb, there's a rest spot with a bench. Look for a side trail to the right. There used to be a great view from this spot, but the trees have grown up, and it hasn't been cleaned up. May be in the future. In fact, I never found a full-on, unobstructed view of the glacier before I turned back. It's up there, but it's a haul.

 

There's segments that are flat again, with wild flowers, and I've seen ptarmigan along through there. Take some time to use binoculars on the mountainsides; you may see goats. Eventually, though, there are no more railings to help you up the rocks. The rocks are like very steep stairs with extremely narrow treads.

 

It's not easy, but I'm a reasonably out of shape middle-aged broad, and can do it in jeans and cheap hiking boots. Just take plenty of water! I'm amazed at the number of hikers I see with no water bottles. Even though I was disappointed to see that the great views of about seven years ago are currently obscured, I had amazing views back across the valley and down onto the face of the glacier. That rock on the west face of the glacier wasn't even visible when I was a child, and now it's a huge thing, with ponds on its surface. Very depressing, but lovely to view.