"Beyond Alaska" in Juneau

[Chick's pal]

OK, I've lost my patience with the search function being "temporarily down," so hope this has not already been asked...

 

Has anyone used "Beyond Alaska" for kayaking in Juneau? (Or do the locals on this board have any thoughts?)

 

How was your excursion? How was your experience doing business with them?

 

We're attempting to book an excursion that sounds just lovely but are finding it hard to reach them via phone or e-mail. Hoping this is an indication of brisk business and not of benign neglect.

 

Let me know! I can read between the lines if the reviews are not glowing. But I'm not able to find anything at all.

[Amy G]

Is Above and Beyond its full name and has an excursion for Glacier Trekking? If so, be patient, she will call back. I booked with them for an excursion and we played phone tag for about a week, and she even stated it was hard to reach her because she is often out on the excursions!

[Chick's pal]

Amy, yes, that's the outfit. Glad to hear my suspicions were correct, that they are out working the excursions instead of the phones. I'm OK with that and with your assurance that all turned out good in the end. Thanks!

 

This is probably a good preview lesson about visiting Alaska...slow down and enjoy the ride, eh?

[Orsino]

We did a hike with Above and Beyond two weeks ago. We were very satisfied with the final product. The operation is rather laid-back (perhaps too much so), but the excursion itself was excellent.

[Amy G]

Will post a review when we return, but we had a fantastic time!

[daisy7889]

We just got back on Sunday from our cruise. We used Above and Beyond for our kayaking on Lake Mendenhall. You can just do that and go to the edge of the glacier and to the waterfall or you can do what we did and hire a guide to meet you in a little cove and trek to the glacier and then spend an hour or two actually on the glacier with crampons on your feet and helmet and ice pick. It is a very strenuous hike and in total with the kayaking took us from 9am (pickup at the ship) till about 4:30 (drop off at the ship) It is also very expensive as it is a custom tour. But you can also just do the kayaking for alot less. We had a amazing day but do agree with the poster above that they are very laid back. I dealt with Becky but only through emails. I think that works the best.:)

[Amy G]

We had a fabulous time! We arrived in Juneau and it was raining, of course, and cold. Becky met us by the Tramway doors and she told us it was just the two of us doing the trek that day, which really excited us! Becky sent us to the van while she waited for two kayakers. We dropped them off at Auke Bay where I saw a ton of eagles sitting at the waters edge (very cool!) and then she took us to the trailhead where we met our guide for the day, Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn leads hikes for Above and Beyond and Northstar. She was a great, very relaxed, guide. She would tell us which rocks to walk on while going over a stream, or where to step on rocks that might be slippery, or just the best wait to get up or down a hill/glacier. She never rushed us, and allowed us to set the pace. The hike took about 2 hours to the glacier, and then we spent 2 hours on the glacier, and then about another two hours walking about. They were a very organized and friendly company (locals to Alaska).

 

It rained pretty much all of the time, but they provided rain pants and jackets (with hoods). During the hike we stopped to take off our sweatshirts (I was wearing 1 sweatshirt, the rain jacket, a log sleeve shirt and a t-shirt. It got warm wearing all of that on the trail, but once we we got closer to the glacier it was much colder and we put the sweatshirts back on. For pants I wore a warm-up suit pair of pants (think wind breaker material), and since I froze the day before, I wore a pair of pajamas underneath the pants. My legs were never cold or hot! They provided snacks for us, but we never finished them all. We were so busy with the hike, that we never felt hungry.

 

Things to remember:

Wear a ski cap, it helps a lot.

Hiking boots a must. A few times I thought I might twist an ankle.

This is not an easy hike, but it was worth every dime and minute!

Bring waterproof gloves!!! I wear just normal gloves, and as we were crossing a stream I was toughing a few bigger rocks that were wet, and they never could dry out with all the rain, so by the time we got to the glacier my hands were FREEZING!