Just Back:Juneau July 9-review

[VikkiGarcia]

We were in Juneau July 9. Unfortunately it was another rainy day in port. We had rented a van from Rent-A-Wreck months prior to sailing. Chris picked us up at the port a bit after 8 am. The van he picked us up in ended up being ours. He drove us to the office giving some info on the way. We had done all the paperwork prior to arrival so once we got to the office we were off quick. We drove our group of 9 straight to Mendenhall. Luckily it was not raining in this half of town. We had the glacier to ourselves before any tour buses arrived. It was beautiful, much better than I had thought. After about 30 minutes buses began to arrive and we were off. We then went to the other vantage point that required a car (they will show you how to get there on the map) Then we went to Auke Bay, then Shrine of St. Therese. We had the car back at Rent-A-Wreck at 11am. A quick 3 hour tour, but just the right amount of time for the kids in our group. Konnie jumped in the van and drove us back to the dock. She dropped my daughter and sister in town to do some shopping the rest of us in front of the ship. Van rental including gas was $130. If you split that with the 9 that went it was $14 a piece. Same as the mendenhall shuttle but we saw much more.

[celebrate20]

Hi,

I have been looking everywhere to try to find out if it is possible to get on the glacier without going on one of the helicopter tours. We would like to take the shuttle to the Mendellhall park and hike to the glacier, but I didnt know if that was possible. Please tell me how you got there. I really want to walk on the glacier but dont want to go on a helicopter.

Thanks!

[VikkiGarcia]

Sorry I don't think there is any way to hike to it or on it, just view it.

[tommcb]

Hi,

The bus will drop you on the east side of Mendenhall Lake. There is no reasonable way up on the glacier from that side. On the west side of the lake is a trail that will allow you to access the glacier. It is a good length hike, kinda up hill and the bus doesn't go over there.

 

You can get closer to the glacier on the east side by cutting off the photo-op trail and following some of the trails right up to the face of nugget falls. Kinda off-road, but heavily traveled.

 

Remember, it's restless bear season right now in between when the bears eat greens (skunk cabbage) and when they eat berries and salmon (the bears eat garbage from our cans mostly right now) so be careful off-roading at the glacier.