Day 4 Diamond Princess Alaska Cruise - Magnificient Mendahall Glacier

Alaska Cruise (Juneau) . 2012 . Sep 18

Land Excursion: Whale Watching Cruise and Mendenhall Glacier at Juneau

$179 per pax, JNU630, approximately 5.25 hrs

Our motor coach was waiting by the harbour to bring us to Mendenhall Glacier after the whale watching cruise. By then, it was obvious that the weather for the day will turn out to be gloriously sunny.  And not for the first time today, we were told what a lucky group we were to experience such fine weather, for the cruises just the week before met with extremely wet weather which not only dampens the mood, but also their sight-seeing experience

Journey to Mendenhall Glacier

Our tour guide cum driver, a college student from San Diego, tells her tale of how she fell in love with Juneau during one of her vacation breaks and what was to be a one-time trip to Juneau became an annual summer vacation job!

Each of us was distributed with a wrist tag which acts as the entry ticket to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Centre.

 The tranquil scenery of Juneau as seen from the coach.

Mendenhall River, which begins from the Mendenhall Lake located at the base of the Mendenhall Glacier.

Mendenhall Glacier

As our cruise itinerary already includes a day of scenic cruising at Glacier Bay National Park and another day at College Fjord, you may wonder why we bother to spend time at Mendenhall Glacier.  For one thing, Mendenhall Glacier is known as the Glacier in town – located just 15 minutes away from downtown Juneau, it is easily accessible by bus.  For another thing, although we do get to see lots of calving glaciers on the decks of the Diamond Princess in the days to come, nothing beats taking a hiking trail around the glacier to see a different angle of it.  If you have enough time, one of the trails even lead to the ice field and ice caves. 
 
The only drawback of taking a combined whale-watching and Mendenhall Glacier land excursion is that we were given only an hour at the glacier – hardly enough time to do this beautiful piece of wonder any justice. 
 
Tip:  For those of you who would only like to visit Mendenhall Glacier, you need not take up any expensive land excursions offered by the cruise line.  There are plenty of booths selling shuttle bus tickets that leave from Franklin Square (located just next to the Mount Roberts Tramway Station and next to the docks).  A one-way trip cost only $8 and you get to decide how much time you want to spend at the glacier, as long as you get on the return shuttle within the operating hours of the operator.

 Drop off point for tour buses with Mendenhall Glacier looming in the background.

If you are planning on taking a walking trail at Mendenhall Glacier, be sure to check up the status update for each of the trail at the bus drop off point.   There are a total of 5 walking trails, ranging from a round trip time of 1 hr to 5-6 hrs, and with a variety of difficulty.  Some of these trails could be closed on certain days for the safety of visitors. 

The majesty of the Mendenhall Glacier set against the tranquil Mendenhall Lake and a few floating ice-bergs in the lake that had broken off from the glacier face.  Mendenhall Glacier is a retreating glacier, meaning that it is losing ice from its terminus face fasting than it is gaining ice at its source at the ice field.  Just like other glaciers in other parts of the world, the rate of retreat of this glacier has been increasing over the years, partly due to the ill effects of climate change.

Nugget Falls

From Mendenhall Glacier, you can see Nugget Falls on the right hand side of the glacier.  It is accessible through a walking trail that takes 45 minutes for a round trip.  Imagine our rush when we only had one hour at the glacier!!  It was a real test of our fitness when we tried to brisk walk to Nugget Falls, but we do get to burn some of those calories that we accumulated after days of heavy meals on the Diamond Princess.
 
Tip:  With some brisk walking, we managed to get to Nugget Falls and back in 35 minutes!

Viewing points along the Nugget Falls Trail...good for photoshoots and a short rest from all the walking...

The beautiful Nugget Falls beside the Mendenhall Glacier makes for a good photo spot.

 Stand at the base of the falls and touch the ice-cool water! 

Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Centre

The surroundings of the Mendenhall Glacier is free for public access, but an entrance fee of $3 is required for entry into the Visitor Centre.  If you have enough time to spare, the small sum of $3 is well worth the money. 

Astonishing views of Mendenhall Glacier and Mendenhall Lake from the higher grounds of the Visitor's Centre. 
  
Tip:  This area is still available for public access without a ticket to the Visitor Centre.
 

The Visitor Centre at Mendenhall Glacier serves as an educational centre, with exhibits and audio-visual devices explaining the formation of the glacier, its surroundings, and the wildlife that forms the ecology of the glacier.  You'll get a chance to touch a 200-year old piece of ice, and the fur coats of animals such as bears and mountain goats from carcasses of dead animals that were recovered.

The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor's Centre also boosts of some high powered binoculars that allows you to see the blueish tinge of the glacier ice clearly even from that great distance.

While we had a mighty good time at Nugget Falls, we wish that we had enough time to cover the other trails at Mendenhall Glacier.  In particular, the Moraine Ecology trail and the Sheep Creek trail offers views of salmons in the creek during the summer months and black bears are known to make an appearance to feed on the salmons. 

After a short return trip on the coach, its back to our home away from home, the beautiful Diamond Princess.. :)

Coming up next: Juneau Downtown 

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