Saturday, 30 July 2011

Juneau’s Mendenhall Glacier and Mount Roberts’ Tramway

It was clear and calm all day today which made for a great day of sight-seeing. We only had 1.5 miles to drive to get to the Mendenhall Glacier parking area and Visitor Centre. It is a pretty impressive glacier, and very accessible. You can drive right up to the Mendenhall Lake at the base of the glacier and a walk along the side of the lake brings you to a large waterfall with the glacier just beyond.

There were lots of icebergs in the lake. We saw a few people kayaking out there, too, although it would be pretty chilly. We walked to the lake to feel the water.

The Visitor Center had an excellent film and exhibits. There was a 250 year old piece of glacial ice in there to touch. It was really clear in between the cracks.

You could tell there were 4 cruise ships, with some 7,000 passengers by the crowds up at Mendenhall!

It was also fairly busy up on Mount Roberts – our next destination. The tram takes visitors 1,800 feet up Mount Roberts. The view of the city from up there was really nice. You can see from this picture how little room for 'city' there is between the mountain and the ocean.

We spent a few hours on the mountain. We visited the resident female bald eagle who was injured badly enough that she can never be released into the wild, even though her injuries have healed.

Then we went for a short hike. The views were wonderful and there are a few trees with carvings.


We watched a film in the theatre about the Tlingit natives (who own and operate the tramway) and browsed the gift shop before taking the tram back down.

I had put a roast in the slow cooker this morning with potatoes, carrots and onions so we had the makings of a good meal ready for us when we got back to camp.

Gino and Reba both went for bike runs after supper. Reba is really getting into it and runs really hard, even pulls the bike along!

The dogs got another treat when they got to go for a ride in the car up the coast. About 23 miles north on the coast highway, is a shrine to Saint Terese that the RV park manager said was really nice to visit. It was a pretty spot with a small stone church built in 1938 out on an island (with a causeway to it).

The view out over the canal to the Chugach mountains in the distance was gorgeous, too.

1 comment:

  1. Loving your views of Juneau. Thanks for sharing your visit with us. Great pictures!

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