July 29th-Juneau

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This morning we arrived in Juneau around 9am to partly cloudy skies. We quicky left the ship and caught a bus out to Mendenhall Glacier. The face of Mendenhall Glacier is only 12 miles from downtown Juneau. We hiked out to the closest point to the face and witnessed the power of Nugget Falls. During the hike we saw the beginning of the sockeye salmon run and a porcupine climbing up a tree! The salmon were so interesting since they were blood red. We had never seen a porcupine in the wild so this was a lot of fun to watch. We didn't expect to see one climbing to the top of a tree! When we arrived at the falls, which are just off to the right of the glacier, Dylin couldn't resist climbing the huge wall of rocks.

After hiking around Mendenhall we returned downtown to meet our helicopter glacier tour. We rode out to the airport to gear up for the big hike. We were given snowpants, parkas, gloves, trekking boots and fanny packs with "survival snacks". When we started our flight (first helicopter for Dylin), we couldn't believe the view. The pilot flew us out over several glaciers that make up the Juneau icefield. In between the snow covered mountains and glacial flows, there were mountain goats grazing high on the grassy cliffs. We flew deep into the icefield where all we could see was snow covered ice. This area of SE Alaska had so much snow this year that none of this had melted as it normally would. Our pilot landed us on top of the Mendenhall where we were met by another guide. She fitted us with crampons (spikes that attach to the boots) and gave us trekking poles. We set off to explore the amazing beauty of the glacier. As the sun peeked in and out, it was cool to see how the blue popped out of the ice. We watched rivers flow under the ice, peered down deep crevasses, drank the purest glacial water and tried to climb a little (we didn't have pick axes this time). It was a really great experience despite the brutal wind and cold up there.

We returned to Juneau and warmed up with a couple Alaskan Ales at the Red Dog Saloon. Next, we ate dinner at the famous Tracy's King Crab shack....of course, we ate one huge King Crab leg each, along with bisque and crab cakes. Dylin couldn't get over how great the crab legs were and begged for more...they were the perfect ending to a great day in Juneau.

Many more pictures below...

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