Summer Trip, Juneau Day 1

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We had Chinese food at the Zen restaurant in our hotel. After lunch we drove out to Mendenhall Glacier. We walked a few short hikes and then made our way out on the Nugget Falls trail to the waterfall and glacier. It rained pretty much the whole walk to the glacier. We took several pictures and enjoyed the views of the gushing falls and beautiful glacier.

There was an enormous amount of water coming down the falls.
In fact, there was a flood warning for parts of the Mendenhall River the next day. Many pieces of ice from the glacier were floating in the lake.

 Taylor managed to grab a sheet of ice from the water. She claimed to be so strong she lifted an iceberg (but I know better!).

The glacier is about 12 miles long.

We took a different trail on the way back only to be stopped by high waters in a creek. Not wanting to get soaking wet, we turned and connected with the main trail and hiked to the Visitors' Center. I was very disappointed after we walked inside. They charge an admission fee to the center! We quickly walked back out the door! We did walk along the boardwalk which followed the creek. There were bear warning signs up and a lot of evidence of recent bear activity, but on this day we had no sightings.

 

We drove back to the hotel and ate a light dinner. After eating, we walked to the shops downtown and got a few souvenirs.