Greenstone & Thimbleberry's Blog: Visiting Juneau

Mendenhall Glacier

While riding the ferry to Juneau we were blessed to meet a family that live in Juneau. They were on their way home from Phoenix AZ after having spent 7 months there for medical treatments. Greg and Jenny and their 2 daughters were enjoyable and gave us lots of insights and tips that related to Juneau. We continue to pray for healing for Jenny and know that they are a family of strong faith.

Jenny and one of her daughters (center of pic)

When we docked at Juneau it was around 11pm when we drove off the ferry. We found a small NF campground about 2 miles from the dock to camp at for the night. The next morning went shopping at Fred Myers for supplies and gas before heading out to Mendenhall Lake NF campground to get our campsites that we had reserved for the next 3 nights. It was a nice campground that had nice views of the glacier right across the lake. There were around 80 sites and only about a dozen or so occupied. We headed over to the Mendenhall visitor center that afternoon. The weather was rather gray and misty but we hiked out the mile to see Nugget Falls while there.

Janet, Steve, Leanne and Gary at Mendenhall Glacier visitor center

Nugget Falls

Tuesday morning while Steve & Leanne and Gary & Janet went to do a Zip-line adventure Joyce and I went across to Douglas Island to hike a trail up in the high country. The trail was actually quite swampy even though it was high in the mountains and we were on a boardwalk for probably 2 miles of the 3 we hiked.

We enjoyed beautiful mountain views as we hiked along.

Boardwalk on trail

View along trail on Douglas Island

There were usually 4 or 5 cruise ships docked in Juneau most days

We were amazed at the number of cruise ships that visit Juneau each day. One might think that the thousands of cruise ship visitors would be a big deal to the local economy. We found out from the locals that most of the shopping areas that the tourists frequent are owned by the cruise ship companies and the workers are brought in from outside, often foreign countries. Even many of the tour / activity companies are not locally owned.

The weather was still nice on Tuesday afternoon so we all decided to ride the Roberts Tram up a the mountainside above Juneau. It was a worthwhile activity due to the great views. We hiked a 1.3 mile loop trail that offered great views of the Lynn Canal below, mountain goats on the mountainsides, blooming wildflowers, etc.