Mendenhall Glacier & Bear Trails - A Fun & Affordable Attraction in Juneau, Alaska

Juneau, capital of Alaska, USA

While on a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, our cruise ship docked in Juneau, Alaska.

Alaska has about 730,000 people, the same number of people as Seattle.

During the Gold Rush era,  lots of prospectors came to Juneau, but failed to find gold in Alaska and were too embarrassed  to return to their home towns, therefore many stayed behind in Juneau.

Juneau, a landlock city, no roads in or out of the city.

A town of 33,000 people, Juneau is a landlock town which means there are no roads in or out of the town. Everything has to be either flown in or sent in by ships.
















Juneau is the capital city of Alaska, has the highest concentration of bald eagles as well as black bears.

Driving to the park, we saw bald eagles sitting on top of a lamp post which was their favourite place to sit in this town.

Mendenhall Glacier Park Visitor Centre

We arrived at the Mendenhall Glacier Park Visitor Centre and had a great view of the ice field.

Information about the trails at Mendenhall Glacier Park

There were a number of trails opened on this fine day. We did a 4 hour hike up an Alaskan mountain.

We started on the Trail of Time and hiked around the mountain.

A warning sign about bears on the trail where we were hiking.

Shortly after we started our hike, we came across the sign warning us that we were on a Bear Trail and needed to be cautious.

We did exercise a lot of caution and were more alert to our surrounding for signs of possible bear appearances.

View of the Mendenhall Glacier while on our hike

Mendenahall is one of the few glaciers that are accessible by road year around.

We were stunned by the pristine beauty of the mountains and wilderness.

Instead of being in a freezing cold lifeless landscape as we had imagined, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves hiking in a temperate rain forest.
















There were a great variety of interesting plants, trees and rocks covered by thick moss.

We did not expect to see such abundance of shrubs, plants, greenery and colourful flowers in Alaska.











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In fact, hiking on the trails in Mendenhall Park reminded me of our hikes in some tropical rain forest in Panama a few years back.

We made numerous scenic stops, taking pictures and admiring the sight and smell of the tranquil wilderness.

We started hiking on the Trail of Time, an easy hike.














But after a little while, we got lost and were hiking on the East Glacier Trail, a challenging and much longer trail with steps and narrow mountain paths



























It was wonderful enjoying such marvelous scenery and hiking on the beautiful Mendenhall Glacier trails with our son.











J. shared our love of nature and outdoor activities.

J. confronting a bear dead on!

At the end of our hike, we spent sometime at the Visitor Centre and looked at the exhibits.

We touched the 200 year old glacier ice at the Visitor Centre.

We learned about glaciers and even touched a piece of 200 year old glacier ice on display!












Besides learning about glaciers during our one day Juneau excursion, we also learned bits of interesting facts about the surrounding area of Juneau.

An evening view of Juneau from our cabin

- on Admiralty Island, there is a bear per square mile!

- Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, and a running mate as a vice president, lived in the governor's mansion for two weeks and then moved away.  

We got back to our cruise ship by 5pm.  














We had a ping pong game after dinner at the Lido Deck – Deck 9.



We also were able to catch a show put on by the Philippino staff of the Westerdam crew.







 We had planned to walk around downtown Juneau but instead we stayed in our room and talked which is rare these days as we live so far apart from each other.

It was lovely spending time with our loved ones!

It was another highly enjoyable day during our Alaskan cruise!

R.T.
Mendenhall Glacier Park
Juneau, Alaska

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An Excellent & Affordable 1 Day Excursion in Juneau, Alaska

The scenery of the inside passage of our Alaskan cruise  was spectacular!

Day 4 – Alaska Cruise – Juneau, Alaska

Enjoying the quietness and tranquility of being surrounded by majestic mountains with dense trees, I was speechless at the spectacular scenery of Alaska viewed from the balcony of our cabin each morning during our week long cruise.

Our next port of call was Juneau, Alaska

Up at 5 a.m., my spouse and I even went to a stretch fitness class at 7am in the gym!

We had breakfast while enjoying the breathtaking scenery outside as our ship was approaching Juneau, our second port of call.

Dining area of Holland America cruise ship

The food was delicious! I tried freshly made crepes and waffles with bacon.

Our cruise ship approaching Juneau, Alaska

J. was slowly waking up as he was out with some young people he met last night.

Since we would have a long day in Juneau, we were more relaxed this morning. We got off the ship by 11:30am and there were a few tour companies offering excursions to tourists.

I loved the colourful houses in Juneau, Alaska

Though we were unable to book an excursion we wanted on our cruise ship, we were able to buy the same tour to the Mendenhall Glacier Park at a reasonable price at one of the booths by the terminal.

Mayor Bill Overstreet Park -First stop of our Juneau day excursion

J. was a good calm negotiator on this trip. Vacationing with him has made our trip much more enjoyable and easier.

He asked about the tour itinerary and found that this company would take us to a couple more places than if we had gone with the cruise tour.

Our first stop of our 1 day Juneau excursion was the Mayor Bill Overstreet Park by the riverfront of Juneau.

We saw Tahku, a life size humpback whale sculpture breaching 25 feet above a pool of water. It was realistic!
















We were there taking pictures for a few minutes enjoying the scenery in the park.

Tahku, a magnificent life size humpback whale sculpture in Juneau, Alaska

Then water started spilling out of the the whale sculpture and it was so life like.

Absolutely incredible!

I was so glad that we stopped and admired this magnificent whale sculpture made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood.

Brotherhood Bridge - named in  honor of the Alaska Native Brotherhood

Our next stop of our Juneau day tour was the Brotherhood Bridge.


The Brotherhood Bridge was named in honour of the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) , organized in 1912 by Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people" ...to oppose, to discourage and to overcome the narrow injustice of race injustice.."

A bronze medallion on the Brotherhood Bridge, Juneau, Alaska

The bridge featured ten bronze medallions with the ANB's crest and imagery, sculpted by Roy Peratrovich Jr. in honour of the ANB's 50th anniversary. 

View of the Juneau icefield from the Brotherhood Bridge, Alaska, USA

Standing on the Brotherhood Bridge, we had a fantastic view of the Juneau ice field. It was a postcard scenery with the glacier in the distance as the background.

What a marvelous view!

After our two brief stops at the waterfront park and the Brotherhood Bridge, we continued to Mendenhall Glacier hiking the trails in the park for half a day completing our 1 day excellent and very affordable excursion to Juneau, Alaska.

It was a fantastic day full of interesting and exciting activities, We just loved it!

R.T.
Juneau, Alaska

Learning the Meaning of Totem Poles, Saxman Totem Park, Ketchikan, Alaska

During our brief stop in Ketchikan, Alaska, we visited the Totem Heritage Centre – housing the  learned about the various types of totem poles and its history.
largest collection of salvaged totem parts in Alaska.

With his strong desire to learn about indigenous cultures, J. suggested that we hailed a taxi taking us to the Saxman Native Village.

This is a Tlingit village with about 500 residents.

We purchased our admission ticket from the park entrance station and the young man there was very helpful and patiently explaining to us where to go and the history of the village.

There was a collection of twenty totem poles, each with a different story.

We visited the clan house where between 6 – 7 families shared their dwelling place together.










Now the clan house is used as a theater where performances and dances are held for visitors.

We also met a totem pole master carver.

We learned a lot about the totem poles, its significance in the native traditions and their' use as a tool for passing the native's oral history and stories from generation to generation. It was fantastic and informative!

J. enjoyed meeting and talking to the two indigenous young men and learning from them first hand about their cultures and customs.

Types of Totem Poles

It was interesting learning about the different types of Totem poles at the Totem Heritage Centre and at the Saxman Village.

Carved to honour a person, special events & occasion, totem poles were carved for reasons as follows:

      Memorial Poles -   To remember an important clan member who passed away. The person chosen to succeed  the deceased leader could not assume leadership until he had commissioned a totem pole honouring the events and lineage of his predecessor. 

Shame or Ridicule Poles - A pole erected publicly to discredit one who broke his words or behaved dishonourably  e.g. the Totem pole we saw at the Saxman Native Village where a Totem pole was originally made to honour Seward whose carved figure was sitting prominently on top of the pole.

 However,  as he nor his descendants failed to repay their debts to the people, the nose and ears of his figure were later painted red to shame him for his debts owed .

House Posts or Pillars  - carved with family history. Could be a part of the clan house structure.

Heraldlic or Crest Poles - Placed in front of a clan house with the crests displaying the matrilineal designation. Crests also showed geographical origin, family events and history.

Mortuary Poles - When a person of high status died.


















We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the native village and learned a lot about the culture and customs of the people indigenous to this area.

     

R.T.
Saxman Totem Park

Ketchikan, Alaska

USA

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