Thursday, August 10, 2017

Alaskan Cruise 2017 - Day 4: Juneau, Part 2

Continued from the previous post.

That's the Mount Roberts Tramway.  You can just make out the tram near the top in the photo.  Riders board a gondola at at the docks and ride to the top where there are scenic views, hiking opportunities, a nature center, shop, restaurant and more.


Once we docked John and Norma disembarked for a ride to the top of Mount Roberts.  Todd and I stayed onboard the ship until 2:30pm when it was time to meet our group for a guided hike near Mendenhall Glacier.  We arrived at the excursion check-in area, met our guide Maureen, signed our waiver forms and boarded the bus.  By this time it was raining steadily (but it stopped by the time we arrived at our destination).

We drove about 15-20 minutes from the port to the Mendenhall Glacier recreation area.  On the way Maureen gave us information about Juneau:  State capital, not connected to the rest of Alaska by road or rail - only way in is by boat or plane, about 33,000 permanent residents which swells with seasonal workers during the summer, etc.  Once we arrived at the bus parking lot we grabbed a bottle of water and a granola bar and struck out on foot to the start of the trail.  There were 9 people in our hiking group.

Our journey begins
Maureen and the map.  She was a fantastic guide by the way - personable and knowledgeable.
Devil's Club - a huge, spiky plant that is ev-er-y-where.
We hiked 3 1/2 hours for a distance of 3.98 miles.  Beauty was all around.
Looking back
Prior to this trip we wouldn't have thought of rainforest and Alaska in the same sentence, but Maureen set us straight
Mendenhall Lake.  Those are chunks of ice in the water from the glacier.
We passed by several remnants from the old mining days.  Here's a tangle of steel cable with mine cart tracks in the background.
Mine cart tracks
Look at all that Devil's Club!
Trees ascending.  Did you know that porcupines climb trees?
I didn't.  They live here but we didn't see any on our hike.
And we've come to the 200 stairs
Up and up and up and up and...
Looking back from the top
We took a short rest at the top of the stairs then continued on our way
The top of Nugget Falls
Moss and lichen everywhere
Maureen explained that there's little to no soil on top of the rocky surface.  Over time the moss has formed a shallow carpet that other plants can take root in.  These trees roots do not run deep.
A still pool in the forest
A.J. Falls (I believe)
A standout Devil's Club
There it is:  Mendenhall Glacier
My first glacier and it's amazing.  Shrinking, sadly, but still amazing.
Can't get over how green and lush and alive it is here
On the Trail of Time
Here we are
Tongass National Forest
Mendenhall Glacier with Nugget Falls on the right
A closer look.  Maureen told us the glacier appears more blue on overcast days, and white on sunny days.
We exited the trail at the Visitor Center then walked back to the bus parking lot.  Looking back at Nugget Falls and part of the area we were just hiking in.
It is beautiful here

I highly recommend this hiking excursion for any able-bodied person cruising to Juneau.  This is natural Alaska.  The sights are not to be missed, and the air is crisp, clean and fresh.  I can't wait to go back and spend more time exploring the Juneau area.

We got back on the bus and drove back through town to the docks.  On the way back we saw eagles in the fields next to the road.

We boarded the ship and had time for a quick change before dinner.  We met John and Norma in the dining room at 7:30pm (where once again our "guaranteed" table was occupied by someone else.  Our servers are good at schmoozing, but not very good at serving - they are not very attentive and disappear for long stretches at a time.  For dinner I had spinach dip and pita chips followed by an icky "New York strip steak" with roasted vegetables.  It was cooked to the right temperature, medium rare, but the outside was the same grayish-pink color as the inside and it had very little flavor.  The Estancia pinot noir helped me along anyway.  Dessert was apple pie a la mode; it was pretty good.

We had a long dinner (some of it relaxing and some of it waiting).  Our ship was leaving port when we were finished at 9:00pm.

Pulling out behind us is the Radiance of the Seas, another Royal Caribbean ship
She's a smaller vessel than the Explorer of the Seas
Goodbye Juneau - I hope to return one day soon
This ship was burning through some leftover fireworks as we passed...or it was trying to scare up some fish.
I don't know from fishing.
Afterwards we went back to the room to complete our disembarkation preference forms - what time did we want to depart the ship once we were back in Seattle?  Did we want to carry our own luggage off?  We said no to the latter and chose a later departure time of 9:30am.  We took our form and John and Norma's and dropped them in the box at the Guest Services desk on deck 5 before returning to our room and bed.

Our port of call for the next day would be Skagway, Alaska.

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