West Glacier Trail

Lots of pictures today...   

Our first real hike!  The West Glacier Trail is 3.5 miles (each way) and about 1400 feet of elevation gain.  It wanders up the west side of Mendenhall Lake, towards the Mendenhall Glacier.  Our first week here we went up to the Visitor’s Center side of the Glacier/Lake.  Today's hike gives you better views of the glacier, and gets you up above it so you can look down.  We were lucky because the sun came out about the time we were getting high enough on the trail for nice views of the glacier and mountains.  In the photo above, we essentially hiked the left side of the lake pictured, slowly climbing for the first mile, then steep trail on and off for the next two miles as we went over the big peninsula that is blocking the view of where the glacier meets the lake.

We probably got close to the end of the trail (I’m guessing about 3 miles in/ 6 miles round trip) before turning around at a waterfall (pictured above) that was flowing fast and deep enough over the trail that we didn’t want to cross without trekking poles to help…the waterfall was maybe 20 feet wide and 12 inches deep, probably slippery rocks. 

Actually, this is not a trail I’d recommend if there was any snow on the ground or recently below-freezing weather.  It’s very steep in places, with lots of exposed rock that would be brutally slippery if there was ice around.  And even worse, in some places the trail is narrow with a near-vertical drop into the woods on one side (though in fairness you wouldn’t fall too far before hitting trees!).  Steve was pretending to slip in the picture above.  There were some cable handrails here, but there were only a few places with those.

The view from the trail was spectacular.  The picture above shows another glacier up above Mendenhall Glacier – look at how much water is coming from underneath it!

You also get a really good look at how uneven the surface of the glacier is – there’s no way you could walk across it!

It was cloudy up at the mountain peaks above us.

The front of Mendenhall Glacier, where it meets Mendenhall Lake.  Notice the blue ice underneath and how much water is flowing out from under the glacier – you can see the current rushing out!

A small waterfall along the trail – about 1 ft wide.  Everything was green in the understory.  Green and squashy.  This (and Juneau in general) would be a good place to hike in knee-high rubber boots.

These leaves were huge – maybe a foot wide – and backlit by the sun.  Pretty, but check out the wicked spines on the stems.  

A boat full of tourists going to see the glacier – gives you perspective about how far up we were.

Last photo, back near the car at the lake.  It's rained more heavily than usual these last couple of days.  The runoff from the hills (brownish) is a completely different color than the runoff from the glacier (milky blue).  Neat, huh?