Anyone here hike the West Glacier trail?

[Skylarr29]

Hello, just looking for anyone who has actually hiked the west glacier trail in Juneau. I've found a bunch of information online but I've found the amount of times listed to complete the hike vary drastically, anywhere from 3 - 7 hours!! We only have 7 hours in port. How long did it take you and how would you rate it's difficulty?

[epixx]

We hiked it as part of the guided hike to Mendenhall Glacier with the trek on the glacier (http://www.beyondak.com/glaciertrekking.html). From the start of the trail, it took us about 2.5-3 hours to reach the edge of the glacier, thus the 6 hours round trip if you don't walk on the glacier. The 3 hour figure must be one way. However, you can certainly turn around at any time and head back. If you only have 7 hours in port, I wouldn't recommend it, because the best part of the hike was the actual time on the glacier, which you would not have time for.

[Skylarr29]

We hiked it as part of the guided hike to Mendenhall Glacier with the trek on the glacier (http://www.beyondak.com/glaciertrekking.html). From the start of the trail, it took us about 2.5-3 hours to reach the edge of the glacier, thus the 6 hours round trip if you don't walk on the glacier. The 3 hour figure must be one way. However, you can certainly turn around at any time and head back. If you only have 7 hours in port, I wouldn't recommend it, because the best part of the hike was the actual time on the glacier, which you would not have time for.

 

 

Thank you! I thought we might be pushing it so wanted a first hand review.

[PennyAgain]

There is always the question of one's own walking speed. If you are in a group guided hike, you will be limited to the slowest speed a member of the group is able to do for that period of time.

 

This hike cannot be done on a 7 hour long port stop because (among other reasons) you have to be back on board at least 30 minutes before the ship leaves the dock.