Juneau Mendenhall

[FaithPlus1]

Other than trekking at Mendenall, do you get closer to it by taking a kayaking tour (I'm solo and for safety reasons would prefer a tour), the canoe tour, or the raft tour? If it's no difference as far as distance, I prefer the float tour our of shear laziness. 

[Anita Latte]

I have no qualification for answering this question except for my own observations and research. I have not taken any of the tours you have asked about. But this is the deal with Mendenhall...

 

Picture a lake...this is Mendenhall lake. At one end of the lake...the point that is furthest "inland" is the glacier. There is a river that leaves the lake and heads to the bay. One side of the lake is a rather large recreation area that includes campgrounds and the park and trails and visitor center.

 

I believe that the raft trip leaves from the far side of the lake (away from the glacier), closer to the camping grounds and other access a bit removed from the area immediately around the visitor center, so that you can see the glacier from across the lake and then you float down the river to the bay. The river will go through residential areas before hitting the bay.

 

I believe that the canoe and kayak tours will "launch" from an area similar to where the raft would launch and you will paddle yourself across the lake to get as close to the glacier as you can get. I have read that paddling can be challenging on a windy day. When I visited Mendenhall...we hiked down the Nugget Falls trail and there was a canoe that had "landed" on that same area that I had hiked to. IDK if they had paddled any closer to the glacier or not.

 

Were I you, I would be calling the tour operators...and if you are looking at ship's tours...look for those same tours independently. You are likely finding the same ones that the cruise has negotiated...ask them directly how close to the glacier you are likely to get...keeping in mind that how close you get can be affected by weather, possibly tide, possibly rainfall affecting the level of the lake and thus the level of exposed ground at Nugget Falls and/or at the glacier itself. Ask in particular if you have the chance to land on the glacier moraine. I do believe that there are some tours that do land on the moraine, which is the land directly in front of the glacier, which may have even been previously under the glacial ice.

 

That said...Mendenhall is a popular tourist spot and I can say, based on my one and only visit there...I wouldn't hesitate to go there by myself and hike on the Nugget Falls trail. Some of the other trails, like the East one?...I'm not sure that I would love to do that on my own...but the ones that are basically in the midst of all the other tourists...yeah, you don't really get to be alone anywhere in that area.

[misguy]

We just came back from Juneau and visiting Mendenhall Glacier and it is a must see, I didn't see either kayaks or rafts anywhere near the glacier, but there were hundreds of us walking the trail to Nugget Falls.  There is a little point sticking out, and that is about where Nugget Falls is.   We loved the whole experience.

[tetleytea]

The memorial to Romeo burns even more strongly in my memory than Nugget Falls (lovely as those are).

[Rode Warrior]

How long is the walk to the glacier from the visitor center?

 

[Anita Latte]

This brochure lists all the trails, their lengths, etc.

 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3835583.pdf

[Budget Queen]

The kayak and canoe get the closest.   Raft is nothing I recommend and view is behind you.   

 

Allow an hour for Nugget Falls Trail