Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier

In July 2025, Debra and I embarked on a grand voyage along the coast of Alaska, a two-week cruise aboard Crystal Serenity. We sailed from Vancouver to Seward and back, with port stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, and Icy Strait Point, with a transit through the wild landscape of Hubbard Glacier. We had the time of our lives!

Click HERE to read a short introduction to our voyage.

This story, part of a series, is about our hike along the Trail of Time to Mendenhall Glacier. 

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Debra and me, with Mendenhall Glacier in the background

Juneau, Alaska (July 11, 2024) Mother Earth, the personification of nature, was on our side. The temperature was in the upper 50s, about 10 degrees cooler than average but still quite comfortable. There was a fair breeze from the southeast—strong enough to cause the branches of the trees to rustle as they rubbed together—but not nearly strong enough to bend Debra and me. And although it was overcast throughout the afternoon and into early evening, just a few drops of rain fell during our five-hour excursion.

We had booked a two-fer excursion with Gastineau Guiding Company, a photo safari by land AND by sea. I’ll get to the ‘by sea’ portion of our tour in my next story, which was a memorable experience in and of itself, but first, please join Debra and me as we hiked through the rain forest to come face-to-face with Mendenhall Glacier.

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Crystal Serenity dropped anchor in Juneau Harbor about 2PM, and soon after we boarded a tender—a small vessel that ferried us from ship to shore. On shore, we met our safari guide, Julian—an affable young man—and 12 fellow passengers, all participants in our upcoming safari.

Our ‘expedition’ began near the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, a 30-minute bus ride from downtown Juneau, where we set out on a hike—truthfully, it was more of a stroll, as we went only as fast as the slowest person in our group—with Julian in the lead along a nearly flat paved walk known as the ‘Trail of Time.’ 

“Welcome to the Trail of Time, your opportunity to investigate the local history of the Mendenhall Area,” I read from a storyboard near the trailhead. “As you explore this approximately one-mile trail, discover…how the glacier and its resources became a focal point for change. Each stop along the trail invites a reflection of the past.”

Mendenhall Glacier is located within the world’s largest temperate rainforest—the 16.7-million-acre Tongass National Forest—so it was no surprise that we meandered below a dense forest canopy of Sitka spruce, mountain hemlock, and western red cedar, while the floor of the forest was covered with an abundance of fiddlehead ferns, Devil’s club, and stair step moss.  

Julian was a fount of knowledge as he pointed to and told us about various shrubs, trees, and more that we saw along the way. At one point on our walk, he said, “Fiddlehead ferns were named for the tightly coiled fronds that resemble the scroll at the top of a violin. They are a popular springtime delicacy for many people.” The ferns, which you can see in the left-hand photo below, were now open.

“What do they taste like?” Debra asked.

“They have a sweet and grassy flavor, similar to asparagus and green beans,” Julian replied.
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Fascinating, I thought, but I’ll stick with the greens I’ve come to love.

The rainforest, filled with a variety of plants, shrubs, and trees, was a lush ecosystem—a complex of living organisms with all their interrelations.

“This is a natural wonderland,” Debra said, “so vast and so beautiful!”

A bit further along the trail, Julian called our attention to a small, freshwater stream—Steep Creek, I think he called it—where female salmon deposited their eggs in nests called “redds.” I looked and looked, but did not see any salmon this day.

Mendenhall Glacier—at 13.6 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, it is one of the larger glaciers in the Juneau Icefield—began forming about 3,000 years ago during the Little Ice Age, a regional cooling period that ended in the mid-19th century.

“It was in the mid-1700s,” Julian said, “that Mendenhall Glacier started to retreat; that is, it began to shrink in size as the atmosphere warmed and the ice melted.” 

Four stone markers alongside the trail told this story.

We stopped at the first marker, where Julian said, “Each marker displays the limit of the Mendenhall Glacier at different points in time during the last century. This marker, for example, informs us that the glacial ice—the ‘ice limit,’ as it is called—was at this point in 1916.”

“How far are we from the face of the glacier?” someone asked.

“Two point five miles,” Julian replied, “which means the glacier had receded two and one-half miles in a little over 100 years.”

The other markers marked the ice limit in 1920, 1936, and 1937, and the distance between these markers indicated the glacier had shrunk more in shorter periods of time.

“The glacier has retreated almost one mile in just the last 40 years,” Julian added, “and scientists say it will likely continue to retreat in the foreseeable future.”

Soon we reached an observation deck at the end of the trail—a deck that allowed us to view the glacier. It’s hard to fully appreciate from these photos, taken on an overcast day, but trust me—before us was a sea of dense ice, blue in places, that descended more than 100 feet to its terminus, Mendenhall Lake. It was spectacular!

Debra and I were glad we explored this magnificent glacier. It was a fascinating sight to behold—and a treat to walk through an oh-so-stunning rainforest! 

Click HERE to read about the second part of our excursion.