[AKTransAM]

Well since it's the long weekend and I needed to occupy my time, I decided to drive up to the Mendenhall Glacier on my way back from grocery shopping (the glacier is all of a 3 minute drive away from my place). Looked beautiful as always, and I wandered around a bit. The lake that the glacier feeds into (Mendenhall Lake) was completely and safely frozen, but I was feeling lazy and didn't feel like walking all across the lake to the face of the glacier (or about as close as you can safely get depending on the conditions). Figured folks might enjoy a few pics. In the past I've walked across the lake in the Winter, or taken the "hiking" trail out there, but most of the time kayaked across in the Summer to access the ever changing ice caves in the glacier (couple of pics from past years in the ice caves included). The rest of the morning was a little bit of gamboling with a couple of friends in their Jeeps and my truck all the way out the road (till the very end of the road).

Had to clean off the snow from my truck. Luckily we didn't get the 15 inches of snow that was predicted for overnight


Road to the glacier


Mendenhall glacier visitor center. Didn't feel like walking up there today.


Glacier at the far end of the lake, from one of the viewing patios


Close up of the glacier


Another view on my way out


Studded tires work wonders in the Winter. I switch out my 33 inch mud terrains for studded tires in the Winter.


Close up of the studs on a clear day


Driving out to the literal end of the road with a couple of Jeep buddies


Having fun in the snow at the cove at the end of the road


More gamboling




Ice cave under the glacier on a Summer day a few years ago. We kayaked across. This ice cave doesn't exist anymore.


Inside the ice cave


Entrance to the ice cave.

[aditya_rao]

Brought back my Alaska summer trip memories. I'm sure the glacier caves would have been a different experience

Do you work in Juneau? I saw many gold/diamond shops when I had visited few years back run by desi folks

[AKTransAM]

Originally Posted by aditya_rao

Brought back my Alaska summer trip memories. I'm sure the glacier caves would have been a different experience

Do you work in Juneau? I saw many gold/diamond shops when I had visited few years back run by desi folks

Yeah I work here. Lots of gold/diamond shops located downtown as you saw, by the cruise ship docks. I generally avoid downtown like the plague in Summer because of the tourist rush.

The caves are generally just a locals thing here, since it takes a lot of time to get there, and there's no maintained trails or anything.

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by AKTransAM

Yeah I work here. Lots of gold/diamond shops located downtown as you saw, by the cruise ship docks. I generally avoid downtown like the plague in Summer because of the tourist rush.

The caves are generally just a locals thing here, since it takes a lot of time to get there, and there's no maintained trails or anything.

I was there for 2 days due to messed up routing by Alaska airlines, visited the glacier and took a whale watching tour. Wasn't crowded as it was end of spring

[AKTransAM]

Originally Posted by aditya_rao

I was there for 2 days due to messed up routing by Alaska airlines, visited the glacier and took a whale watching tour. Wasn't crowded as it was end of spring

Sounds like it was pretty bad if you had to spend 2 days here due to scheduling problems. End of Spring is normally a good time if you want to avoid the rushing crowds and still visit all the spots.

[aditya_rao]

Originally Posted by AKTransAM

Sounds like it was pretty bad if you had to spend 2 days here due to scheduling problems. End of Spring is normally a good time if you want to avoid the rushing crowds and still visit all the spots.

It started on a bad note but we made good use of the time. We were supposed to fly to Juneau from Anchorage but due to an incorrect routing, they made the connection from Seattle to Anchorage via Juneau. So the return flight from Juneau to Anchorage was internally cancelled without anyone of us knowing about it. Led to lot of drama at the boarding gate, as there was no other flight for the day, but thankfully we managed to board.