Getting to Mendenhal Glacier

[wendlle]

I'm looking at the Experience Junea and Mendenhall Glacier (JU06) tour, has anyone done this one??
I think my kids would like the hatchery and seeing the salmon as we are going in September, did you get enough time at Mendenhall? It says 90 mins which seems to be enough time for us to "hike" to Nugget Falls and back.
Not too keen on the museum but I'm sure that will be fine.

Failing this tour I've heard we can just turn up for the Blue Bus which is "first come first served" to take us there and back at our leisure.
anyone done this before??

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[Geomom]

In 2016, we did Juneau on our own. We did one of the glacier shuttles to Mendenhall. I had bought Tix on Juneau Tours ahead of time. The buses run every half hour, so you can catch any bus back (just give yourself extra time to get back to the ship.). The Disney shuttle drops you off at the start of town where all the tour companies are, and you catch the glacier shuttle there. Just note that you are not supposed to bring any snacks to Mendenhall due to bear activity. August/September is when the salmon run, so there is increased bear activity then. There were bears by the fishing bridge catching salmon when we went in August. (Didn't actually see them, as we were done by then, but did hear them walking through the woods when we were going to Nugget Falls.)

 

[IcedCoffee52]

We just did the Juneau last week, and rented a car on Turo and drove to Mendenhall Glacier and the salmon hatchery. It was great, and about the same price as the Blue Bus and gave us more freedom. The driving was super easy, and the Turo owner dropped the car for us literally right at the dock.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

This sounds similar to the one we did last year. We stopped at the hatchery, then the Mendenhall Glacier and then finally dropped off for a salmon bake. We were on one of the first Alaskan cruises for the year (May), but even so the Hatchery was neat and educational seeing the salmon in various stages of life. It also helped that a few sea lions were playing near the outdoor salmon pens so we got to watch them have fun.

We just walked around some at Mendenhall and didn't try to hike anywhere far. We did walk down to the shore and along one of the trails near the lake but that was about it and what we wanted to do. We did see a bear that was just having fun in the sun in one of the open areas near the lake with the rangers keeping an eye on it and making sure everyone stated on the elevated path. I can't say if 90 minutes is enough to hike to the falls or not, but for us the 90 minutes was the perfect amount of time for what we were looking to do.

Psy

 

[MomOTwins]

I did the Nugget Falls hike and I think 90 minutes is a bit tight for that hike with kids, though may depend on their ages. I looked at my photo time stamps and the hike out to the falls and back took a little over 2 hours for us—but we had a 6 year old so with older kids maybe would be faster. But also in my experience Disney excursions with multiple stops sometimes leave late and cut short time to make up for it, so you might not even get the full 90 mins. I suggest skipping the hatchery and just booking Mendenhall Glacier Explorer (JU11). That’s what we did and it was nice not to be rushed. Nugget falls was amazing, my kids still talk about it—you don’t need more for a Juneau excursion. If they want to see salmon, take the 10 minute walk to the salmon run in Ketchikan near creek street instead.

 

[MomOTwins]

Views from the hike:

 

[IcedCoffee52]

I agree that 90 minutes would be tight. My DS3 (5 years old) walked very slowly and complained the entire time that his "LEGS WERE BURNING!" even though it was a very easy walk. However, when we got to the falls, he and my other 3 kids LOVED it. I couldn't get them to leave..just running on the beach, climbing on the rocks, taking pictures, skipping rocks, etc. We were probably there for at least an hour, and also spent about 15 minutes at the picture point and another bit of time in the visitor center.

 

[fredandkell]

We did the Blue Bus several years ago on our own and had no problems. Alaska is very easy to do on your own, IMHO.

 

[lklgoodman]

We did an DCL Alaskan cruise in 2014. We did an excursion that went to Mendenhall, Glacier Gardens, and a salmon hatchery. My dd was 6 yr old at the time. We all enjoyed Mendenhall glacier and the Gardens, but found the hatchery to be very boring. I agree with others that 90 mins isn't a lot of time for Mendenhall. The visitor center isn't very big at all, but has several interesting displays. You can see everything in 10mins, 20 if you want to stop and read info. Nice bathrooms are in the center, otherwise they have porta potties at the beginning of the trail, no others along the way. We also just got back from another Alaskan cruise 2 weeks ago on NCL. Our river rafting excursion was canceled and nothing else was available through NCL. There were different vendors at the end of the dock. We bought tickets for the bus to take us to the Mendenhall Glacier. $45 for all 3 of us. They had buses running every 20 mins, so we weren't as limited on time. They also had 2 different places they would drop us off afterwards, by the docks or downtown. Very easy to do on our own. Our NCL ship didn't arrive until 3:30. There were 3 other ships that had arrived earlier in the day, so almost all the excursions from those vendors were also sold out since our ship got there later in the day.

 

[wendlle]

Thanks for the info.
Everywhere tells me that the hike there and back took 45mins, so almost double at 90mins seems like something isn't right.
I don't want to hire a car - I'm from Australia, and don't do driving on the "other" side of the road.

Hmm, I'll have to think this thru. I do think we want to go to the hatchery.

 

[auntlynne]

The walk (I think the term “hike” is a stretch) is 2 miles / 3.2 km. It is not flat, nor totally smooth, but I am a slow walker with some stability issues. I still call it easy. It could be boring to little children - you walk through a Forested area with brush along the side. Just keep them moving to the falls.

My photos have me at the falls at 10 am and back to the parking lot at 10:45. That is after at least 15 minutes at the Falls.

I have done the Blue Bus on two trips. If you could get the lower priced shuttle mentioned above ($45 for 3 people), I would investigate it. Going with transportation that has multiple return options is definitely more relaxing.

Admission to the area is $5, including the museum. I am not a big fan of National Park museums and may have gone in once (in 5 times).

With options for return times, you could go to the left and do the

“Steep Creek Wildlife Viewing Site​

A network of trails that alternates between being on the ground and over the ground on elevated walkways, the trail provides opportunities to watch spawning fish under the walkway and the bears that come to Steep Creek to feed on them. In the summer, interpreter staff are on the trail to help manage interactions between bears and people. Please heed their instructions for everyone's safety.“

I did both trails and still had time to sit around and wait for a bus. At a leisurely pace. And used a restroom.

 

[azrivest]

Failing this tour I've heard we can just turn up for the Blue Bus which is "first come first served" to take us there and back at our leisure.
anyone done this before??

We did this last week (June 23). We didn't take the official Disney excursion since we were doing a private whale watching charter tour at the same time. So we bought tickets with the Glacier Express Blue Bus that morning.

The busses run every 30 minutes in the morning. We got on the 10:30 bus, stopped at the view point, hiked to Nugget Falls and back. We were at the bus stop for the 12:30 and back in Juneau by 1pm. And that was taking our time since my 7&10yo were complaining about the "long" walk.

The busses were almost empty that morning, but I saw longer queues in the afternoon once the Quantum arrived in Port.