MENDENHALL GLACIER

Unlike most of the other glaciers in Alaska, Mendenhall Glacier is accessible by road.  At least one can get to a viewing location by road, which is what we did for one of our excursions while in Juneau.  The area around the glacier is well designed for visitors, complete with observation points, a large number of well-marked hiking paths, and a visitor center.  Our time was limited, and on the advice of another tourist we chose a 2-mile round trip path leading to a waterfall, Nugget Falls, that is fed by glacial melt.  Here is a view of the glacier from the beginning of that trail.

As is evident, it was a murky and, yes, another rainy, day.  Even so, the glacier was showing its characteristic blue color.

Because of the high rainfall, the vegetation was lush, and there were any number of interesting plants along the path, including this fern.

The glacier was tossing off iceberg-ettes, and I thought it interesting that they also retained the characteristic blue tint.

To avoid missing our bus, we had little time to linger at the falls, so I only got a couple of shots of the falls and glacier from that perspective.

But I particularly liked this last shot of the glacier for the visitors standing on the spit of land that are silhouetted against the water in front of the glacier.

John