Juneau
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2006
1
5
7
Trip End
Jun 14, 2006
Juneau, Alaska
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Our excursion was two-fold: first we went to the Mendenhall Glacier Gardens just outside of Juneau. http://www.glaciergardens.com This is an amazing place built into a mountain that was formed by a huge landslide. Glacial runoff still flows in streams down the mountainside. The owner used all native plants to transform what was practically a watse land into Alaskan paradise. One of the signature features in the gardens are hanging planters that are planted in upside-down trees. The first of its kind was an accident and since then they use fell trees to create these amazing planters resting in the roots of trees that are planted in the ground upside-down! The tour guides are mainly college students studying environmental and biological sciences at the University of Alaska, and they are extremely knowedgeable about the native plant species in the gardens.
Our tour then took us over to a national park in which lies the Mendenhall Glacier. Right away we spotted a bear cub about 100 feet away. We hiked a 1/2mile loop past a lookout right at the face of the glacier. To my surprise, a couple of families were swimming in the bay, wearing bikinis right next to a glacier...
Once back in Juneau we took the sky tram to the top of another large mountain and looked out at the entire city. At the top we completed a 1 mile hike around the summit and visited a bald eagle sanctuary.
Finally we had dinner at a pub overlooking the ocean and watched float planes take off as the sun set.
