A view of downtown Juneau from Douglas Island.
I flew into Juneau from Anchorage. I was there for just a little over two days, but got a good feel for the town by walking its streets, talking to the locals, and hiking in the surrounding mountains.
Downtown Juneau and surrounding peaks from the side of Mount Jumbo on Douglas Island.
A model of Juneau, the surrounding mountains, and the Juneau Ice Field. The red arrow shows the toe of Mendenhall Glacier.
Mendenhall Glacier
I went for a nice long hike up towards Mt. Roberts for a 360 degree view. It was a superb hike. Lots of elevation gain but beautiful forests (second-growth) at the lower elevations transitioning to flower-carpeted meadows and up higher - quite a bit of snow. Here is Gold Ridge shrouded in mist.
Mt. Roberts shrouded in mist. I started up this last bit of trail to the peak, but decided it wasn't a good idea - the snow was soft and didn't look very stable. The following day, I met a man on the trail up Mt. Jumbo who told me that the snow and ice up the last bit of Mt. Roberts was cracked in many places - not safe!
Mt. Jumbo (center) on Douglas Island, and the community of Douglas, which is a part of Juneau and connected to downtown by a bridge over the Gastineau Channel. Mt. Jumbo was a fantastic and scenic hike - highly recommended! This was taken from the hike up Mt. Roberts.
Juneau and Douglas started as gold mining towns. Looking up Gastineau Channel.
Looking down (south) the Gastineau Channel and the water and mountains of the Inside Passage. Beautiful!
Janny:
ReplyDeleteI just took some time to catch up with you and your travels -- what a great trip so far! Your photos are spectacular and make me yearn to get away from my desk. Camping, hiking, and personal anecdotes (beer-sharing strangers!) are so fun to read about -- thanks for taking time to share. I loved reading about the Tetons and Glacier -- I worked at Many Glacier Hotel during the summer of 1985 and it's still the prettiest place I've ever been (but Cradle Mountain in Tasmania is very close!!). And there was great pie in St. Mary's way back then -- thanks for rekindling some fond memories. I'll try to keep up with your adventures -- relax and enjoy -- you're not missing anything at all here at BLM!
Jay T.