Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier

Sunday, 6 October 2013.  The Golden Princess crossed Tracy Arm Bar a little after 9am on 10 July after a wonderful morning of cruising the magnificent Tracy Arm Fjord.  Our captain now set a northerly course for Lynn Canal and Alaska's capital city, Juneau.  A couple hours later we arrived dockside in Juneau and were ready to disembark by 1245.  We had selected a combination excursion for Juneau.  A tour bus would take us to nearby Mendenhall Glacier, where we'd be able to tour the grounds and get some dramatic close-up pics of that 12-mile long glacier.  After that, the bus would take us over to Auke Bay to catch our whale-watching boat for an opportunity to see some more Alaskan wildlife -- hopefully some of the awesome humpback whales of SE Alaska -- and maybe some eagles.  And we would be treated to some terrific photo-ops with both wildlife species!  But first, let's take a look at some of the outstanding scenery we saw on our way from Tracy Arm Fjord to Juneau, and our tour bus stop at Mendenhall Glacier.

View we saw as we emerged from Tracy Arm.  Breath-taking view of the mountains!

As we cruised toward Juneau, we began to see more and more fishing boats (most of them out of Juneau) in addition to the magnificent scenery.

I just couldn't get enough of this awe-inspiring Alaskan scenery.  Totally different than the scenery in the interior of Alaska.  I was stationed in Alaska near Fairbanks while in the Air Force between 1983-1987, and while beautiful in its own right, the interior is nothing like SE Alaska.  Here's two more pics.

 Here's a couple close-up pics of those fishing boats we kept seeing on our way to Juneau.

As we got nearer to Juneau, I almost became mesmerized by the huge, snow-covered mountains in the distance.  Their beauty was just incredible!

Some views as we cruised into Juneau.  Beautiful capital city for Alaska!

 Additional views of Juneau's harbor area.

Notice the cruise ship in the background.  Here's another photo of other cruise ships tied up in Juneau.

Okay, so now we're in Juneau.  Let's catch that tour bus to the Mendenhall Glacier!

Lynette posing at the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center with the glacier in the background.

 I took dozens of pics at the glacier -- here are my favorites.

It's hard to do such magnificent scenery justice with just a few pictures, but the Mendenhall Glacier is indeed huge.  If you check out its history, whether due to global warming or whatever, this glacier has receded 1.75 miles since 1958 (when Mendenhall Lake was created), and over 2.5 miles since 1500.

 View of Mendenhall Glacier (left) and Nugget Falls (right center) as it falls about 100-ft, rushing into Mendenhall Lake from the Nugget Glacier.  Both Mendenhall and Nugget Glaciers are part of the larger Juneau Icefield.

Close-up of Nugget Falls, about a mile away.

Me with Nugget Falls in the background.

View of Mendenhall Lake with a few icebergs / floes floating down stream.

Here's a close-up of one of the icebergs / floes in Mendenhall Lake.  Notice the beautiful blue coloring.  

So, why is this ice blue?  Glad you asked.  Glacial ice appears blue because it absorbs all colors of the visible light spectrum except blue, which it transmits.  The transmission of this blue wavelength gives glacial ice its blue appearance.  Simple, yes?  Beautiful?  Absolutely!  ;>)