Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier is one of dozens of glaciers that flow out of the Juneau Icefield, a huge expanse of ice and snow sprawled across the mountains behind the city. Snow that falls high on the icefield compresses over centuries into dense glacial ice, which flows slowly downhill under its own weight, carving the valley as it goes and finally reaching Mendenhall Lake.

The deep blue color visible in parts of the ice comes from how tightly the ice is packed: the dense glacial ice absorbs most colors of light and scatters back blue. On the lake, chunks that calve from the glacier's face float as small icebergs, sometimes showing that same startling blue.

Beside the glacier, Nugget Falls tumbles down the mountainside into the lake, a powerful waterfall fed by a hanging valley above. A mostly level trail leads out to its base, where the roar of the falls and the wall of ice beyond make one of the most memorable easy walks in Alaska.

Mendenhall has been retreating for well over a century, and the pace has quickened in recent decades as the climate warms. The ice that once reached close to where the visitor center now stands has pulled back up the valley, and Mendenhall Lake exists largely because of that retreat, filling the basin the glacier has vacated.

The changes are easy to see and even to measure over a human lifetime. Photographs from past decades show the glacier's face much closer and higher than it is today, and land that was under ice not long ago is now open ground slowly being colonized by plants.

The Forest Service visitor center at the glacier tells this story directly, using the very landscape outside its windows as the exhibit. Few places make the reality of shrinking glaciers as clear, or as immediate, as standing at Mendenhall and seeing how far the ice has withdrawn.

Despite the ice, the Mendenhall area is rich with life. Steep Creek, right by the visitor center, fills with spawning salmon in late summer, and the salmon draw black bears down to fish in full view of the boardwalks, along with bald eagles and gulls. The Forest Service manages viewing carefully so that people and bears stay safe, and visitors are asked to follow the bear-safety guidance closely.

The surrounding rainforest and wetlands host beavers, porcupines, Sitka black-tailed deer, and a variety of birds, from waterfowl on the lake to songbirds in the trees. Arctic terns nest near the lake, having flown an astonishing distance to get there.

All of it sits within the Tongass National Forest, the great temperate rainforest of Southeast Alaska, so the glacier is framed not by bare rock alone but by deep green forest, mossy trails, and abundant wildlife.

Summer is the main season, when the visitor center is fully open, the trails are clear, and the salmon and bears are active near the creek. It is the busiest and easiest time to visit.

Spring brings lengthening days and greening forest, with the glacier and falls fed by early melt and fewer visitors.

Fall carries late salmon, bear activity, and quieter trails, along with cool, wet, atmospheric weather.

Winter transforms the area into a snowy landscape where, in the right conditions, visitors can even explore the frozen lakeshore and ice caves near the glacier, though this is serious cold-weather travel that demands caution and current safety information.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.