Juneau Excursions (Bear Viewing & Glacier Trek)

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Juneau Excursions

Pack Creek Bear Viewing

July 7

Em got up to have breakfast with her mom and sister at Heritage. I slept late and lounged in the room. Emilie brought an excellent coffee from the Heritage Café, which was attached to our hotel. When we first got to Juneau and discovered Heritage coffee we thought it was a unique local café with great coffee. Turns out, there were several Heritage coffee cafés all over downtown, including one basically inside our hotel. Regardless, it was excellent coffee.

We had arranged for the cabbie from yesterday to pick us up at the hotel around noon to get us back to the airport for our tour. Ironically, the couple with whom we shared the cab ride to the hotel were also heading back to the airport at the same time, so we shared the cab again with them. We needed to be at the airport by 12:30 p.m. to check in for our Pack Creek Bear Viewing tour, which took off via floatplane.

Our travel consultant Patty from Alaska and Beyond recommended and booked this tour and the glacier trek the next day as our excursions between the hiking trip and the cruise (which she also booked for us). These aren’t cheap excursions, but well worth the cost. How often will we be in Alaska?

Arriving at the airport around 12:15 p.m. we shopped for souvenirs and hung out and watched World Cup soccer at the bar near the small plane terminal. We went back to the terminal and met up with our tour guide and the other 3 people who would be on the 6-hour tour with us. We went to the back room where we prepped with our guide before walking to a shuttle to take us to the floatplane. It was our first time on a floatplane so we were pretty excited about the trip to Admiralty Island. The tour consists of walking along the shore of the island to a river inlet (Pack Creek) where brown bear would be feeding on salmon.

Only rangers and registered guided groups are permitted on the island. There are a couple of forest rangers with rifles there to basically make sure nobody is mauled by a bear. This is not a zoo, or a controlled wildlife area. This is bear territory and we were visiting as long the bears allowed us to. There are no facilities or boardwalks, this is advertised as a true wilderness experience. Fortunately the weather was very nice…sunny and warm.

We settled into the plane easily from the dock at the airport. It was cozy. The floatplane took off, and it really was fun taking off from water, a unique experience. It was about a 20-minute flight. The landscape, water, and glaciers below were remarkable.

 

So, we thought taking off from water was fun, well, landing in water was even better. Looking down as the water approached was a bit strange, unnerving, and exciting. The landing was so smooth that Em and I just looked at each other with that “wow that was much smoother than expected” look on our faces.

As we were landing the tour guide was pointing out to us that there was a brown bear on the beach. Lo and behold, out the window of the plane, there is a brown bear digging in the sand on the beachfront. The plane needed to adjust where we were to be dropped off by about 100 feet to avoid the bear. To get out of the plane we were required to wear waders since the plane was not parking or docking, but rather leaving us there after dropping us off.

So, we got dropped off in about 2 feet of water. Once on the shore, we changed into our hiking shoes which were in a large sack with everybody’s shoes, and carried by the guide. The guide placed the sack of boots and other gear in a bear-safe box on the beach and we took our place near another group of about 10 people on the beach to observe the brown bear there. The bear was digging for clams, using its immense claws to dig. It was about 50 yards away. We all stayed low and quiet, though soft conversation was allowed. There was a forest ranger there as well, with her rifle, ready in case. The most common sound was that of camera shutters, as many people here had real cameras, not just Smartphones.

The guide distributed our box lunches. About 30 minutes later we followed our guide up the shoreline toward the river inlet about ½ mile away. Along the way we needed to be on the lookout for bear coming out of the woods along the shore. Once we got to the river inlet we took our place with another group of about 6 people and their guide perched about 50 feet from the creek, with a meadow between us, and waited for bear to show up and hunt salmon.

It turns out we were here about a week too early as the salmon hadn’t started to run in full just yet. So, bear activity was lighter than we hoped. We did see several bears walking along the water. We also saw a mother bear chase her two approaching cubs away from her. The guide told us that the bear was trying to basically throw here cubs out of the nest, but they wanted to be with her. The mother bear forcefully chased one of them into the woods and she didn’t return for about a half hour.

After about an hour the ocean water was rising, and raising the water level in the river. We actually started seeing and hearing salmon jumping in the river, which was about 50 feet from us. But still no bear activity other than one or two bears walking along the river. The guide told us to start getting ready to go, when we saw the mother bear coming up the river, quickly. Turns out, she was hunting salmon!

So, in the final few minutes of our stay at the viewing point we saw the bear run down the river very quickly and thrashingly, then it reared on its hind legs standing tall with its front legs raised in the air, and it pounced into the river head first. It popped right back up with a huge salmon its mouth! It was really exciting to see…a real WOW moment. Then it took its meal into the woods. The guide and ranger were thrilled because they, and we, witnessed the first salmon catch of the season. We got we came for. Now it was time to hike back to the plane which was on its way to pick us up.

 

Getting into the floatplane from the shore was harder than getting out of it onto the shore. Of course I ended up getting water down one of my waders as I made my way, and so I had one wet foot for the ride back. Not bad for the one and only casualty of the day. Taking off and landing in the water one more time and back at the airport.

We met up with Em’s mom and sister back at the hotel and headed out for dinner. Juneau is pretty compact so tourists either eat right downtown or walk a couple of blocks to the waterfront. We walked to the waterfront and ate at The Hangar, overlooking the harbor. Decent food, good service, nice view, but awfully loud. From there we walked to the Uncruise meeting point for the following day in order to get proper orientation for dropping our bags and checking in. We wanted to do that since we were spending the better part of the day on a Glacier Trek excursion prior to boarding the cruise. We didn’t want to worry about logistics in case we were delayed coming back to Juneau. Then back to the Baranof and to Bed.

Mendenhall Glacier Trek

July 8

We checked out and had the hotel hold our bags for the day until our check-in for the cruise later in the afternoon. We had coffee at the Heritage Café adjacent to the Baranof and waited for the tour van to pick Em and me up at 8:00 a.m. for our Glacier Trek with NorthStar Trekking. This excursion was recommended to us by our travel consultant, Patty. We weren’t sure we’d really be able to do this and still be back in time to board the cruise but she said it would not be a problem. So, how could we say no to trekking on a glacier in Alaska…right?

So, there are 3 levels of trekking offered, and we chose the intermediate “Helicopter Glacier Trek” option which is described as follows on their website: On this 2-hour trek, there is an early emphasis on learning the proper use of the mountaineering gear and understanding the glacier features and hazards so that more remote areas of the glacier can be accessed during the trek. You will experience physical activity interspersed with detailed explanations of the glacier environment and surrounding area. Participants should be comfortable hiking approximately two miles over uneven and sometimes steep terrain. DURATION: Approximately 4 1/4 hours including transportation to heliport, safety briefing and gearing up, helicopter flight and a 2-hour hike on the glacier.

The van picked us up on schedule and off to the airport…again. Once at the airport we were herded into a building at the heliport to get our gear. We were provided a sack to keep our belongings for safekeeping at the heliport. Mountaineering boots, harnesses with carabiner, helmets, and jackets were issued to us. We got a simple safety overview and then headed out to the helicopter. There were two groups of 6, one group per helicopter, and one guide in each helicopter. We loaded and took off toward Mendenhall Glacier.

The helicopter ride is actually only about 10 minutes to the glacier, but as part of the tour, the ride out took about 25 minutes. This was to give us extra time to enjoy the ride and the spectacular glacial views. Our pilot was fun and informative. Then it came time to land on the glacier. It was like landing on an Arctic outpost. Against the stark white background, we could see the bright orange base camp tent and a few people hovering around it waiting for our arrival. We were instructed to strictly follow a path away from the helicopter to a meeting point with the guides.

Once we were all together, the guides pulled out the crampons and ice poles/axes for each of us. The crampons were a lot easier to walk on than expected. But, it did take a bit of effort to be sure to grip the ice with them with each step. There would be no way to walk on the glacier without them…but of course…it’s a sheet of ice! The ice pole/ax was needed to climb up and climb down ice walls along the hike.

The hike was interesting in that the guides had no planned itinerary. They explained that they guide once a week, and the glacier is changing daily, so it is different every time they are here. One would go ahead and scout a path, and a couple of times he came back to say we needed to go a different way because it was too dangerous. We came across many crevasses and simple holes filled with water that each of us needed to be diligent about in terms of not walking into. There were streams, blue ice, walls, water bubblers, small caves, and just challenging terrain throughout the hike. We learned to climb, descend, and traverse ice walls utilizing our crampons and ice poles.

Though we hiked for a couple of hours we never lost site of the base camp. This was truly exhilarating. All the hikers’ faces were plastered with smiles and wonder, even when needing serious help. This was a highlight of our trip.

 

We got back to the pick-up point just in time for de-cramponing, and greeting the landing helicopter. Once in the helicopter, and the pilot was sure nobody was decapitated, we took off. This time we made a bee line to the airport, and were back in less than 15 minutes. It’s amazing that this adventure is so close to Juneau. We were back at the hotel by 1:00 p.m. Boarding for the cruise was at 4:30.

Next: Uncruise: Glaciers & Whales