Doug Eads

We tried a new outing in Juneau this trip we did a five hour tour which involved the Mendenhall Glacier, the rain forest bouquets of the Glacier Gardens, and the Salmon hatchery. On two previous Juneau visits we had avoided the salmon hatchery ... by the name it sounded mundane. In reality the salmon were running and this was exhilarating!

Salmon are propagated at the hatchery, and released season after season. After thousands of miles of journeys to unknown seas they return mystically to the hatchery. We were there for the almost spiritual return splashing, slashing, and bolting upward over the steel gates of the inclined hatchery, they make their way home. Just as in nature, the salmon come home to breed, deliver eggs, and die. At the hatchery, nature is helped by increased fertilization and breeding standards and salmon populations are supported by this ecological aid. The hatchery helps both salmon populations, and local fishing.

The Mendenhall glacier stop allowed over an hour to tour the visitor’s center, and take modest trails to lookout points. Inspiring, this goliath creeping wonder of ice displays its splendor quite easily with a thunderous waterfall just off to the side. The glacier proudly shows its magnificence in a mirroring tidal basin it is a photographically splendid park.

Glacier Gardens sets up in a rain forest area near the city of Juneau ... and a drizzle can be expected. This mammoth tour through the forest is on golf carts with a guide, and offers a lush groomed setting and a scenic vista. We were pleased with our tour selection, and we were glad to once again be in one of two state capitals you cannot drive to Juneau is one Honolulu the other. Juneau has so much to offer visitors, it may one day be a separate land vacation destination we would strongly consider.

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