It is another early docking but we are not in a real rush to get off and head to the International Dining room for breakfast. We had a great meal and got to speak with Irma again. Need a high protein diet so that we have the energy this am for our hike.
Hey and guess what we turn on the morning show and our Jasper Moosejaw is on again. He is comfortable with Brett. Guess he is in good hands.
We head ashore just after 9 am and walk towards town and the main bus depot. We are planning on taking local transit to the Mendenhall Glacier, but I did notice that the price for the local shuttles to the Glacier have gone up considerably. They are now at $8 each way per person. Still a reasonable cost considering the ship charges $40 per person and you only get a short time at the glacier. But since we promote transit as transit drivers we decided to take transit. The cost is $2 per person each way but you should be aware that the bus drops you about 1.5 miles from the visitor center. But it is level and an easy walk.
We catch the 10:05 bus, you can take either the #3 or #4 bus and it takes about 45 minutes. Note you can also take these same buses to Costco and the mall. We arrive at the visitor center around 11:20 after walking in. Oh and boy oh boy is it HOT, and I mean HOT. When we dressed we both decided to wear pants and long sleeve t shirts, and we dragged along jackets. In the end we were so hot we wish we would of worn t shirts and shorts and forget about the jacket.
We take the Trail of Time (about half a mile) to the East Glacier Trail and start heading up. According to their info the East Glacier Trail is a 3 mile loop that is challenging with rocks, gravel and stairs. It is definitely for those that are physically fit. We don’t come across too many people but a few and a few tours. We later read up on the Princess tours and the tour to the glacier with a guided trail hike that we did is $99 per person. Our cost was $4 each person, but unguided.
We loved the hike, we had great views of the Glaciers and the mountains. We didn’t see any bears but there were warnings. We did see quite a few birds, a squirrel and a few eagles. When we took a short hike up Nugget Falls trail we came across some bear scat and decided we would stick to the East Glacier Trail.
We went up to the lookout point and sat there for a bit drinking our water we brought.
 |
| this was our rest stop |
Bernie decided to head down to the Steep Creek Trail which is easy and I wanted to head to Nugget falls to take some pictures. Even though it was later in the day we noticed there are quite a few people here. A lot of the local high school students are here after school, or maybe they are skipping school. They are enjoying the water. Yes they are swimming, in fact a lot of people are swimming. They told me it was nice but I think I will pass.
We walk back to the main road to catch the bus back to town. It was very nice riding the bus and chatting with many of the locals. A great experience I would highly recommend.
We get off at the Federal Building because we had heard of a great sushi restaurant that is right across the street from the Federal Building. We had great sushi, but they also have some Chinese food items too.
We walk back to the pier, about 30 minutes and get back on board. I did glance over at the table after the security screening and yes they were taking note of wine/alcohol brought on and they were charging the $15 corkage fee for those bringing wine on.
Back in the cabin and we are relaxing our bodies. We are sore after about 18 km of walking (around 11 miles).
We are going to meet Peter for drinks in Wheelhouse around 9:30 and then we are going to go and see the Production Show “Do You Wanna Dance”. It will be an early night.
A link to Mendenhall Glacier site http://www.fs.usda.gov/tongass/
No comments:
Post a Comment