Donna Boley and her family recently took a multi-generational cruise to Alaska. Here is her commentary about her favorite stop on the trip, Juneau.

Getting to Juneau
The state capital city of Juneau is surrounded by intercoastal waterway to the west and the massive Juneau Ice field to the east. Unless you are born in Juneau there are only two ways to get there. One is by air and the other is by sea.

Approximately 900,000 tourists arrive annually as we did, by cruise ship. Another way to get there is by sea via the Marine Highway which is a network of ferries from Bellingham, Washington to the Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. This Marine Highway is a 3,500 mile long stretch traveled by about 350,000 passengers a year.

Alaska Airlines provides daily jet service and many routes or you may also find various small commuter air carriers and charters to get you there by air.

Getting Around in Juneau
Getting around in Juneau is easy. We walked about 10 minutes from our port to Whittier Street and enjoyed the Alaska State Museum in the morning. If you are walking the town, be prepared for rain as it rains or mists an average 222 days per year.

Don’t Miss While You’re There
Totem poles are located around the city. They are a public record of clan histories, family lineages, and document legends and honor the living and the dead. Many are made from the rot resistant cedar tree that flourishes in the rainforest of SE Alaska. Our favorite was in front of the Governor’s House on 4th Street which tells the story of the mosquito’s origin.

In the afternoon, we took a short ride on a local bus for $6.00 which took us to the very popular Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area. This glacier spills down from the Juneau Ice field to the Mendenhall Lake. We were told that it is 1 1/2 miles wide at the widest and ranges from 400 to 1800 feet deep. It is just one of 38 large and more than 100 smaller glaciers in the Juneau Ice Field.

There are more than 100 miles of hiking trails close to the Town of Juneau. Our short hike on the lush green East Glacier Trail was a reminder that Juneau is in the middle of the northern most rain forest in the world. Wild life abounds around the area. There are mountain goats, porcupines, red squirrels, snowshoe hare, short tail weasels and more. We were lucky to view a mother black bear catch salmon and interact with her 2 cubs at Steep Creek adjacent to Mendenhal Glacier area. We also saw eagles, whales, sea otters and lots of salmon on our Alaska trip.

Juneau was my personal favorite port city that we visited on our trip. One day was not enough to see a fraction of what the area has to offer. When we return, perhaps we’ll have more time and money. I’d like to visit the hatchery, go whale watching, sport fishing, glacier flight seeing, dog sledding, biking, kayaking, more hiking and I definitely want to see the northern lights.