| Campground: | Mendenhall Campground site 69 (excellent). |
| Total Distance: | 3457 Miles. |
| Traveled today: | 31 Miles. |
| Key highlights: | Tracy Arm (with True Alaska)*****+ West Trail (Manenhall) *** |
Day 17th took us on the water again – to see the majestic Tracy Arm. Then, we boarded the True Alaska travel boat (booked well in advance) from Juneau downtown.
This was our first paid excursion day on this trip. Seeing all the cruise ships around, we were convinced we were heading to another tourist trap. We were very wrong. The first sign was for our mistake was the number of Juneau travelers – some coming by themselves, some bringing their guests. From there, the trip excitement started to accelerate. Shortly after departing the port, we had our first Humbpbucks Whales encounter under clear blue skies and fantastic views of the waterways and mountains.
The next surprise was a less frequently seen (in this area) killer whale Orca swimming alongside our boat for many minutes. As we got closer to the Tracy Arm entrance, big ice debris started to surface- some of them were 15 feet tall, shining in bright blue colors. The pictures below were not photoshopped! That was precisely how we see it. One of the most surprising sights was a mini-iceberg with a bald eagle sitting on top of it. The Arm is a narrow canyon waterway with dozens of major waterfalls and steep walls. At the end of the road, there are two immense Glaciers. The first one we attended is likely the one that is feeding the ice decrease to the fjord. Seeing sea lions resting on the ice pieces, floating, and taking sunbathes was incredible. We can not recommend this trip more.
We were adrenaline-pumped upon returning to the Jeune (around 0330pm). After a short stop at Fred Meyers to stock food for dinner (and a bear sighting in the city), we decided to take a short hike from our camp to the west trail. We were mistaken to think this was 1 mile out and back, but we discovered that we were 2.5 miles from the trailhead and 4-mile roundtrip to the vista point (according to All Trail 4.5 star trail). We ended up with a 6.5 climb to a vista point that was not beautiful enough to be worth a hike at that time of the day. Dinner was served after 0900 pm again 😉