Mendenhall Glacier, how far waterfall hike?

[lilacbirman]

I saw some photos of the waterfalls near Mendenhall Glacier which is so pretty. If the weather permits we'd love to do the hike but how far is it and is it a pretty easy walk for non hikers?

[Yukon]

Access to the new trail has been cut off for some reason, so you have to cross this - http://explorenorth.com/blog/3106-430.jpg - but then it's only 20 minutes on flat ground to reach the falls.

[chipmaster]

I can second the previous post about 20' An easy hike even for my 9 year old on a good day. I'm not sure I'd enjoy it on a rainy day as much of the trail is not paved. You really don't get an appreciation for the size of the falls till you get there.

 

Good luck with the weather and hope you find time to make the hike.

 

I saw some photos of the waterfalls near Mendenhall Glacier which is so pretty. If the weather permits we'd love to do the hike but how far is it and is it a pretty easy walk for non hikers?

[Cali_Chick]

We were there July 5th and found a little trail beneath the rock face and walked through that. It's through some small trees so watch out for branches and it was a bit muddy but it was only about 8 steps to get to the main trail that way.

 

I wish I had taken a picture of it. :(

 

I think it depends on the weather if the the little trail is available as it tends to flood when it rains and then you do have to walk across the rock face.

 

The rest of the trail is mostly level with gravel, a couple of little platforms/bridges - about the size of a wooden pallet.

 

How long it takes really depends on how fast you walk. My Mom has a bad back so it took us about 40 minutes to get to the waterfall and we stopped from time to time to see the wildflowers, trees and little streams. Other people made it in 20-30 minutes some as long as an hour.

 

Hope this helps!

[lilacbirman]

I can second the previous post about 20' An easy hike even for my 9 year old on a good day. I'm not sure I'd enjoy it on a rainy day as much of the trail is not paved. You really don't get an appreciation for the size of the falls till you get there.

 

Good luck with the weather and hope you find time to make the hike.

 

Your photos were the ones I saw that made me want to do the walk IF it's a nice enough day. So gorgeous!

 

Thanks all! :)

[lmt1022]

We were just there last week. It took us about 30 minutes or so to get there. We took our time and went at a fairly slow pace. My mom is 78 (but, very fit) and she did fine. On the way back we thought we only had 20 minutes to catch the last bus in time for the ship leaving, and we made it with 2 minutes to spare... my Mom was a bit out of breath, though. I felt bad when I found out my cell phone clock was an hour fast and we had plenty of time. :rolleyes: