City Bus to Mendenhall?

[cruise 'n shopper]

I need some advice from folks who have been to Mendenhall Glacier independently.

 

From these Boards I have learned that we can take a city bus out to Mendenhall, and we enjoy the idea of doing this independently and less expensively than a ship tour. I also explored the city bus schedule on the City of Juneau site, and it would fit our schedule well.

 

However, when exploring the Forest Service web site for the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor's Center, it says,

 

"The city bus drops visitors a mile and a half from the Visitor Center. "

 

Is this true? If so, we wouldn't be interested in a three mile walk round trip just to get to the Visitor's Center, before we begin our hike out to the glacier. Is there another type of bus (other than the city bus) that would drop us closer to the Visitor's Center without taking a ship's tour?

 

Thanks for your help!

[travelgirl87]

There is a much better alternative to the city bus for doing an independent trip to the glacier.

 

Several companies run shuttle buses (converted school buses) from the main ship docking areas to the visitor center parking lot at the glacier -- usually every hour or half-hour depending on the company. The trip took 20 to 30 minutes if memory serves me correctly. We used the blue bus (MGT) and it ran every half-hour with the final pickup of the day leaving the glacier at 5:30 pm. The cost is $5/person each way.

 

Enjoy!

[cruise 'n shopper]

Thanks, Travelgirls. These must be the buses that folks have been referring to. I had thought they were city buses.

 

Thanks!

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

Thanks for the information.

 

:)

[dustyroad]

travelgirl

 

 

do the blue mgt buses drop you off closer to the visitor center? thanks

[Budget Queen]

Yes- the difference is the shuttles and a city bus. :) The shuttles pick up right at the dock, purchase tickets from one of the booths and drop off at the visitor center. BUT the city bus is an excellent option for a repeat visitor with time. You see the residential side of Juneau- not usually seen by "tourists". And correct- the city bus drops off a level 1+++ mile from the Mendenhall visitor center. I have taken the city bus a few times- it is also very convenient for the hatchery. Pick up is on Franklin- down and across from the Red Dog- there is a small sign at the curb.

[RoseD]

We just returned and we ended up walking about 1-1/2 blocks from the dock and finding a taxi (mini van) who charged $50/hr to drive us anywhere we wanted. Another couple joined our group of 5 and we ended up with a full 7 person vehicle and saw the salmon hatchery (twice - hubby and son went back to actually rent tackle and fish at the end - caught 20 salmon in an hour!) and the Mendenhall Glacier in 1-3/4 hours. He dropped the men at the dock and the women at the shops at the end. It ended up $14 per person and was really well worth it!

[mpk]

caught 20 salmon in an hour!

 

That's great. Were the salmon large enough to be "keepers", or were they thrown back? And were they renting at the Visitor's center?

[Giantfan13]

To expand on this, how would you get to the fish hatchery from the Glacier?

[Budget Queen]

If you are taking the $5 Mendenhall shuttle- they go back downtown and drop off there. You would then need either the city bus or a cab for the 3 miles to the hatchery. In the past the shuttle buses would NOT drop off anywhere.

[robbinsca]

MGT took a little bit more of a city tour. They take you through the downtown area, out to Mendenhall, and then out to Auke Lake.

 

We really enjoyed the local flavor- though a little bit more time out at Mendenhall would have been nice. $20 per person- less AAA discounts.

 

Purchase the ticket at the booth next to the docks.

[cpayne]

How long is the bus ride from the ship dock to the Visitors Center? How long should you allow for hiking? We are booked for the Tracy Arm and Glacier Explorer Tour at 1:00, but would also love to see Mendenhall Glacier in the a.m. Concerned with whether we'll have enough time????

[ute_fan]

cpayne --

 

We did both on our June cruise and had plenty of time. We disembarked, caught one of the tours right at the pier without prior reservations, and did the city tour/Mendenhall glacier trip. I actually would recommend just catching the city bus and not taking a tour. We weren't that impressed with the city tour -- they did go over to Douglas Island so you could get a picture looking back at the cruise ships, but it wasn't anything we would have minded missing.

 

We got back to the ship (the Sun in our case) about 12:00. Hubby and son went back and ate lunch, daughter and I went shopping. Boarded the ship, dropped of the packages, and all of us went out and boarded the catamaran to Tracy Arm, which was our favorite excursion of the trip.

[Cruizer_J]

cpayne:

 

If you wanted to go to the glacier independently, the MGT blue "glacier express" shuttle takes about 20-25 min. each way. As for hiking, there are several trails and the Mendenhall visitor center trail map suggests about a half-hour to an hour for each of the easy trails, 2 hours and longer for the longer trails. We spent about 2 hours total hiking on an unofficial trail from the visitor center out to Nugget Creek falls and back; I believe that we spent about 2.5 hours total for the hike and some time in the visitor center. Here's a link to the visitor center page if you don't already have it: http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/districts/mendenhall/index.html