MENDENHALL GLACIER, HATCHERY, AND SALMON BAKE
Lasting around four hours, this excursion combines regional flavours with natural wonders. After visiting Mendenhall Glacier, you’ll stop at a salmon hatchery to learn about it’s role in keeping the area salmon population at sustainable levels, before moving to a nearby venue for a meal of Alaskan salmon, cooked over a fire.
Excursion details
Witness Alaska’s natural beauty and take part in one of its famous salmon bakes during this excursion of around four hours. Sit back and enjoy a 30-minute, scenic narrated drive along the Gastineau Channel as you make your way to Mendenhall Glacier, the only glacier in southeast Alaska accessible by road.
You’ll have approximately one hour at the glacier, which flows from the vast Juneau Icefield and measures around 1.5 miles wide and more than 30 metres tall. Surrounded by forest and waterfalls, its crevassed ice makes for a striking landscape, so keep your camera handy. During your visit, you’ll be able to explore various viewing points and nearby trails, as well as the visitor centre, where you can find out why Mendenhall has been receding for hundreds of years.
Learn about a different side to Alaska, as you head to the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery on a short 15-minute drive. Exhibits here offer insights into the life cycle of salmon, their marine habitat and how a hatchery operates. Over your 45-minute visit, your guide will explain how the hatchery operates and the value of ocean ranching to Juneau’s commercial and sport fishing industries.
It’s then a 5-minute journey to nearby Gold Creek Salmon Bake located in a peaceful forest setting. In the covered, open-air restaurant, you’ll have around one hour and 25 minutes to enjoy Alaskan salmon that’s been grilled over an alder wood fire, accompanied by a selection of sides. Once satisfied, you can return to the ship at your leisure via the free shuttles offered by the Salmon Bake.
Important information: the order of sights visited may vary. It is recommended that guests dress in layers and wear comfortable walking shoes. The tour will end at Gold Creek Salmon Bake and guests can take the free shuttle directly back to the ship or get dropped off in downtown for more free time. Shuttle transfer time is approximately 10 minutes back to downtown and the piers.
