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Juneau, Alaska’s remote capital, sits in the state’s panhandle, at the base of 3,819-ft. Mount Roberts. It’s a popular cruise-ship stop, reachable only by boat or seaplane. A tram carries visitors 1,800 feet up Mount Roberts to an alpine area with hiking trails, wildflowers and views of Gastineau Channel. This is also the site of the Juneau Raptor Center, dedicated to local birds.
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Pigeon Guillemot. See me taking flight.
Auke Bay
Auke Bay is an unincorporated community located in the city and borough of Juneau, Alaska that contains Auke Bay Harbor, Auke Lake, the University of Alaska Southeast, a former branch office of NOAA, an elementary school, a church, a post office, a bar, a coffee shop, a waffle house, a thrift shop, a Thai restaurant, and one convenience store. The view of the Mendenhall Glacier behind Auke Bay and Mount McGinnis towering over Auke Lake are some of the most popular photo opportunities in Juneau. The ferry terminal of the Alaska Marine Highway system is also located further out the road in Auke Bay at about 14 mile. The flamingo house on Auke Lake is a local attraction, known for its topical or weather-related formations of pink lawn flamingos. Whale watchings targeting curious humpbacks are available. Humpbacks in these areas are known to demonstrate special feeding methods, so-called 'Bubble-net feeding', and come very close to shores.
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"Once common across North America, by the 1950s bald eagle populations had plummeted to an estimated 412 nesting pairs in the United States. Their decline was attributed to several factors, including use of the pesticide DDT, which caused thinning in their eggshells and interfered with reproduction. New regulations, including a ban on DDT, helped the species rebound. In 2007 the bald eagle was officially removed from the list of endangered and threatened species, marking the end of a long recovery. It continues to be protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act."
Stephens Passage
Stephens Passage is like the best shortcut in the world, a straight line through Southeast Alaska in a landscape that comes with very few straight lines. It’s not only people and ships that use the passage: Concentrated in and around its waters is a greatest hits of Alaskan wildlife, from humpback whales, the whoosh of their breath loud enough to be heard almost a kilometer away, to giant sea lions and their very distinctive smell—well, okay, call it a stink—that can carry just as far.
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Mendenhall Glacier, Mendenhall Lake & Nugget Falls
Southeast Alaska has just one glacier accessible by road, but it makes up for its novelty in being extremely accessible; more than 400,000 visitors travel here each year.
Once dubbed the Auk Glacier by John Muir (after a member of the Tlingit tribe), the Mendenhall had its origins in the Little Ice Age that started about 3,000 years ago. Nugget Falls drops 377 feet in two tiers and is accessible via the East Glacier Loop Trail at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor's Center.
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Views from Mount Roberts
Once you reach the Mountain House at the 1,800-foot level of Mount Roberts, step onto trails that begin in a sub-alpine ecosystem and climb another 300 feet into the true alpine. With sixty stair steps, a length of one-half mile and an elevation gain of just 150ft, the main trail will take you to open vistas, mountain valleys, snow gullies, rocky ridges and stunning views of mountains in Glacier Bay, British Columbia, the Southeast Alaskan panhandle and Admiralty Island National Monument.
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| Chocolate (black) lily, Canadian dogwood or bunchberry & Northern geranium |
Gastineau Channel
Gastineau Channel is a channel between the mainland of the U.S. state of Alaska and Douglas Island in the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska. It separates Juneau on the mainland side from Douglas (now part of Juneau), on Douglas Island. The first European to sight the channel was Joseph Whidbey early in August 1794, first from the south and later from the west. It was probably named for John Gastineau, an English Civil Engineer and Surveyor.
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