Juneau, a capitol idea!

Ah Juneau. For the longest time we had no idea what we were going to do here. Maybe take the tram up to the top of Mount Roberts? Maybe take the bus to the Mendenhall glacier? Maybe see the capitol building? Maybe take a brewery tour? Nope, can't do that as I was only 20 when we were in port.

About a month before the cruise, my cousin suggested we hike the glacier... Hmm, hike a glacier? Is that possible? How much is it? How long is the hike? Are we in good enough shape to actually do it? Are we crazy?

The answers: yes, $165 a person, 6 miles round trip, no, yes.

Well decided to do it anyway, after all, we had a month to train. And I learned that a month is not enough training time. Either that, or I didn't train hard enough. Or I didn't train the right way.

We pulled into Juneau in the early morning, got off the boat and walked over to where our guide would pick us up. We waited a pretty long time, almost to the point where we were worried we had gone to the wrong place. Eventually, a van pulled up and out walked a guy in flip flops. "There's no way that's him", I thought. "He's wearing flip flops!" Turns out, it was; he didn't like driving in his boots as it's either 0 miles per hour, or 100.

After a drive not reaching 100 miles per hour, we arrived at the trail head and get our packs and waterproof gear on. At the trail head is a sign that says something to the effect of "DANGER! WOLVES!" Good thing I only noticed as we were finishing the hike.

The first mile or so of the trail is maintained well, and we make good time. After that, the trail pretty much disappears and you make your own without falling down the steep hills. Steep hills! No one said anything about steep hills! The hiking guide website said elevation gain of 300 feet, not net elevation of 300 feet! Come on, I'm fat, and that's important information! Oh well, we sucked it up and continued on to the rock scrambling portion. Oh boy, rock scrambling. It was fun going up, but I knew it would be the exact opposite on the way down.

Finally we reached the glacier and fuel up on granola bars and sugary snacks. We donned our crampons to help us walk on the ice, and we were off. I was kind of unsure about this so I stomped into the ice to give me the most grip with the crampons. Turns out, stomping on ice takes a lot out of you and you don't even need to stomp to get a grip on the ice. I was dead tired and sure that I would in fact die on this glacier.

I decided to rest up on the glacier while the others go up higher, and sucked it up on the hike back. The rock scramble down wasn't as bad as I had imagined but still quite nerve racking. It was a rush though, and once I was on solid ground I enjoyed it.

But remember those steep hills? I sure do. This time, though, we would be going up. One foot after another, I make the climb. One more hill. One more step. I finally made it back to the level maintained trail and leaned forward and let momentum carry me the last mile. I remember saying to my cousin, "We are going to have the thighs of gods when we're done." And we did.

All the sweat and effort was worth it. We had fantastic views and could claim something not many people could. We had conquered the mighty mighty Mendenhall!