Nugget Falls

Nugget Falls (also known as Nugget Creek Falls or Mendenhall Glacier Waterfall [or "the waterfall by Mendenhall" as I'd like to refer to it]) was by far the waterfall highlight of our Alaskan Cruise through the so-called Inside Passage.

What made this waterfall so special to us waterfallers was that it was the perfect excuse to see the beautiful blue ice terminus of Mendenhall Glacier while also offering us a chance to see giant black bears fishing for sockeye salmon. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the bears, but there were plenty of people who said they did see it (call it bad timing and bad luck on our part). Still, just the chance to experience all of this from a waterfall visit was what put us in a good mood at this place.

Aside from that, the falls itself was no slouch. While we've been to other glaciers where thinner mountain cascades (some of which have names) would spill towards the glacier, this particular one had legitimate size and volume. Its shape reminded me a lot of the inverted fan shape of say Norway's Friaren except you get to stand directly in front of the falls while turning your head to your left and getting a close look at the Mendenhall Glacier.

From what we could tell Nugget Falls was probably close to 100ft or so tall. There may be higher tiers, but we couldn't see them. The falls also fans out and is said to be about 100ft across its base as well.

The walk to the falls was a very easy and flat 1.5 miles round trip (can be done in a leisurely 45 minutes) as part of the East Glacier Loop. Apparently they're doing some trail construction to make it an even easier walk than it already is.

The route we took followed a wide dirt trail with a few stream crossings. The trail was almost at water level with Mendenhall Lake. We chose this lower route since we didn't feel like following a crowd, and we knew this would be the way to go since most visitors don't have the right footwear to traverse those benign stream crossings and muddy sections. In one particular spot, I saw a bear paw print, which suggested to me that bears do indeed frequent this part of the area and not just at Steep Creek where they'd go fishing for sockeye salmon.

Towards the end of the walk, there's a rock slide that looked pretty recent. Immediately after this rocky traverse, we were at the large sandbar at the base of the falls as well as on the shore of Mendenhall Lake. I guess for cruise passengers docked here, this was about as close to the glacier as you can safely be.

There's also an upper part of this trail, which can be combined with the lower beach trail we took as a loop. And if you've got a cell phone, you can use it to download an app that provides an interesting interpretive narrative of some of the numbered stops along the way.

We've heard stories that at times the lower trail gets flooded either by heavy rains, high tide, or even a wave caused by the calving glacier. So it's possible that the lower section of the trail may not be accessible under such conditions.

And as for other glacier views, you can get decent views from an observation deck close to the visitor center as well as in spots all along the Nugget Falls Trail. We were able to get closer looks at some of the icebergs left behind from the calving glacier in some of these spots.

When we disembarked from the cruise ship and entered right into downtown Juneau, there was a large bus stop area as well as some stands selling shuttle tickets to the Mendenhall Glacier.

As of our visit in August 2011, the price was $8 per person each way ($16 per person round trip). The narrated shuttle leaves every half-hour from 9am to 6:30pm I believe (though I'm not totally sure about this).

The shuttle bus dropped us off at a car park a short distance from the visitor center at the lower end of the Steep Creek boardwalk. This drop-off spot is also the pick-up spot to return to downtown Juneau. The distance between Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier is said to be around 13 miles.

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Pair of thin cascades behind downtown Juneau. We noticed these just as we disembarked from the ship and we about to buy our shuttle tickets.

Mendenhall Glacier from the observation area

Kayakers dwarfed by both the glacier and its icebergs

Some people checking out the icebergs

Distant look at Nugget Falls with people at its base for scale

The signposted start of the official trail

The wide dirt trail that was part of the lower trail we took

A bear paw print

Nugget Falls reflected in a calm pool near the rock slide area

Contextual look back at the rock slide. Notice the big scar in the cliff near the top of this photo. It looks like all that rock you see below came from that!

Waterfall seen from the Steep Creek boardwalk. I wonder if this feeds Steep Creek.

More contextual view of that waterfall in the photo above

Looks like a partially eaten sockeye salmon along Steep Creek

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Fixated on both the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls together before zooming in on the falls itself


Fixated on Nugget Falls in motion from a spot where I got a perfect reflection of it


Diagonal sweep following the path of the falls before panning over to the glacier


Misty bottom up sweep from directly in front of the falls

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TRIP REPORTS

• August 31, 2011

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