Day 5 of our cruise was spent in Juneau. This was the one excursion we booked outside of the cruise line. Originally, we had planned to book with NCL, but the tour sold out. We really wanted to do this hike, so I started poking around on Viator to see if there was something similar. There was, but a private tour (through Alaska Luxury Tours) that was double the cost of what was offered through NCL. The cost was totally worth in, in our opinion, because instead of a tour with 16 other people, it was just us and the guide. Score! The only thing left to worry about was the weather. The heavy rain the day before left us wondering if this hike was going to be cancelled or completely ruined by the rain. Fortunately, we stepped off the boat in Juneau to a very light rain that completely stopped by the time we started our hike. We met our tour guide, Dan, and the other couple who ended up doing the same booking for the same reasons as us. The drive to the hike starting point took about 20 minutes, where we listened to Dan give us a background on Juneau and the Tongass National Forest we would be hiking through. He also gave us a great history on the Tlingit people (tribe) that inhabit Juneau.
The hike itself is about 4.5 hours long, depending on your pace. There were times we stopped and talked about the views or the vegetation or the animals we saw. Right off the bat, we saw two black bear in the creek, that were trying to find some of the remaining wild salmon. Totally took us by surprise, but very cool to see! We also saw several massive bald eagles, and one pudgy porcupine. It was a great hike, mostly easy going but a few more difficult areas. The views were amazing. We also passed a few waterfalls, and refilled our water bottles straight out of the creek.
Since it's a rainforest, everything was very dense and lush. There is a ton of moss, which actually makes up their soil system. We made our way up to the top and over a ridge, then wound our way back down the mountain to the foot of the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. There are two sections to Nugget Falls, upper and lower. The lower section empties into Mendenhall Lake, which was carved out by the glacier. It was one of the best hikes we have ever been on!
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