The Mendenhall Glacier / Nugget Falls trail is located just outside of Juneau, Alaska. It's a very flat, very simple, very crowded trail filled with tourists from the cruise ships. It's totally not my scene, but there was little time to do anything else with the few hours we had in town. The skies above are filled with excursion helicopters and sea planes, and the lake is full of kayak tours. The only option we could see might have been the West Glacier Trail on the other side of the lake, but we could not find anyone to take us there and pick us up.
Note the kayakers at the base of the glacier for scale
After visiting the site I am left with the image of the spectacular glacier in the near distance and the memory of the crowds is fading. I got close to a baby porcupine (guarded by a ranger) and just missed a mother bear and cubs on the trail (which was blocked by rangers...)
The trail to the falls is almost wheelchair accessible, so most anyone can do this. It gets you pretty close, but a kayak tour would get you closer and a helicopter landing on the glacier gets you closest. These excursions will cost you somewhere between $200-$400 though. I wasn't ready to plop down that cash this time.
