Our second leg on the MV Kennicott was pretty uneventful. We got on the boat on Sunday and we left port by 1:30pm. We had a cabin for our 33 hours on the boat and we were glad we did. We had stayed really busy in Ketchikan and I think it caught up with us. We wandered the boat for a bit but it was raining and overcast once again so we decided to go take a nap. We must’ve been exhausted because we both slept through dinner which ended at 9 pm.
We docked in Juneau at around 11 pm Monday night. Once off the boat we headed to a trailhead parking lot we found on iOverlander to stay for the night. We got a nice 5:30 am wake-up call in the form of a crappy vehicle blasting their radio in a parking lot right across from us. It was annoying. Thank goodness for our long nap on the boat. We had parked across from Mendenhall Lake which we were able to enjoy once the loud car finally took off. It was a beautiful clear morning and the views of the lake, Mendenhall Glacier & Nugget Falls were just amazing! We were so excited to be surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
We knew we had to take advantage of any nice days we got so we went just down the road to the West Glacier Trailhead. We really enjoyed this hike. It brought us through rainforest and past waterfalls and streams until we had to start climbing up rocks. The end got a little sketchy but we made our way to the top and just sat in awe of the beauty!
We were definitely tired after that hike. We logged 7 miles and about 1300 ft elevation gain. We decided to splurge on a campsite at Mendenhall Campground for a hot shower. We found a spot with a gorgeous view and set up camp. The hot shower was amazing!!
On Wednesday we went into town to do laundry. Not my favorite task but I was able to stream our nephew Cade’s sectional baseball game. We had decided to go camp on Douglas Island so we found a locals bar called Louie’s Douglas Inn so I could finish watching the game. A bunch of local guys came in and we had a blast. They bought us a few rounds and told us about a few places to go check out.
Thursday it rained all day. We headed downtown to check out the touristy places everyone goes to when in Juneau. Craig and I went to Devil’s Club Brewing and the Triangle Club.
We had been in contact with Paulo, who we had met in the ferry line in Bellingham and he met us at Red Dog Saloon. Red Dog is loud and wild and lots of fun. When we left we got suckered into the Red Dog’s Shot counter. We knew we had to have a famous Duck Fart shot so that seemed as good a time as any. It was so good!
We also went to Barnaby Brewing. They had good beer but my favorite thing was the bar cat! It was a really fun day!
Friday morning we walked the Treadwell Mine Trail. The Treadwell mine was once the site of the most productive gold mine in the United States-$70 million in gold was removed by 2,000 workers. Of the 144 structures that stood in 1910, only a few still exist.
We then headed to the Mendenhall Glacier Vistor Center. We walked the 2 mile round trip to Nugget Falls and snapped a few pictures of the falls and the glacier. It was really busy on our way back so we got out of there.
We decided to drive up the northwest side of Auke Bay as far north as we could. This was a really pretty drive and we ended up staying in a pulloff.
The next morning we went back into town and took showers at the laundromat which happened to be right next door to Forbidden Peak Brewery. We had been in contact with Paulo again and he was going to meet us there for a couple beers.
While we were waiting, we got a phone call from the Ketchikan Ferry Terminal notifying us that the LeConte was down with mechanical issues and that our sailing was canceled for Sunday morning. We asked what our options were and she said we’d have to get on a waitlist by calling the Auke/Juneau terminal. I probably called 50-60 times with no answer. I checked online to see if I could schedule it but everything was booked out until June 21. Surely, they would be able to put us on a boat before that since we already had a reservation. Sunday morning I called a bunch more times and finally got through. The gentleman told me all waitlists were full and I would have to just go make a reservation that was now booked out until July 1. He really gave us no options, no hope, no nothing. We were really frustrated and in that time our friend Paulo told us he had been on a waitlist for Friday and was notified he was now on the boat for sure. He didn’t have an original reservation to leave Juneau so he was on a waitlist before the LeConte broke but obviously they were moving people from the waitlists.
We decided to go down to the terminal and spoke to the gentleman in person. He was very frustrated and was really hating his job. I can understand why but also he didn’t give us any options again even though we were being very patient and kind in trying to figure out this mess of a situation. He said this is the worst he’s ever seen it and that our chances of getting on a boat anytime before July 1 were slim to none. We had no reason not to believe him. We were devastated, but I made a reservation for July 1 and we started looking for things to do for 5 weeks. Yes, Juneau is beautiful but it is also touristy and expensive. We had gotten everything out of it that we wanted and have a plan for how our summer was going to go. We drove back up to the same pullout that we had stayed at wondering what to do.
We finally decided to just get up at 3 am on Monday morning and went to the ferry terminal. The Kennicott was in port which is a larger boat than the LeConte. We were desperate and grasping at straws. We were prepared to show up every day a boat was in port until they got sick of us. We got an assistant manager this time and after explaining that we had gotten canceled for our Sunday sail and were told there were no options for us, he worked his magic. He slid us our 2 boarding passes and our #13 standby vehicle tag and said he wasn’t charging us because of this mess and he hoped we could get on the boat. If we didn’t, we had to go back in to see him and get put on the next waitlist. We think the weekend guy messed up and we should’ve been put on a list in the first place. We were happy to have made some sort of headway and waited in line for 2 hours while they loaded the boat. The standby line started loading and when they waved for us to load, we were ecstatic! Crisis averted and we got to sail for free. A little emotional distress never hurt anyone. Ha!
It was a four hour sail to Haines and we arrived around 10:45 am. We were tired but it was sunny and we were happy to be in Haines. Haines is absolutely gorgeous and is a nice small town. Cruise ships do go there but it doesn’t have the touristy feel at all. We drove around and enjoyed the views and then grabbed a beer at Haines Brewing. I found a trail that we wanted to hike on the south end of town in the Chilkat State Park so we headed that way. We stayed at the trailhead parking lot with no issues and did the hike Tuesday morning. It was another beautiful sunny day. After the hike, we were told camping was only allowed in the Chilkat State Park campground. We grabbed a site and enjoyed sitting outside finally.
Wednesday we went back into town for showers at a laundromat and did a load of laundry. Craig went to the Hammer Museum while I opted to save the $7 and read in the truck. He got to talk with the owner quite a bit and enjoyed his hammer time!
We learned that there would be 2 cruise ships in town on Thursday so we decided to do all our town stops. We went to the Fogcutter Bar that is a locals favorite. Next we went to Chilkoot Distillery where we had some pretty tasty cocktails.
The bartender was awesome and she gave us a good recommendation for dinner. We headed to the Harbor Lighthouse Restaurant where I had the best seared Halibut & veggies! We also ran into Martine, who worked in the kitchen on the Kennicott on our Bellingham to Ketchikan leg. He remembered us and came over to say hi.
We found a 4 mile hike to Battery Point and did that this morning. Town was definitely busy as was the trail. But it was a cool hike with amazing views although this whole town is surrounded by awesome views. We headed out of town and found a pretty spot to camp for the night.
Off to Canada…