Alaska Travel Adventures in Juneau offers this 3.5 hour rafting trip, beginning at Mendenhall Lake, just across the lake from Mendenhall Glacier seen below. We floated the lake for 1/2 mile, passing a few small icebergs and the glacier...
...and then headed down the Mendenhall River. If you look closely just right of center in the photo below, you'll see some rafts just beginning to head into the river.
The rapids were near the start of the journey, and here I am photographing the raft behind us. A few months after I returned home from my 11 week driving trip from Chicago to Alaska and back, I got an email from the guide of this boat. He was also back home, and while surfing the Internet, had found this picture of himself and thanked me!
This is the photo the professional photographer for the raft company took from an overlook at one of the better rapids. I'm in the front nearest the camera in the green hat and blue shirt. Yes, the raft was momentarily full of water at this point! And yes, the water is glacier melt and quite cold...
...which is why we are all wearing thick rubber booties and heavy waterproof pants to keep out lower bodies dry and warm. Our upper bodies -- not so much so!
The first mile or so we enjoyed some rough water, though I doubt the rapids were big enough to be the advertised class III rapids (but I was glad we were in rafts and not canoes!)...
...and the final four or so miles were a leisurely float through majestic Alaskan scenery, with many wooded areas and towering mountains in the distance...
...and eventually residential areas began dotting the landscape as seen below, so I knew we were nearing the end of our adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment