Mendenhall glacier. Sights of Аlaska

IMPRESSIVE. ALTHOUGH ALASKA IS NOT VERY RICH IN INDIVIDUAL ATTRACTIONS, IT IS A REGION THAT, IN GENERAL, BRINGS SPECIAL EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES. SINGLING OUT ANY SPECIFIC SIGHTS HERE SEEMS SOMEHOW INAPPROPRIATE: ALASKA IS MAGNIFICENT WITH ITS DESERT GLACIERS, ULTRA-HIGH MOUNTAINS, NUMEROUS ACTIVE VOLCANOES, ENDLESS FORESTS, AND DEEP CANYONS. CAVES IN GLACIERS ARE QUITE COMMON. BUT MOST OF THEM ARE NOT EASY TO ACCESS. FOR EXAMPLE, THE MENDENHALL ICE CAVES ARE ACCESSIBLE AFTER A FEW HOURS OF LONG WALKING AND ARE AMONG THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ICE CAVES IN THE WORLD. 

heading southeast to the nearby city of Juneau. But there is another route - to the north - and after about 7 km the road ends at Lake Mendenhall. Here, visitors finally have an unobstructed view of a beautiful natural landmark - the Mendenhall Glacier or, in the local Tlingit language, Sitaantaagu or "Glacier Outside the City". This glacier ends in a lake and numerous icebergs float around it with the characteristic blue color of glacial ice. On the right, the mighty, noisy waterfalls of Nugget Falls are visible. The mountains are covered with dense, lush green forests, and their peaks are covered with ice and snow - it is incredibly beautiful here! 

glacier and the surrounding landscape from different perspectives. There is the Eastern Loop of the Glacier, a path that allows you to climb higher up the hills and look at the glacier from above. The Nugget Falls Trail leads along the eastern shore of the lake to the Nugget Falls without crossing it. 
But if a tourist wants to get to the glacier (and the caves in it!), then you need to follow the West Glacier trail. It starts on the western shore of the lake, and after a hard walk through the hills for about 5-6 km and various wonderful views, the visitor finally finds himself at the glacier. You should not go there alone: the path is long and if it starts to rain, the rocks will become slippery. In addition, a bear may appear, and after dark it is easy to get lost.

Ice is an excellent material for the formation of caves: it is hard, hard, but at the same time it is easily converted into water. And there is a lot of water at the contact of glacial ice with the earth. Beneath every mountain glacier there are countless small and large streams. Each of these streams gradually forms a cave at the exit from the glacier. 

Ice caves in mountain glaciers are rather short-lived and change rapidly. At the end of summer, the flow becomes more powerful, the ice melts and crumbles, the entrance to the cave collapses, but deeper, new passages are formed due to the flow. In winter it is calmer: the stream freezes or quietly flows under the ice. But the glacier is still moving, and the ice creaks and cracks. Therefore, winter is the best time to visit the caves, if the visitor dares to climb the hills during the short hours of the winter day. The caves are not very long: several hundred, and sometimes several tens of meters. But this is more than enough: the fantastic beauty of the ice cave strikes immediately, from the very first meters.

along the West Trail, the visitor reaches the glacier. The walk touching the steep glacial moraine (a mixture of soft gravel and clay) and ice is not easy. Everything is wet, there are many small reservoirs and streams with ice water. The caves can be found by following the streams to the glacier. Sometimes caves are further down the glacier rather than along its edge. And sometimes there are no accessible caves at all. 

If the visitor is lucky, he will find a suitable entrance in one or another ice cave. The incredible blue color, the sounds of a moving glacier inside the cave is an unforgettable experience. 
Walking on the glacier and caves is dangerous and at any moment (especially on warm days) the ice can collapse. So, if possible, it is better to seek help from special travel agencies.