Our first stop in Alaska is Juneau. The ship docked around 3pm and will leave port around 9 pm. We decide to skip the crowded city streets (and they are ridiculously crowded) and head to the Tongass National Forest to see the Mendenhall Glacier. Sounds easy enough but I don’t want a tour group experience. I also need to know that I have a way back from the wilderness. So we have to figure out how to have guaranteed transport without being stuck on a forced march through a visitor center.

We decide to pay for a bus ticket at a tour operator desk. It is like handing my wallet willing to a pickpocket (almost $100.00 for two round trip tickets). At $8.00 a mile, I decide to enjoy the bus driver’s corny jokes and tales of a celebrity status in a former life. It may be a short ride, but the driver is trying to make my day.

We are dropped off in a parking lot with directions of where to meet for a later pick up. The area around the visitors center is quite crowded so we take the long way around. Surprisingly, we have the path to ourselves as we walk along the river.

My goal is to walk away from the people and closer to the glacier. I want to walk quickly to the furthest point at the glacier face and then enjoy the walk on the way back. That way we can pace ourselves and catch our bus home (I really hate knowing I am on a time schedule).

The crowd thins as we hike along the path. It is wide and graded; more a road than a trail. The view is obscured by trees and mountainsides. It is grey and overcast; not dry but not raining.

Whenever the glacier reveals itself, we stop to take it in. Each viewpoint adds a layer of understanding. Mendenhall presents as a river of ice between mountains. Its blue ice glistens beneath layers of dirt and gravel. Sometimes it looks close enough to touch. Sometimes it seems impossibly far away.

Oddly, I forget about the glacier as we walk around ponds and lakes and spectacular waterfalls. The Tongass has a beauty all its own. Dense foliage opens to reveal secret glades. I half expect a moose or bear to be staring back at me.

Occasionally, I take side trips onto moss covered forest paths. I am in an enchanted land. The silence is centering and I draw strength from the trees. I breathe in the smell of pine and earth and feel whole.

We take the long way back to the parking lot, trying to make the most of our last minutes in the forest. Up in the tree something is moving. I think it must be baby eagles rustling high above us…..but they don’t look like birds. Eaglets have down that is fluffy, but….they…. don’t…. have…..tails. Whatever we are looking at has long drooping tails.

After standing and looking for a while, we discover that we are looking at a pair of American porcupines. I didn’t realize they spent a good deal of time high in the trees. They eat, rest, and hide from predators in the tree tops. I am fascinated and a little curious about how often they fall (because they aren’t exactly graceful).

We leave the prickly little guys to get on with their evening, our time in the forest is at an end. We have a bus to catch and more corny jokes to endure as we make our way back to the pier. We have a ship to board in order to get to our three course dinner. We have a comedy show and dancing to look forward to as we round out our evening.

Overall, it has been a great day in Alaska. There are too many ships and too many people in port for my taste. But the forest is beautiful. The wild spaces are accessible. We took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference. (Shout out to Robert Frost for the existential advice.)