If you want the ultimate mind-blowing experience in Juneau and you are a bit adventurous then the ice cave hike is the answer. These caves are slowly changing all the time so my suggestion is to go see them while they last. In just a year's time Mendenhall Glacier has receeded quite a bit, and even though the caves are different than last year they are every bit as beautiful. Imagine the bluest ice forming a dome over you with a river running through it, all underneath a glacier. I can't help but feel like I have been transported to another world, or superman's ice fortress while surrounded by the ice caves. And the beauty of this being in wild Alaska is that you don't have to pay anything to get here. There are some organized tours that kayak or canoe across the lake from the visitors center, but if you make it to the west glacier trailhead a 2.5hr hike across changing terrain will lead you right to the caves and the glacier itself.
First View from the Cave
The caves may be beautiful, but it is a dangerous beauty. While I was there several rocks fell down from ontop of the glacier. Inside the caves melt water is dripping down, and in some places pouring off. There are constant reminders that the glacier is constantly moving and shifting like a giant river of ice. I fear after another year or two the glacier will recede far enough back where the caves will no longer form.
That is why this time I wanted to be ready to photograph and capture this subglacier world. I took a tripod, my canon 5d mark ii with a 17-40mm L series lens to capture the moment. The tripod was necessary as there wasn't a lot of light inside the caves so I needed some pretty long exposure times. Also balancing the light of some of the ice with the black rocks below was difficult. The canon 5d does a wonderful job in these situations. I was pretty pleased with the results.
Entering the Ice Cave from the back
Here is one of the tour groups that led their people up onto the glacier before going through the ice cave. Notice they all had hard hats to ward off the smaller falling rocks near the entrance and exit. You can see pictures and the changes from my first visit to the Mendenhall Ice Caves here.
No matter how quick a trip to Maui might be there will be hidden gems found and great times had. After a little snafu with my flight I made it standby to Maui, picked up my rental car, and rushed off to meet my friends on the road to Hana. We met at Frog Pond, one of our favorite swimming holes near the beginning of the road to Hana. After some rock hopping and cliff jumping here we decided to check out the hidden waterfalls at mile 11. I'm not sure what the name of these falls are but there are two of them, each with their own swimming holes. It is just off the highway but separated by lush jungle. A rope swing beckons the adventurous and rocks warmed by the sun give you more than enough reason to while away the afternoon.
High above the crowded beaches of South Maui lies a hidden secret adventure that only those in the know will ever experience. Hidden only a thousand yards or so off a well traveled road around 4,000ft in elevation sits a massive cave which angles slowly down the side of Haleakala volcano. The amazing formations inside and the cave itself were formed by lava, creating an underground tube to transport the lava farther down the slope of the volcano. The same thing can be seen actively happening on the Big Island currently. Luckily this lava tube is all dried up making it much safer to explore. However the loose rocks and obvious cave ins leave some cause for concern. Part of this adventure is just finding the entrance. This included a dirt road, a jeep trail, jumping an old stone wall, then bushwhacking through dense brush for about tweny-five minutes before finding the lava tube entrance. It was surrounded by ferns, just like the famous Thurston Lava Tube in Volcanoes National
You never know what might be hiding in your backyard. Here on Maui there have always been tales of people finding Jackson's chameleons in their bushes. The trick is to travel a few thousand feet up Haleakala volcano to Makawao, Pukalani and Kula towns where the temperature is a little cooler and it is a bit wetter, perfect conditions for chameleons. There are no native reptiles on Hawaii. These beautiful chameleons were released or escaped from the pet trade. Luckily they have not become invasive like many other introduced species, however they have increased in population and seem to be doing quite well in the higher elevation areas. Heidi and I went on a search the other day at our friend's house in Kula and were shocked to find a dozen different chameleons in her side yard hedge. They were mostly at eye level, and were curled up asleep for the night. We found them easily enough with flashlights since they seem to sleep near the outer edge of the hedge at night. W
If you want the ultimate mind-blowing experience in Juneau and you are a bit adventurous then the ice cave hike is the answer. These caves are slowly changing all the time so my suggestion is to go see them while they last. In just a year's time Mendenhall Glacier has receeded quite a bit, and even though the caves are different than last year they are every bit as beautiful. Imagine the bluest ice forming a dome over you with a river running through it, all underneath a glacier. I can't help but feel like I have been transported to another world, or superman's ice fortress while surrounded by the ice caves. And the beauty of this being in wild Alaska is that you don't have to pay anything to get here. There are some organized tours that kayak or canoe across the lake from the visitors center, but if you make it to the west glacier trailhead a 2.5hr hike across changing terrain will lead you right to the caves and the glacier itself.
The caves may be beautiful, but it is a dangerous beauty. While I was there several rocks fell down from ontop of the glacier. Inside the caves melt water is dripping down, and in some places pouring off. There are constant reminders that the glacier is constantly moving and shifting like a giant river of ice. I fear after another year or two the glacier will recede far enough back where the caves will no longer form.
Here is one of the tour groups that led their people up onto the glacier before going through the ice cave. Notice they all had hard hats to ward off the smaller falling rocks near the entrance and exit. You can see pictures and the changes from my first visit to the Mendenhall Ice Caves here.
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