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Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center events await you
By Michelle Warrenchuk
Whalesong Contributor
How often do you
get out to enjoy your back yard?
How many places in the world can you hop on your bike
or jump in the car and within 10 to 20 minutes be at a glacier?
Let’s just say that not too many capital cities have a glacier
within city limits. The Mendenhall Glacier is one of the most visited
glaciers in the Alaska. The Mendenhall flows 131/2 miles down the
valley off the Juneau ice fields, 1, 500 square miles of solid ice.
Now if that’s not an impressive back yard I don’t know
what to tell you. I spend five days a week at the glacier and I
am still amazed by it’s magical wonders and surprises that
it has for me each day.
Now is as good a time as any to come out and enjoy this
natural landscape that satisfies the eye and challenges the mind.
Why? It is free! That’s right; anyone can come out and enjoy
the architecture of the visitor center and the work of Mother Nature,
for free. The Forest Service Rangers have suspended eliminated the
Demonstration Fee of $3 for the winter season because there is reduced
staff and hours. The visitor center is open to the public Thursdays
and Fridays 10 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays 9 p.m.
to 4 p.m. Come out and enjoy the events and learn more
about the Mendenhall Glacier.
One of the popular events that will be taking place at the Visitor
Center is the Fall Kids Day Programs. Every Saturday, October 26
to December 14 from 11 a.m. to noon, children can come out to enjoy
a variety of topics that introduce them to the fun and excitement
of exploring nature. This year, for the first time since the Visitor
Center opened in 1964, there will be a Halloween Spook Night on
October 31 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be slimy games, hair-raising
activities and Galileo, the barred owl from the Juneau Raptor Center
is coming to join us for this fun event. Like the kids Day Program,
children ages 7 to 12 are welcome, and munchkins under 7 are welcome
if accompanied by an adult.
Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about the
big kids or the kids at heart. We will be having other events like
the Botanical Day that took place this last weekend. November 29
and 30 is Family Fun weekend, Fireside Chats start on January 10,
there will be a Winter Festival on February 15 and 16 and finally
Earth Day on April 19 just before the busy season starts up again.
If you want to come out to enjoy the facility by yourself
or with the family, there are interpreters who would be happy to
show you the 11-minute film about the glacier, and to help you spot
out the mountain goats and other animals in the area. Maybe you
want to do some hiking on the many trails around the visitor center,
which is fine too. While you’re hiking around and enjoying
the land around you that has been shaped by the glacier over the
last 200 years, keep this quote in mind by Maynard Miller: “When
the weather breaks and its calm and beautiful, you sit up on these
summits or high ridge and there’s a strange thing that happens
to you. You begin to sense your own minuteness and the shortness
of life, and at the same time you sense the eternity of the universe
around you.”
If you haven’t been out in your back yard I encourage
you to come and see the beauty. There is so much to offer by exploring
nature. Come out to see the Mendenhall Glacier and visit the Tongass
National Forest rain or shine there is always something to see and
learn.
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