Mendenhall Glacier Map: Every Trail, and Which Side of the $5 Line It Is On

Nugget Falls Trail. It is flat gravel and 2 miles round trip, about an hour and a quarter by the Forest Service's own timing, the glacier is across the water beside you the whole way, and it sits outside the Forest Service fee boundary, so it costs nothing. Photo Point Trail gives the classic postcard framing but is inside the paid area. For the high view looking back down at the ice, East Glacier Trail climbs above the lake and is also free. All three are on the map above.

A day pass is $5 for anyone aged 16 and over, charged 1 May to 30 September; under-16s are free. A season pass is $15 and covers the holder plus one guest, and America the Beautiful interagency passes admit the holder plus three. What the pass buys is the visitor center, the Pavilion, Photo Point, Steep Creek, and the restrooms and bus shelter. It is not needed for the car parks, Nugget Falls Trail, East Glacier, West Glacier, the Trail of Time area trails, Moraine Ecology or the Dredge Lakes. A proposal to raise the day fee to $15 went to public comment in mid-2026 and had not reached the fee page as of 11 September 2026.

Yes, and most independent visitors do. The recreation area is public land and you can arrive by city bus, shuttle, taxi or car without booking anything. The catch is the return leg rather than the entry: two of the six ways out have no published last departure at all. The transport guide sets out all six with the return time for each.

Yes. Nugget Falls Trail starts near the visitor center and runs 2 miles round trip on flat gravel to the foot of the waterfall, which the Forest Service times at about an hour and a quarter, right beside the glacier face. It is the single most rewarding thing you can do on foot here, and it needs no pass.

No. The visitor center is about 13 miles from the cruise berths, which is not a walk. Even the public bus only closes part of that gap: it stops at Dredge Lake Road, 1.5 miles short, leaving a 30-minute walk on a paved path. Realistically you need the shuttle, a taxi, a car or a tour, all compared in the transport guide.

Yes. The Glacier Express, the blue bus run by M & M Tours of Juneau, goes directly from the downtown cruise ship terminal to the visitor center for $79 per adult and $49 per child, with the glacier pass included. It takes about three hours in total, roughly two of them yours at the glacier. Neither shuttle operator publishes a fixed last departure, so ask your driver on the way out.

It depends which trail, and none of them puts you on the ice. Nugget Falls is 2 miles round trip on the flat, about an hour and a quarter. East Glacier Trail is a genuine uphill hike of a couple of hours. West Glacier Trail is longer again and is reached from Montana Creek Road rather than the visitor center car park. Walking onto the glacier is a guided activity with equipment, not a hike you do off the trail network.

Two hours is the working figure, and it is what the commercial shuttles allocate. That covers the visitor center, Photo Point, and the walk out to Nugget Falls and back without hurrying. If you are coming by public bus, add the two hours of bus time and the hour of walking: Capital Transit's own estimate for the round trip from downtown is at least four to five hours.

Southeast Alaska is temperate rainforest, so waterproofs matter more than sun cream. A rain jacket, shoes you do not mind getting wet on the gravel path, and a warm layer even in July. Wind comes off the ice across the lake, so the glacier face is reliably colder than the car park.

Not from the trail network, and not unaccompanied. The ice is reached across the lake and the trails stop at viewpoints. Getting onto the glacier itself means a guided trek or a helicopter landing, sold as a separate excursion. From the ground the closest you legitimately get is the shore at Nugget Falls.