Cruise ships are shown near downtown Juneau on June 7, 2023, along the Gastineau Channel, in Alaska. As the Mendenhall Glacier continues to recede, tourists are flooding into Juneau. A record number of cruise ship passengers are expected this year in the city of about 30,000 people.
The glacier pours from rocky terrain between mountains into a lake dotted by stray icebergs. Its face retreated eight football fields between 2007 and 2021, according to estimates from University of Alaska Southeast researchers. Trail markers memorialize the glacier’s backward march, showing where the ice once stood. Thickets of vegetation have grown in its wake.
Manoj Pillai, a cruise ship worker from India, took pictures from a popular overlook on a recent day off. The agency is proposing new trails and parking areas, an additional visitor center and public use cabins at a lakeside campground. Researchers do not expect the glacier to disappear completely for at least a century.
“Where do we go with the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center?” Raile said. “How do we keep it relevant as we go forward when the original reason for it being put there is not really relevant anymore?” On the busiest days, about 20,000 people, equal to two-thirds of the city’s population, pour from the boats.
An iceberg floats in front of the Mendenhall Glacier on June 8, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. Mendenhall Lake separates the glacier from the visitor center area, where buses drop tourists. As the Mendenhall Glacier continues to recede, tourists are flooding into Juneau. A record number of cruise ship passengers are expected this year in the city of about 30,000 people.