Mendenhall Glacier

15.09.08

Juneau

42,2 km, 2:41 h , av.sp. 15,6

mostly rain

After I did my chore – wiping of the sink and kitchen-counter I left the motel to ride to the bikeshop about 9 miles towards the Ferry Terminal to get my broken spoke replaced. On my way I met a cyclist on his recumbent. He lived in Juneau and made a few biketrips before. He thought that the bikeshop is probably closed on mondays! I checked it out anyways – and he was right. It rained again, so I stopped at Mc Donalds to eat a burger, drink a coffee and wait for better weather!

After a while I decided to ride to the Mendenhall Glacier, 5 miles away. The glacier looked kind of blue in the rain. I was glad I came there, even the rain stopped for a while. I walked to some scenic viewpoints, took many pictures and hiked along some short trails through the woods. It even stopped to rain for a while. And then – the highlight of my day – I saw a black bear that walked across the road, about 80 m away from me!!! So I finally got to see a bear on my last day in Alaska!

Later I met Melanie and Melanie again. They rented bikes and came to the glacier. We hiked together for about 1 ½ hours. My bike-shoes aren‘ t really made for hiking, my feet became pretty wet but I can walk really good in ‚em.

Around 6 pm I stopped at Fred Meyers where I hang around ‚till 9:30pm. I think I walked through every single isle of the store and bought a lot of food for the 3 day ferry-ride. After a wet ride through the dark I reached the terminal at 10pm. Some people were already waiting there. I found a dry spot on a bench and rearranged my stuff. Everything I wanted to take on the ferry I put into my two panniers, everything I wouldn‘ t need was put on the trailer. The terminal didn‘ t open until 0:30am! When we could finally get inside I put my sleeping-bag on the floor and tried to get some rest. After a few minutes Kai from Münster arrived. I already saw hin at the hostel but didn‘ t talk to him there. He spent his summer in Alaska and is taking the ferry to Bellingham as well.

At 4:30am I finally boarded the ferry and was glad to find a row of seats to lie down and get some sleep.

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