Juneau, Sitka & Glacier Bay Travel Guide | Alaska USA

Juneau occupies a 3255 square mile borough pressed between the Coast Mountains and Gastineau Channel at 58.3019° N, 134.4197° W. The city sits on slopes rising from sea level to the base of Mount Juneau at 3576 feet and Mount Roberts at 3819 feet, with no road connection to any other settlement in Alaska or the continental highway system. Alaska Marine Highway ferries and commercial aviation provide the only access. The capital relocated here from Sitka in 1906 following gold strikes that established the Alaska-Juneau Mine, which operated from 1893 to 1944 and extracted 3.52 million ounces of gold from ore averaging 0.04 ounces per ton. The mine's four million tons of tailings remain visible along the shoreline south of downtown. Census data from 2020 recorded 32255 residents in the borough, making it the second most populous incorporated city in Alaska after Anchorage. The Alaska State Capitol, completed in 1931, houses legislative sessions from January through April each year. State government employment accounts for approximately one quarter of the city's economic base.

Mendenhall Glacier terminates 13 miles northwest of downtown Juneau at Mendenhall Lake. The glacier measures 13.6 miles in length and flows from the Juneau Icefield, which covers 1500 square miles across the Coast Mountains. Scientific monitoring began in 1942 when the glacier's terminus stood 2.7 miles farther down valley than its 2023 position. The United States Forest Service maintains a visitor center at the glacier with viewing platforms 300 feet from the ice face. The glacier loses an average of 150 feet per year in length based on USGS measurements taken since 2000. Mendenhall Lake formed as the glacier retreated from a terminal moraine that dams the valley. Icebergs calve from the glacier face into water reaching 220 feet deep in places. Nugget Falls drops 377 feet from the mountainside adjacent to the glacier, fed by meltwater from the Nugget Glacier higher in the watershed. Trails maintained by the Forest Service include the 3.5 mile East Glacier Loop and the 6.4 mile West Glacier Trail, which climbs 1400 feet to viewpoints above the ice surface.

The Tongass National Forest surrounds Juneau and covers 16.7 million acres across Southeast Alaska, making it the largest national forest in the United States Forest Service system. Old growth temperate rainforest dominates the landscape with Sitka spruce, western hemlock, western red cedar, and Alaska yellow cedar forming canopies reaching 150 feet in height. Annual precipitation in Juneau averages 62 inches at the airport and exceeds 90 inches at elevations above 1000 feet. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game documents populations of Sitka black-tailed deer, black bears, brown bears, mountain goats, and wolves within the forest surrounding the city. Harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and humpback whales occupy Gastineau Channel and adjacent waters. The US Fish and Wildlife Service recorded 337 bald eagles within a 50 mile radius of Juneau during January 2022 surveys.

Downtown Juneau developed along a narrow strip between the channel and mountains, with most commercial buildings constructed between 1900 and 1940. The Alaska State Museum, which opened in its current building in 2016, houses 28000 objects documenting Alaska Native cultures, Russian colonial presence, American territorial development, and natural history. Collections include Tlingit clan regalia, Russian Orthodox liturgical items, and specimens from the state's ecological zones. The Sealaska Heritage Institute maintains archives and collections focused on Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultural materials, including recordings of Indigenous languages and documentation of traditional practices. The institute's building, completed in 2015, features a facade incorporating Northwest Coast formline design elements in stainless steel and glass.

Sitka sits on Baranof Island's west coast at 57.0531° N, 135.3300° W, occupying land between Sitka Sound and the slopes of mountains rising to 3000 feet within two miles of the waterfront. The 2020 census recorded 8458 residents in the city proper. Russian colonists established Novo-Arkhangelsk here in 1804 after destroying the Tlingit settlement of Sheet'ká, which had stood at the site since before European contact. The settlement served as capital of Russian America from 1808 until the United States purchased Alaska in 1867. St. Michael's Cathedral, constructed between 1844 and 1848, burned in 1966 but was rebuilt by 1976 using original plans and incorporating religious items saved from the fire. The cathedral operates as an active Russian Orthodox parish and maintains icons dating to the 18th century. The Russian Bishop's House, completed in 1842, remains the oldest intact Russian building in Sitka and one of four original colonial structures surviving in Alaska. The National Park Service maintains the building as part of Sitka National Historical Park.

Sitka National Historical Park encompasses 113 acres including the site where Tlingit forces built a wooden fort called Shís'gi Noow in 1804 to resist Russian colonial expansion. Russian naval forces under Alexander Baranov bombarded the fort on October 1, 1804, and Tlingit defenders withdrew after six days of fighting when ammunition supplies ran low. The park's coastal forest trail passes 18 totem poles relocated here between 1901 and 1905 from villages across Southeast Alaska. These poles, carved by Tlingit and Haida artists in the 19th century, represent clan crests and memorial traditions. The park's Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center employs Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian artists who demonstrate traditional carving, weaving, and metalwork techniques for visitors. The Tlingit name for Sitka, Sheet'ká, means "people on the outside of Shee," referring to Baranof Island's Tlingit name.

Sitka Sound waters support concentrations of marine mammals documented by research organizations operating from local facilities. The University of Alaska Southeast maintains a research station studying humpback whale populations that migrate here from Hawaiian waters between April and October. Individual whales are identified through tail fluke photography, with a catalog containing over 2000 individuals photographed in Southeast Alaska waters since systematic surveys began in 1979. Sea otters recolonized Sitka Sound starting in the 1960s after being eliminated by fur hunting between 1741 and 1911. Alaska Department of Fish and Game aerial surveys in 2020 counted 4280 sea otters in waters around Baranof Island. Harbor seals, Steller sea lions, orcas, and Dall's porpoises occupy these waters year-round. Salmon runs in streams entering Sitka Sound include all five Pacific salmon species, with pink salmon returning in odd-numbered years in counts exceeding 500000 fish in Sitka area watersheds based on Fish and Game escapement surveys.

The Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka treats injured birds of prey, with bald eagles accounting for 70 percent of approximately 200 birds admitted annually. The facility maintains a flight training center where rehabilitated eagles regain strength before release. Eagles that cannot be released due to permanent injury remain at the center for educational programs. Sitka's location on the Pacific Flyway and its protected waters create habitat supporting an estimated 600 bald eagles within the city's vicinity year-round, with numbers increasing to over 1000 during late fall when salmon runs attract concentrations of feeding birds.

Glacier Bay lies 60 miles northwest of Juneau and 90 miles north of Sitka, accessible only by boat or float plane. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve covers 3.3 million acres including 1045 glaciers. Tidewater glaciers in the bay actively calve ice into salt water, with Margerie Glacier maintaining a terminus at the waterline and a face measuring 250 feet in height and one mile in width. Johns Hopkins Glacier at the bay's northwest arm extends 35 miles from the Fairweather Range and calves ice at a rate producing icebergs that sometimes block boat access to its terminus. The bay did not exist in 1750 when the glacier terminus stood at a moraine near the current park entrance at Bartlett Cove. By 1794 when British naval officer George Vancouver surveyed the area, ice had retreated 5 miles. By 1879 when naturalist John Muir first entered the bay, retreat had exposed 30 miles of water. By 1916 the Grand Pacific Glacier, which forms the bay's northwest terminus at the Canadian border, had retreated 65 miles from the 1750 moraine. This represents the fastest documented glacier retreat on Earth during that period based on measurements compiled by geologists working in the park since the 1960s.

Bartlett Cove, the park's only developed area, maintains a 55-slip dock, ranger station, and Glacier Bay Lodge, which operates from late May through early September. The National Park Service limits the number of vessels permitted to enter the bay daily to minimize disturbance to wildlife and reduce collision risk with marine mammals in waters where visibility often drops below 100 feet due to glacial silt. Permits are required for all motorized vessels and are allocated through an advance reservation system. The park recorded 89768 visitors in 2022, with 97 percent arriving aboard cruise ships that enter the bay under Park Service permit and interpretation protocols. The remaining visitors arrive on charter boats, tour vessels from Juneau, or private vessels.

Humpback whales concentrate in Glacier Bay waters from June through August to feed on krill and small fish concentrated by tidal currents. Photo-identification studies conducted by park biologists since 1985 have catalogued 1328 individual humpback whales seen in the bay, with approximately 200 individuals present during peak summer months. Orcas, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor porpoises also frequent the bay. Mountain goats occupy cliffs above tidewater glaciers, and brown bears fish for salmon in streams draining into the bay. The Park Service maintains a brown bear population estimate of 150 to 200 individuals within park boundaries based on DNA sampling and camera trap surveys.

Forests in lower Glacier Bay show succession patterns studied by ecologists since the 1920s. Areas exposed by ice retreat before 1860 now support mature Sitka spruce and western hemlock forests with trees exceeding 100 feet in height. Areas deglaciated between 1860 and 1900 show willow and alder thickets transitioning to mixed conifer stands. Areas exposed since 1900 remain in early successional stages with pioneer vegetation including dryas, fireweed, and scattered alders. These patterns document forest development on glacial till at different time intervals, providing data on succession rates in coastal Alaskan environments. Soil development studies show nitrogen accumulation rates and organic layer formation correlating directly with time since deglaciation, with soils exposed for 150 years containing measurable organic horizons while those exposed for 50 years remain largely mineral substrate.