After Tracy Arm this morning, we docked at the third dock in Juneau (fortunately not the AJ dock which is a significant walk into town). The rest of my family went to the Mt. Roberts tram while I took off with intentions to jog to the trailhead for Mt Roberts and hike to the upper tram station. The path I have taken before starts at Nelson and 6th Streets, however I don't recommend this trail and neither does the city of Juneau as it's not maintained anymore, overgrown, and badly eroded. I anticipate that in 2 years or less it will be very challenging to follow. It's also been nearly completely overtaken by Devil's Club in many places and needles and their accompanying rash are not a souvenir you want from Juneau. The official trailhead is a bit north in the next valley and is a longer walk/run/hike/ ride to the trailhead.
Once the trail I took regained routing with the original trail, a lot of memories came back. It's steep with lots of roots and few views along the way. Living in Colorado affords me with extra hemoglobin to help at low altitudes and sure enough it was tested. Make no mistake, this is a strenuous hike. If you choose to hike it, take plenty of water, a buddy, and a clean shirt. It was mild today but I was sweating buckets. It took me about 40 mins to climb from the trailhead to the top which is about 1.5 miles and maybe 1400ft of gain. The trailhead I took starts around 200' in elevation. At the top, there is a restaurant, bar, gift shops, interpretive center, and of course the tram station. A gift purchase of $10 or more gets you a free ride down, or you'll need to buy a $10 ticket. There are other trails at the top that I hoped to continue hiking, but the weather was iffy and we needed to get back for early seating.
Dinner was sparsely attended which made for attentive service and nice viewing of the Westerdam's departure. A bit after dinner, I ventured into Juneau to the Devil's Club Brewery to enjoy a sampler. The beer was good to very good and the brewery was hopping. However, if you plan to go, there is an Alaskan law that states breweries cannot serve more than 36oz and must close at 8pm. I was hurried out a bit but did enjoy the beer.
Tomorrow is Skagway and will be a bit of a lower key day (thankfully). I took a video this evening detailing how to access the forward decks on the Amsterdam which I'll upload to YouTube after returning home.
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