Juneau, AK | Lost & Found EP.02
Welcome back to the second episode of Lost & Found!
Juneau was our first official stop in Alaska! We’d heard wonderful things about the area and looked forward to a week in the state capitol.
The Chilkat Mountains from camp
Because Juneau is completely inaccessible by road, the only way to get there is by plane or ferry. Since we were bringing our vehicle, obviously, the ferry was our only choice. But also… who’s complaining?!
Owen soaking in his first glimpse of Mendenhall Glacier - 35mm
Nugget Falls - 35mm
The first stop we made after getting off the boat was at Mendenhall Glacier. Even though we had plans to explore it later in the week (we’ll circle back to that in the next episode), we wanted to come and get a lay-of-the-land after seeing the glacier in the distance.
Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls
We took a short hike out to the impressive Nugget Falls. The falls are easily accessible and thus were a little crowded at times. It was still a treat to see the glacier this close as well as the massive icebergs floating in Mendenhall Lake.
The scenery around Juneau and from our camp spot were some of the most breathtaking we’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. It felt like no matter where we were in Juneau, there was an incredible view in multiple directions.
A delta where the water from glaciers and the ocean meet.
From camp we had sweeping views of the Chilkat Range across the channel. With the days getting longer, the actual length of sunset was too. Instead of the sun setting in an hour, the sunset would leave the sky stained pink and orange for 2+ hours depending on the conditions.
How sunset started
How the sunset progressed
At first Owen and I would wait to make dinner until after sunset so we could give it our undivided attention. We quickly realized eating dinner at 11pm or later was not going to be sustainable so we started to eat earlier so we could enjoy the sunset after! Our bodies were very thankful for that decision.
MAK & Jacques on a hike into the forest
Ultimately, we decided to go to Juneau because Jacques (pictured above) reached out to us a few months before heading north. He mentioned he lived in the area and guided on Mendenhall. He said if we swung through he’d be happy to take us out. Little did her know that was all we needed to make Juneau a new stop on our adventure north.
After meeting up for dinner we went out and hiked into the Tongass National Forest to explore some of his favorite spots. He took us to an incredible waterfall, down an old trap line, and we even found a Native Tlingit petroglyph carved into a rock on the shoreline! It was an incredibly fun day with Jacques. We’re so thankful that he reached out and was so generous with his time!
Mist from a waterfall catching the light
Owen taking in the Tongass National Forest
Owen and his first Coastal Cutthroat
Though we were working most of the days we were in Juneau, we managed to squeeze in afternoon adventures and take advantage of the long days. We even caught our first Coastal Cutthroat Trout!
Blackened Rock Fish Tacos from Deckhand Dave’s - Juneau
Dirty Fries from Deckhand Dave’s - Juneau
Fancy S’mores from Captain S’more & Coffee - Juneau
After one of our longer hikes, we decided to do a dinner in town. We ate at Deckhand Dave’s after a local recommended it and WOW was it delicious. The restaurant was actually just a food stand in a food truck area. When we walked in, a place called Captain S’mores & Brew caught our eye and we couldn’t resist the beautiful s’mores that were coming out of that place!
Reflection in the forest on the way to Herbert Glacier
That wraps up episode #2 of Lost & Found and the images that we took during our time. We’re taking the next two weeks off for the Holidays but we will see you in the new year! We want to get a little further ahead on our edit and leave you all to enjoy the holidays! Thanks as always for tuning in, and we will SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! Wow, so weird that the year is almost over!
Sunset looking back at Mendenhall Glacier
Thank you to our sponsors
These brands made it possible for us to document our travels through Alaska and turn it into this series. Without their support none of this could happen. We are forever grateful to have brands we already use and love on our side to help us create something we’re proud of!
Our work life is powered by Battle Born. They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power system that enables us to work from the road! It took an incredible amount of power to create this series, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
Power and power management are key to living and working full time from the road. Our mobile lives run on a Redarc Manager 30. It’s a state-of-the-art battery management system that charges and maintains auxiliary batteries by incorporating AC, DC and solar inputs. We’re not sure where we’d be without it!
We’ve now been living out of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 3 years. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that our FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all our years on the road!
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails no matter where we are. On X allows us to access saved maps offline so we can locate ourselves in the wild when there’s no service.
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable on everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you anywhere you want to be!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
We’ve trusted our Jetboil cooking systems for years. Our favorite, the Flash Cooking system is lightweight, compact and perfect for any trip!
