Sub-arctic outlet glacier near
Juneau, AK, and one of
Alaska's most popular
tourist attractions. The
Mendenhall Glacier spills down from the
Juneau Icefield, and is located within the
City and Borough of Juneau. The
glacier is said to begin at an elevation of about 5,000 feet in the
icefield, from where it gradually snakes its way down in amidst the surrounding 6,000-foot mountain peaks. The
terminis of the Mendenhall lies at the head of the Mendenhall Valley; a 5 mile-long (and about 3 or 4 miles wide) flat area carved out by the
glacier during the
Cavill Advance. Today, the valley hosts
Juneau's
suburbia.
The Mendenhall Glacier was originally named the Auk Glacier by the Auke Tribe of Tlingit Natives traditionally living near Juneau. American naturalist John Muir was apparantly the first European to discover the glacier, and commented that it was among the most beautiful of glaciers he had encountered. The glacier was named for an American named Mendenhall who was in charge of surveying the nearby stretch US-Canadian border back in the late 1800s.
Since relatively early in the 20th Century, the glacier has been receding at a steady clip. However, this doesn't seem to dissuade the hundreds of thousands of tourists that visit the glacier annually. Rated as the fourth-largest tourist attraction in Alaska, the Mendenhall Glacier may well be the most widely-viewed glacier in the world.