Most US hotels have later checkouts than Australia and we are grateful for the 12pm time given by the Driftwood. It gives us a chance to sleep in and then get packed for our next adventure. Corey from Above and Beyond, a local Juneau company, contacts us early in the morning to check we have everything in order and tells us he will pick us up at 12:30. He arrives as promised and we head off to the airport again, this time for a helicopter flight.

The day is warm and sunny, blue skies abound as Jamie, our pilot from Coastal Helicopters, steers us skillfully up over green ridges to our campsite. These mountains are almost in downtown Juneau…such an incredible place. Within ten minutes we are landing on a gravel beach, next to an impossibly aqua coloured glacial lake that has three large, snow fed waterfalls thumping down into it. There is a common tent set up to house our supplies and our guide Matteus is ready and waiting. We take a short walk to orient ourselves and spy a bear print in the dirt on a stream just past camp. Matteus says it’s old but I’m not so sure. Back at camp we have lunch then pack up for our walk up to the glacier. ABAK have supplied everything with packs made up for each of us containing helmets, harnesses, crampons, over pants and jacket and an ice axe. Matteus also has snacks. It’s a gentle walk up to the ice where we pause to kit up. I haven’t worn crampons in a while so it takes a bit to readjust, still, it’s not long ’til I’m tramping along behind the boys, uphill at first, then over fairly level ice. There are cracks and crevasses here and there revealing the beautiful blue ice trapped beneath the surface. We track towards the left side and finally reach the moraine about a third of the way up this big glacier. Crampons off and head lamps on, it’s time to explore the ice cavern that has formed on the edge. So many pictures are snapped here I have to make myself stop. Eventually, we wander back to camp along the side, pausing once in a while for the boys to try and push rocks off ice pedestals or to look down a moulin.

Beers are waiting, cooling in the stream and Matteus suggests we take them and go for a paddle in the two inflatable pack rafts he has brought along. These things are awesome – rafts in a minute or two. You need to take care getting in and out and they wobble a bit but otherwise they are a great, portable option. We spend a long time just floating and gazing up at the waterfalls, glacier and out over the valley. Dinner is ready when we come to shore – a rice and sausage mix with a salad and then chocolate for dessert. Gordon and I set up our tent right by the lake with a view of the waterfalls. By around ten pm we are done and snuggle into our bags for sleep.

After a cosy night we wake around 8:00am. I visit the portable toilet Matteus has set up behind a big rock – it’s not fancy but it works and has a great view. It also means we take all waste, human and otherwise out with us, leaving the area pristine. Matteus hears me up and jumps out of his sleeping bag ready to go, ah to be 23 again. He has the coffee pot and breakfast underway very quickly and in no time at all we are tramping up to the glacier again. This time we turn right, towards the face, with plans to look for more caves and maybe get in some ice climbing. It’s not too steep to go down but there are some big crevasses, some we can jump but others we have to skirt around, no straight paths as the melting ice creates valleys of rushing water right across the width. In places there is still a bit of snow, which requires care as it may collapse if stepped upon. Can you tell ice from snow? All too soon it’s time to return and break camp. The helicopter comes for us at 1:30 and it’s only a short flight down to civilisation. We meet Dawn from ABAK in the terminal and help her and Matteus load their van. As we are doing this, about six choppers take off above us, heading for the Mendenhall Glacier (the most popular and accessible glacier near Juneau) – it’s like a scene from MASH. A beer is then suggested so we pile in and take a ride to the Alaskan Brewing Company. The factory is right at the base of ‘our’ creek, using the water we probably paddled in last night. The beers are good; you can taste three for free. We also discover what a ‘growler’ is…larger than a stein but smaller than a keg, people have them filled and refilled – a good way to keep your beer. Back at the Driftwood hotel, Gordon goes next door to the Zen Chinese restaurant for takeouts then it’s an early night. We are exhausted; it was hot up there on the ice.