The Mendenhall is one of thirty-eight glaciers flowing from the 1,500-square-mile (larger than Rhode Island) Juneau Icefield. In about twelve miles, the Mendenhall drops from an elevation of 4,500 feet at the icefield to 54 feet above sea level at its terminus at Mendenhall Lake. Ice formed at the glacier’s head takes about eighty years to make the journey. Less than 250 years ago, the glacier’s face stood 2.5 miles farther down the valley than its current position, and as recently as the 1930s, it still covered the rocks where the visitor center now stands.
