Mt. Bradley (Jumbo) Hike

Mount Bradley Round Two!

Sunday February 22, 2009
Mount Bradley (Jumbo) Trail

I took a hike up the Mount Bradley (Jumbo) trail around noon Sunday. It is a convenient hike for me since the trail head is only a 15 minute walk from where I live on Douglas Island, Juneau. The trail head is located on the 300 part of 5th Avenue in Douglas between two houses. (It is marked with a sign).
















The wind was howling at the lower elevations but once on the trail it was calm. The trail was well used and nicely packed down making for easy walking. The trail also had a nice thick snow pack and I saw a skier and two snowshoers out as well.

After 10 minutes of hiking up, the trail veers left and traverses across the hillside to a very nice falls. The mostly frozen creek continues down into a deep ravine before emptying out into the "Glory Hole", the giant open pit mine built in the early 1900s.















20 minutes more of hiking up the trial leads to a large meadow with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and the water south of Gastineau Channel. This was my second time hiking this trail and the second time I failed to find the trail past the meadow!

The snow was very deep at the meadow. Luckily (depending on your perspective) a few snowmachine trails bisected the meadow and allowed for a stable surface to hike on.



I still made the most of my time outside. I layed down for almost an hour in the snow and soaked in the sun before it went behind the snowy ridge line of Mt. Bradley. Clouds started rolling in the later it got afternoon and I descended back down stopping again at the falls. I also hiked down to the edge of the Gloryhole to get a better view. (One can usually spy it through the trees from the trail up above).

Even though I didn't get past the meadow again it was still a great hike. I'll have plenty of chances to reach the summit this spring anyway. The trail head is only 15 minutes away!