Juneau Summer Dog Sled Camp — Herbert Glacier Experience

The Herbert Glacier Camp Experience

The summer dog sled camp on Herbert Glacier operates as a working training facility for competitive sled dog teams. Unlike the more heavily trafficked Mendenhall Glacier camps, the Herbert Glacier operation is smaller, more intimate, and focused on giving visitors extended time with the dogs and their mushers.

Your excursion begins with a shuttle ride from the cruise terminal to the helicopter staging area near Juneau International Airport. After check-in and a safety briefing, you board a helicopter for a 10 to 15-minute flight northeast over the Herbert River valley. The approach to the camp is dramatic: you cross over the heavily crevassed lower icefall of the Herbert Glacier before landing on a broad, relatively flat section of ice where the camp is set up.

The camp consists of a cluster of tents, dog yard lines, and a mushing trail groomed into the glacier surface. Anywhere from 40 to 80 dogs are tethered in the yard at any given time, and the noise when they see the helicopter land is extraordinary. These dogs know that a landing helicopter means they are about to run, and their excitement is immediate and infectious.

Mushing and Puppy Time

After a brief orientation, your guide will harness a team of 10 to 14 dogs and walk you through the basics of controlling the sled. You will stand on the runners and drive the team yourself across a 1.5 to 2.5-mile trail on the glacier. The guide runs alongside or follows on a second sled, coaching you on technique and answering questions.

The sled run on Herbert Glacier is typically longer than what you get on the Mendenhall option because the camp has more trail space and fewer competing tour groups rotating through. Your total time on the ice ranges from 60 to 90 minutes, which includes the mushing run, a guided walk through the dog yard, and time with any puppies or juvenile dogs in the camp’s breeding program.

The puppy interactions are not an afterthought. These camps breed their own teams, and there are almost always litters ranging from a few weeks to several months old. Holding a 6-week-old husky puppy while standing on a glacier at 3,000 feet is one of those experiences that is genuinely difficult to describe until you have done it.

Iditarod Musher Guides

What sets the Herbert Glacier camps apart is the caliber of the guides. The mushers who staff these operations are not seasonal tourism workers. They are competitive racers who use the summer glacier training camp to keep their dogs in peak condition during the off-season. Many have completed the Iditarod, the Yukon Quest, or other major distance races.

This means your guide can speak with real authority about what it takes to run a thousand-mile race through the Alaska interior in January. They will explain how they select dogs for a team, how they manage nutrition and recovery during a multi-day race, and what the bond between a musher and their lead dogs actually looks like in practice. For anyone with even a passing interest in sled dog racing, this access is remarkable.

How It Compares to the Mendenhall Glacier Option

Both the Mendenhall and Herbert Glacier dog sled tours are excellent. The key differences come down to time, scale, and price.

The Herbert Glacier camp typically offers more time on the ice (60 to 90 minutes versus 30 to 45 minutes on Mendenhall tours) and a longer sled run. The camp is smaller and less commercialized, with fewer groups rotating through at any given time. The trade-off is a slightly higher price point ($600 to $750 versus $550 to $700 for the Mendenhall tour) and a slightly longer total excursion time due to the extended on-ice portion.

If your priority is maximum time with the dogs and a more personal, less rushed experience, the Herbert Glacier camp is the stronger choice. If you want to combine dog sledding with dramatic glacier scenery and you are already considering a Mendenhall helicopter tour, the Mendenhall dog sled add-on is a more efficient use of your port time.

Practical Booking Tips

The Herbert Glacier camp has even fewer daily slots than the Mendenhall operation because it is a smaller facility. Book 4 to 6 months before your cruise if possible. Direct booking with the operator is typically $75 to $125 cheaper than the cruise ship price for the identical experience.

Weather cancellations follow the same pattern as all helicopter excursions in Juneau. Morning fog is common and can delay or cancel flights. If your ship arrives early and you have a morning slot, there is a reasonable chance of delays. Afternoon slots have slightly better weather odds on average, but the margin is slim. All operators issue full refunds for weather cancellations.

Dress in warm layers, bring sunglasses, and wear thick socks. The glacier is 25°F to 40°F regardless of what the temperature is at the cruise port. Operators provide glacier boots and basic outerwear if needed, but your own waterproof jacket and fleece will be more comfortable than borrowed gear.