Perseverance Trail – Juneau

The path to the Perseverance trailhead, Basin Road, showcases a dramatic change from urban to wilderness, leading from downtown Juneau to a spectacular canyon. At the end of it is where Perseverance Trail begins, and this former rail line (named for the mine it once serviced) quickly climbs up above the Gold Creek valley. There’s plenty to see along the way, including old mine shafts that blow cool winds, and a stretch of trail where the mountain drops steeply away to Gold Creek.

A couple of side trails are worth exploring, including Granite Creek (2 miles in) which can bring you up to the ridge east of Mount Juneau’s summit. A broken bridge at the bottom of a falls marks the near-end of the trail. A few hundred yards more and you can sit on a wooden platform and look down on the valley you just hiked up. Soak it all in. You’re exploring Alaska.

Total elevation gain if you do the whole trail: 1500 ft

What I always do is run to the end, or as far as you can get in this time of the year, as there is still a lot of snow going up higher, than turn around and take Red Mill Trail back to the ship. What an amazing trails…Ended up going so high that I ran in the snow, drank water from the waterfall, washed my face with glacial water and threw snowballs…..

Take note that this is not an easy stroll – getting to the entrance of the trailhead is easy but the climb, once on the trail are steep and the trail can be rather slippery. from the ship to the end of the trail and back is about 11 miles.

Here are some photos and selfies I took on the trail

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