From beginning to end, the trip was top notch! The float plane was great, couldn’t wait to experience it! Seeing the bears up close was a dream come true and the best birthday present a girl could wish for! My guide, Miles, was the best ever! I highly recommend this wonderful company, every contact I had with ABAK was friendly and professional! Hope to return for whale watching some day!

We had a fabulous day hiking in the rain with Ben. I wasn't sure how the day was going to go since it was raining, but that didn't stop us! We hiked over gorgeous terrain and Ben was patient and fun with our 2 kids. The sky ended up clearing right when we arrived at the glacier so we got beautiful views both foggy and and sunny. As it states, you can't actually touch the glacier, its now separated by a small lake from the land.. so dont expect to touch or get on it in any way. I knew that, but I did not understand that there is actually no access to the glacier at all. The pictures of all that blue glacier are from previous years. That being said, it was an awesome day and one we will not soon forget! Highly rec doing the private group tour! It was awesome for our family!

During my weeklong vacation in Juneau, I booked a total of 8 excursions. There was certainly some tough competition, but I think this was likely my favorite for the following reasons: - Ideal group size - with a limit of 6 travelers, this trip is a great way to get away from the crowds. For the record, there were a total of 3 travelers on my outing, which meant a good amount of personalized interaction and one-on-one face time with the guides and staff, as opposed to a more typical tour where you need to compete for attention and are treated more as an interchangeable tourist. - Degree of physical exertion - most tours require very little physical exertion, which sort of dilutes the 'sense of accomplishment' factor. My favorite part of the tour was the packrafting portion - it felt great to know that I had to put in some minimal amount of effort to get to the destination as opposed to being shuttled there without having to lift a hand. - Novelty factor - I had never used crampons or a packraft before (though I have kayaked previously), so it was great to experience these for the first time. - Walking on top of a glacier - always a magical experience. Finally, I wanted to add a few shout outs for whoever at Above and Beyond Alaska ends up reading this: Dan, the guide who took us out on packrafting and the glacier walk, was amazing and great to interact with. I was really impressed to learn about all of the prep work that he does to get everything set up for the tours, with one example being clearing off and marking the path we walked on to get to the packrafts, and I'm sure this applies to the other guides who do this tour as well. He also came across as a very experienced and knowledgeable guide who really knows his stuff. I interacted with Claire from the office several times that day. Through all these interactions, she was really personable, friendly, open and a joy to converse with. I felt really welcome at the ABAK office relative to other tour company offices that I've visited pre- and post-excursion. I feel bad about not remembering the name of the woman who picked us up and did the drop off (I did remember that she was from Minneapolis), but she was really friendly, sociable, and great to chat with as well. If I find myself in Juneau again in the near future, I'd definitely look into doing another tour with ABAK.

This was a great hike led by our guide Jeffrey. Jeff was very friendly and informative. The walk is quite strenuous, but Jeff made sure everyone was capable and wearing the right clothing. A waterproof and decent walking shoes/boots are a must.

Such a fun experience! Our guide was very informative and made the trip super fun. They were able to accommodate all of us, and really made Our trip amazing!

Our guides and the tour were amazing! Super knowledgeable and fun. I was impressed by how well run the trip was and how well prepped they were with gear and snacks for us. Would definitely recommend to others.

This was an excellent experience with a fantastic crew! Guides were super knowledgeable (and funny to boot). Ben and Chris made everyone feel comfortable in the canoe and just had so much knowledge of the glacier. We were really lucky in that we also saw a couple of bald eagles along the way. It's a little sad to see how much the glacier has receded over time but it is still well worth going there and having your mind blown by how much ice there really is. Do the paddling tour -- it's taxing on the arms but the views and how close up you get to the glacier itself is so worth it! Thanks for a fantastic experience!

Kimball was the greatest guide, our kids now want to raft in California. Dave is a horrible guide, scared the children and threw rocks at a bald Eagle, just appalling.

We did the Fly-In Norris Glacier Hike & Packraft on June 30 - incredible 5 star experience!! We're locals and would absolutely recommend this tour to locals and vistors alike, it's a truly unique adventure. Abby, Cory, and the rest of the crew were so passionate and knowledgeable about the glaciers/landscape. The seaplane ride was about 25 minutes both ways. We landed on Norris lake and then had a 10 minute walk to where you get in the packrafts. The packraft paddle is about 15 minutes and you get out directly onto the glacier to hike around! You can tell that safety is the priority in every portion of the tour. A must do in Juneau!

This is why I came to Alaska! I would add more stars if I could. Best day of the whole cruise! Leeann and Kiana were our guides and were terrific young ladies with hiking experience and knowledge of the local flora to share. 7 wonderful hours out in stunning nature. I would comment that if you are not physically fit, and ALSO have good balance and climbing ability- DO NOT BOOK this! It was a 968 ft elevation gain hike. Read the information on their website and do not blindly book this on trip advisor. You will climb up and down large rocks, walk thru streams or water and mud, scramble up some short rock faces with your hands and slide down on your bum. This impacts the whole group of up to 12 hikers (max tour size) as one guide has to always remain with the hikers regardless if they are capable of continuing. This is not a flat walk in the woods for someone just pulling new hiking boots out of the box that morning. That said, the other thing to note is that the glacier is receding and no two trips will be the same. You aren't walking on the glacier and the ice caves of 2022 and before are now gone. It was fascinating to see the changes made over time by the glacier. I would totally do this trip again given the chance.

A great way to spend a day in Juneau. Noah and Keanu (spelling - sorry!) were fantastic guides. They are very knowledgeable about the history of the area, the geology and fauna and kept us all paddling along. You will need to paddle! Not kidding. It’s about an hour each way. So worth it though as the glacier is beautiful and the lake is peaceful. Not really a hike- we walked a bit to get closer to the glacier, but it’s really about the canoeing. The trip is very well organized. It was a bit chilly and there was rain on and off, so layer accordingly.

We had an Amazing hike with Hailey! She took us up to the glacier, and gave us great context about the local flora and geology! Additionally the ABAK company thinks of everything, from good quality gear and quality snacks and water!

Not sure there are enough words to adequately capture what a spectacular day my family just had on this trek! We had THE most amazing day with our tour guide Hailey who expertly and enthusiastically led us on a day long hike to the glacier and back. Our kids ages 19, 17 and 13 all LOVED the trip too. We are active travelers and regularly hike. This hike is definitely not an easy one but ABAK makes it manageable with the right gear and the BEST snack pack that more than fuels you for the day. We are SO glad we did this hike while in Juneau!

Two parts to this review so sorry for the long post. First off shout out to everyone who works at above and beyond Alaska for making our experience so great. Everyone who worked here was very kind to us and was enjoyable to be around. Special shout-out to Haley who was our guide for the tour. She was everything you could want in a tour guide -knowledgeable, nice, funny, and made sure we had the best time possible. For the actual tour itself, not much to say besides don’t think just do it. The whole experience from the plane ride to rafting to hiking the glacier itself is all breathtaking. You get to explore an actual glacier and see ice caves water runoffs and crevasses on the glacier which was truly once in a lifetime experience. If I could rate this tour 100 stars I would, but even that doesn’t do it justice. P.S, Claire the dog we love you

This was by far our favorite tour of the whole trip. Leah was a fantastic guide, very knowledgeable, personable and made our experience unforgettable. This tour does require a decent level of physical fitness and we would caution anyone to make sure their endurance is up to the task. Only disappointment is that we could no longer get to the glacier due to the accelerated retreat but even that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of this hike.