Mendenhall Valley

The Mendenhall Valley (historically Mendenhall, colloquially The Valley) is the drainage area of the Mendenhall River in the U.S. state of Alaska. The valley contains a series of neighborhoods, comprising the largest populated place within the corporate limits of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska's capital. The valley was formed by Mendenhall Glacier over the course of roughly three thousand years. It was named for physicist and meteorologist Thomas Corwin Mendenhall.

The Mendenhall Valley begins ten miles from the downtown area, at the intersection of Egan Drive and Glacier Highway, and ends ten miles farther west at the intersection of Glacier Highway and Mendenhall Loop Road at Auke Bay. The Valley comprises an area stretching from the wetlands along Fritz Cove and Auke Bay back to the Mendenhall Glacier as well as Mendenhall Lake and the Mendenhall River, which for the most part drains the Valley.

There are four elementary schools (Auke Bay, Glacier Valley, Mendenhall River, and Riverbend), one middle school (Floyd Dryden), and one high school (Thunder Mountain) located in Mendenhall Valley. Most of Juneau's churches are located in the Valley.

Points of interest include Adair-Kennedy Memorial Park, Fritz Cove, Heintzleman Ridge, Mendenhall Glacier, Mendenhall Lake, and Mendenhall River.

source: wikipedia.org