The Tongass Treehouse is situated about 100 feet up a cliff, overlooking Lynn Canal about located about 15 minutes from the Juneau airport. The treehouse has two completely separate units, with the entrances on separate levels as well. The only shared space is the laundry room.

The construction of the treehouse is quite unique due to being on a steep hillside. There are twelve trees pinned to bedrock rising through the house as the supports. Glu-lams run across the trees, and thick douglas fir tongue-and-groove is laid across to make each floor. The outside of the house was then constructed, so it was made inside-out!

The upstairs unit was named Orcaview Cabin as we kept seeing pods of orca while working on it and stopping work to watch them. The lower studio shares the same view, and we call it the Otter Den as otters known to nest below houses along these cliffs, and because while woring on it we kept seeing a resident family of river otter foraging along the rocky shoreline. The names stuck.

There is a small parking area that fits two large vehicles comfortably, or three smaller vehicles. Extra vehicles can park one block away in the turnaround.

We are a stunningly beautiful 15 minute drive from the aiport and town, where you'll pass views of the Mendenhall Glacier, Auke Lake with Mount McGinnis in the background, Auke Bay, the ferry terminal, Lena beach, and the vistas of Tee Harbor.

We are highly available for any questions, and a day or two before your travel we will send specifics for getting here, your passcode for the door, and details about things like wifi.

Both the Orcaview Cabin and Otter Den have a view

The view of Lynn Canal, the Chilkat Mountains and the local wildlife of whales, eagles, steller sea lions, porcupines, marmot, harbor seals and flying squirrels are visible from both units. They both have a large deck/balcony out front. Only the inside is different.

The Treehouse is surrounded by wildlife

From the treehouse deck the most commonly sighted species is the bald eagle. There is a resident pair who live here year round, and there are plenty of visiting eagles that come for the salmon run right off the beach. From the treehouse we see eagles fly past at eye-level dozens of times per day most of the year, and it's common to have them perch in the trees right off the deck to eat their catch of fish.

Steller sea lion and harbor seal are daily sights as well. Steller sea lion forage and play right offshore, and often relax on the rocks around the island. You can hear them playing, and occasionally you'll hear them bellow or make other noises. Northern fur seal also make occasional appearances.

If you pay attention, river otter show up with some frequency. They're silently foraging along the rocky shoreline and you'll miss them if you aren't paying close attention. There is a resident family that plays out front and sometimes you'll see them commuting to-and-from Cohen Island. Sea otter are incredibly dense in population not too far away, but they rarely make it to the treehouse. It's thought this is due to the abundance of orca.

Humpack whale are common visitors year-round, but especially May through September. Usually they're passing through between us and the island, though when baitfish are hanging out they'll be feeding right out front, and on rare occasions you might see them bubble feeding from the treehouse! Right offshore drops off to hundreds of feet deep, and we occasionally get breaching humpback whales right next to the beach, though most of the time we see them breaching further out in Lynn Canal.

One of our favorite marine mammals are orca. They seem more abundant in winter, but we do see them every week or two in summer. We asked whale watching boats how often they see orca in summer, and they said about one in ten trips. They tend to travel in pods, and everyone smiles when a baby orca makes an appearance.

Porpoise can be seen in pods occasionally. Harbor porpoise tend to be closer to shore, while Dall's porpoise are larger and are usually out beyond Cohen Island.

Being up in the rainforest canopy, red squirrels are a part of everyday life. They are a tiny squirrel and extremely vocal. As sunset turns to twilight, if you are quiet and watch carefully, flying squirrels come out and you can occasionally see them gliding tree-to-tree.

Porcupine are common sights at the treehouse. They will occasionally walk over to the deck, look around, and then usually leave. We have a couple of resident porcupine we see often and have given them names.

Marmot are commonly seen April through October at the treehouse. There is one large marmot we see most, though we have seen a number of individuals. Typically marmot are seen when hiking at higher elevation, we are lucky to have some locals.

One of the critters we get asked most about, bear are surprisingly common visitors. We have had a number of Juneauites comment to us that they sometimes go years without seeing bear, while we see them near the treehouse daily May through June, and many times per week after that. We see them on the property itself passing through every few weeks, they never seem to stay long. They do not like humans and will typically leave if they notice you watching.

Of course, this is just a handful of the wildlife you can see at the treehouse. There are more than 300 bird species in total that you might see in Juneau. If you are adventurous and want to explore other areas of Juneau, you might see wildlife like beaver or mountain goat.

Orcaview Cabin

A three bedroom, 1.5 bath luxurious rainforest retreat. The view overlooking Lynn Canal is stunning, and can be seen from the wrap-around deck, the living room, the dining table, the work desk, and the primary bedroom. We work from home, and it's normal for us to see eagles flying past at eye-level dozens of times per day, and have humpback whales cruising by while we take zoom meetings.

Otter Den Studio

Amenities

How the Tongass Treehouse is different

We are away from the tourists and the hustle and bustle of town. You get the view you came to Alaska for right at your doorstep, and the abundant wildlife is in your face - like eagles feet from the deck, or whales sleeping right offshore. We are up in the canopy, giving a unique perspective of looking *down* at eagles, or at eye-level. It allows a far more expansive view of the canal, and when bears are walking around you can safely watch them from up on the deck or balcony.

This is a real Alaskan home with no human development in its view. There are no lights at night, just the forested islands of the Alexander Archipeligo and Chilkat Mountains and stars. We don't have loud highway noise, the worst is the occasional boat.

Despite being out in nature, we are merely 15 minutes from the airport and most shopping and restaurants in the Mendenhall Valley. Midtown, which includes Costco and the Lemon Creek area, is about 20 minutes away. Downtown Juneau is about 25 minutes away.

There is easy beach access about a 10 minute walk away via a rainforest trail. Additional hiking is a short walk from the treehouse, and there are hundreds of miles of trails just minutes from us. We are surrounded with nearby must-see beach access including Lena Beach, Eagle Beach, Amalga, Auke Rec and the Shrine of St. Therese.

Rules and Safety

We ask everyone when they book if they saw the photos of the stairs and are okay with them. The tradeoff to having a treehouse where it is are these stairs.

Neither unit is child-proofed, so we often ask if you have young children. Being on a cliff, children cannot be allowed outside unsupervised. If you want forest and beach access, there's a wonderful trail nearby.

We ask everyone to refrain from feeding the wildlife to keep them wild. Loud noises can also scare off the wildlife, so please avoid music or yelling while on the deck and balcony.

Try to finish up your laundry by about 7pm just to keep noise down.

No parties, drugs or smoking/vaping anything at the treehouse or its deck/balcony. If you smoke/vape, please do so by the parking structure (we have bins for the butts). A housefire was started from someone smoking and we are very strict about this rule.

No candles or open flame except the gas range in the Orcaview. We have found candles scarily close to the curtains too many times.

The parking lot can fit two normal size cars, one spot for each unit. There's a roundabout next to us with free parking if you have multiple vehicles.

We don't offer discounts.

Preparation and Provisions

Getting here and around

We have no roads in or out, we are surrounded by ocean, mountains and icefields, so most visitors to the treehouse will arrive by plane. Juneau aiport (airport code JNU) is a small, and most flights come via Seattle. In fact, Seattle is such a default destination when locals say "down south" that's often synonymous with Seattle. Nearly all flights are via Alaska Airlines, though Delta sometimes has summer flights too. Due to high demand and limited flights in and out, it is recommended you book at least a few months in advance. Waiting longer can see increased ticket prices or even sold out seats.

Once here, Juneau is mostly quite simple to navigate - there's a single 'road system' that begins near downtown, and heads northwest until you reach 'the end of the road'. We live in an area known as "out-the-road" in local lingo. You will almost certainly want a rental car to make the most of your trip. You can arrive a taxi to go to-and-from the treehouse, but it will probably end up costing more than a car, and you'll miss out on a lot. Many of our guests have wonderful things to say about their rentals through Turo. This typically results in a vehicle left in the airport parking lot for you (you'll need to pay the exit fee to leave the lot), and you may drop it off at the airport on your way out. There are also more well-known car rental agencies.

Getting to us is straightforward, we're about 12 miles from the airport along an incredibly scenic drive. We'll give you the address the day before your travel.

If you want to see beyond the road system, locals tend to charter flights on some of the bush planes, or take the ferry system (which we call the Marine Highway).

What to pack

There's no bad weather, just bad gear. Alaska is a rugged land, and locals enjoy the outdoors year-round regardless of weather. Days can be sunny and 75F, then turn to 50F and pouring rain, so always be prepared. We tend to dress in layers, with an outer shell, moisture-wicking or wool socks, and boots (Alaskans even wear xtratuf rubber boots to weddings!). Alaskans don't use umbrellas, as the rain is usually a mild drizzle, downpours are uncommon.

We recommend packing a pair of binoculars, though at the house we have spotting scopes for the wildlife. We really recommend taking advantage of the hiking, so a pair of hiking boots is a must!

When out hiking, pack a water bottle and snacks.

When to visit

May

May has stunning snow-covered landscapes and is when the flora and fauna is just waking up. Bear are easy to see as they begin to look for energy after their hibernation, and cubs are often following mom. The plants have sprouted leaves, and everything is coming into bloom. It's an exciting time.

Anecdotally, we and our neighbors have noticed that May has the most frequent whale sightings from the deck, and for some reason we have seen the most breaching right near us during this month. It's also so far been when we see the most orcas. We have wondered if this is due to the patterns of baitfish, though we really don't know.

May is chilly but our sunniest month, and being close to solstice we have long and late sunsets. If you want to hike high elevation, be aware that there can still be quite a bit of snow in the alpine areas.

June

Bear are still easy to see, cubs are noticeably growing, and fishing has really picked up. Salmon begin jumping all over as they come back in from their mysterious winter migration out in the gulf. Halibut and rockfish also become abundant. The landscapes transforms to vibrant green as the mountains shed their snow, and the weather warms up significantly (though it's still Alaska!).

June 21st is summer solstice, and it's a celebratory time for locals. You can casually hike and fish in the light at 11:30pm, and the light is back by 2:30am, hours before you're up for the day.

July

80F days become much more common, sometimes hitting 80F. The salmon are thick, and begin spawning in the creeks. This is peak summer activity for most locals.

August

Snow is mostly melted from the alpine areas, all hiking is accessible without snow gear. Fishing is still at its peak for the first half of the month, and slowly attenuates from there. Nights become dark enough to again see the aurora by mid-August.

September

The sun sets directly in front of the house this time of year. The days are cooler, but still quite pleasant. Fishing is slowing down.

Off-season

We currently don't rent our house short term in the off-season, but we may be open to longer term rentals.

It's hard to talk about the off-season without mentioning the aurora. With the dark nights, it becomes much easier to see her. There are forecasts for solar activty online, but the reality is that good aurora activity is often paired with cloud cover. Juneau in the off-season has essentially no tourists, and you can live the real local Alaskan life, provided you do okay with the dark (many, including us, seem to do better with more sunlight).

Our story

We are childhood sweethearts who grew up right in this very harbor. We moved down south for school and work, and after a while we really missed home. We wanted to return home for summers at the very least, but had a hard time finding a house.

The Tongass Treehouse popped up as a project house - the engineering report and a few inspections revealed that it had solid bones, but needed a lot of work. We flew up to look at it - we parked and saw marmot and a momma bear with cub. We walked down to the house, and there was a porcupine eating and going about its business. Arriving at the deck, there were eagles flying past at eye-level feet from us, then they landed in the tree next to us! A whale popped for a breath right offshore, we saw steller sea lions and a harbor seal. Walked through the house to see the inside, and shortly after, a pod of orca came close to shore and hung out for a bit. As the sun began to set, we saw a flying squirrel in the canopy. Despite the work ahead, we knew this was the spot for us. We grew up right here and had never seen this much wildlife from any home!

The Tongass Treehouse is very unique - it consists of twelve trees that are pinned to bedrock, sitting upon over-built sono tubes. The trees have thick glu-lams spanning them, creating support for the thick douglas fir flooring - the same stuff used for car decking. This was all stained with tung oil giving it a beautiful amber color. Finally, the walls went up around the structure, and cedar siding was put up.

We tore down the old deck and balcony, put up a much stronger and bigger deck and balcony, with a deep cedar railing cap to function as a bar, since we knew we'd spend so much time out there watching the wildlife and sunsets.

Inside the main part of the house we completely transformed everything - we took out the old carpet and put down new waterproof flooring, we completely redid the kitchen and added concrete counters and all new appliances, added tile and an exhaust hood and lots of new lighting. We tried to preserve everything we could - both for reducing waste and to keep the charm of the place. We sanded down the cedar bathroom, restored the tile and put in a new vanity and lighting. As we uncovered the stairs, we realized we could restore the beautiful steps, stain then and add a little grit for traction. In an homage to Clay's heritage, we hung up native art all around and furnished the place with a mid-centry feel. We updated the heaters and added an electric fireplace, solid oak dining table and stocked the place with lots of cookbooks, Alaskan books and puzzles.

Upstairs is a desk area, a full bath and three bedrooms. We added new flooring throughout to replace the old carpet, set up a desk area overlooking Lynn Canal through the large windows, and added a reading chair. The bathroom was mostly removed, the cedar walls were sanded (about four days just to sand!), we went with a natural spa-like feel including a heated stone floor. We designed a large walk-in shower with a high-flow shower head and a shower valve that is easy to use and remembers the heat setting you select. The shower floor and even shower bench are heated, both for luxurious comfort and to help it dry to prevent mildew. We added a heated towel rack, because a warm, dry towel after a shower is the best feeling ever! There's also a double vanity and lots of mirrors and medicine cabinet space.

For the bedrooms, we tried to design form and function. One bedroom is cozy, another functions as the library, and the main bedroom has the best view in the house with a walk-in closet.

Our plan was to fix up the main 3 bedroom unit and then to some locals, while the lower studio was going to be our home. Unlike upstairs, we had to redo nearly all of the studio. The original balcony was so small you did not have room to even turn around, now it's 24 x 6 feet with rocking chairs. The kitchen was custom-designed for the odd space, as most cabinets don't have to worry about trees erupting through them. :) We hired a carpenter who made the custom cabinets, we then put in concrete counters and a large sink. Despite being a studio, we designed it for full-time living and we love to cook, so the kitchen has normal appliances (except the compact Bosch dishwasher), lots of counter space, and a bar that doubles as more useful space. We went for an indstrial-meets-1920s feel in the place, accentuated by the lighting and furnishings. The bathroom required a complete gut and redo, we put in heated floors, including the floor of the walk-in shower. We used the same high-flow shower head and valves as upstairs, and a heated towel rack as well.

As is often the case, the remodel was beginning to cost many times more than expected. We put up the treehouse on AirBnB to help out a bit, with a note it is being remodeled to explain why there are no photos of the inside, and to our surprise, it was being booked almost instantly. We asked each guest for feedback, as this was designed as our home and not a rental. The biggest request by far was spotting scopes (which we picked up), but mostly people liked the place as-is and have been return visitors! It's been absolutely incredible hearing the stories of folks who get an authentic Alaskan experience, and become locals. We've made so many friends in our short time as hosts, and it's given us more appreciation for our hometown than we knew was possible.