Kenai Fjords National Park presents opportunity for rugged adventure in a land where snow-capped mountains send forth massive miles-thick glaciers that meet the sea in the beautiful yet unforgiving waters of the Gulf of Alaska.
Guide to Kenai Fjords
Kenai Fjords National Park
Over half of this park lies covered by ice, more than 700 square miles of which is encompassed by the Harding Icefield, itself a vestige of the Pleistocene Period, speckled with jagged icy mountain peaks, flanked by 38 outflowing glaciers. Gorgeous blue-green crystal-like icy fjords that give the park its name reach ever-so-slowly inland with claws that grow longer with each passing season, providing access to previously unknown lands.
Although the park receives anywhere from 400 to 800 inches of snow annually, the rate of retreat for these rivers of ice is advancing as more ice is melting than is forming. This process exposes land that has been covered by ice for untold lengths of time and is thus, for all intents and purposes, new land.
Scientists are continually studying this area for clues to the beginnings of life, as the evolution of such land from bare rock to nutrient rich soil provides insight into the formation of similar life sustaining materials elsewhere on our planet.
This is Alaska’s smallest national park, but one would be hard-pressed to determine that upon visitation, as the park holds nearly 700,000 acres, much of which remains inaccessible to all but experienced mountaineers familiar with glacier travel practices and adroit sea kayakers who take to the icy waters in search of pristine views of unparalleled grandeur deep within the park’s numerous fjords.
Visitors to Kenai Fjords can explore the park from land, air or water. Some arrive on cruise ships, however many make the drive south from Anchorage to Seward, where the park visitor center welcomes guests from both sea and land.
Just to the north of Seward, guests can visit Exit Glacier, the most accessible area of the park and the only area with developed trails. From here hikers may set out on the Harding Icefield Trail for an 8-mile round-trip jaunt leading up and across flowered meadows, through forests of cottonwood and alder, finally arriving at a point just above tree line that offers a stunning vista looking out upon the massive field of ice.
Heading out onto the Kenai Fjords’ glaciers is not for the inexperienced and presents dangers that may not even appear visually. Ice bridges form over crevasses in glaciers and may not be seen by the untrained eye. These often collapse. Do not be there when this happens. If traveling on ice is your thing, you probably know what you’re doing. If you’re unfamiliar with glacier travel, but you still wish to investigate these large bodies of ice, guide services are available in Seward that can arrange for your safe travel to and from these unique places. See the activities page for a listing of local guides.
Likewise, such words of caution apply to sea kayaking in the waters of Kenai Fjords. This is Alaska, and this place is not for beginners. High winds and bitterly cold seas can rise instantly on the bays and fjords within the park. Many areas along the southern coast offer no landfall potential and are bordered by giant walls of solid ice for miles at a time. There is often no escape from the seas in such areas and only kayakers with extensive experience in such conditions should attempt any long paddles in these areas. Once again, guide services are available for those who wish to go big, but haven’t the necessary experience. See the activities page for information and listings of local guides.
Numerous flightseeing services are available in Seward. Many of these companies can also be contacted to arrange logistics for backcountry drop-offs on the glaciers for those who wish to access peaks and glaciers deep within the park. These folks can also provide shuttle services to sea kayakers who wish to paddle some of the more remote fjords and shores in the park’s southwestern waters.
Highway 9 makes a journey to Kenai Fjords much easier than a visit to many of Alaska’s other national parks, yet this in no way detracts from the thrills that one may find here. This park provides access to worlds of frozen earth, walls of ice and glistening fjords riddled with beautifully forested slopes reaching upward toward features unlike any other place on earth, all framed by the backdrop of the Kenai Mountains.
See ya there…
Guide to Kenai Fjords
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