The turnoff to Kenai Fjords National Park’s Exit Glacier is just a few miles north of Seward. The first few hundred yards of the road appeared unremarkable, but once it started following the Resurrection River things got real scenic, real fast. Although we were eager to get inside the park and hike to the glacier, we pulled over a few times to take photos.
Near the park entrance sign, we spotted a small brown and white marker on the side of the road. “1815.” Huh? “Was that an elevation sign?” We weren’t sure. A little further on, “1899.” We were stumped. We passed more signs on the way to the nature center parking lot, but it wasn’t until we were on the paved trail heading toward the glacier and saw “1917” followed by “1926” that we understood. The markers indicated the terminus of the glacier in that year. Whoa. So in 1899 Exit Glacier reached almost a mile past the parking lot.
A beautiful and sobering sight
The impact of a warming climate became clearer as we walked up the path. 1950. 1961. 1978. The signs got closer together, both by year and by distance, a clear indication of a climate getting warmer, faster. It was hard not to feel subdued by this reality, even in the midst of such beauty.
We kept hiking, leaving the paved path for packed glacial till, ropes marking the trail. It’s possible to hike to the toe of the glacier itself, although it’s sometimes closed due to icefall and rockfall hazard.
Most visitors take a gander at the glacier, visit the Nature Center, and call it good. But half of the 1,000-square mile Kenai Fjords National Park is occupied by the enormous Harding Icefield, which covers a mountain range and feeds 38 glaciers, including Exit Glacier. And a little ways up the glacier trail is a turnoff to another trail that leads to the icefield.
The Harding Icefield and sneaky bears
Although we were seriously tempted — only 3.8 miles to the icefield! but, more than 3,000′ of elevation gain — we knew we didn’t have time or the right gear to do the whole hike. As we started up the trail, though, hoping to get a better view of Exit Glacier and the Resurrection River valley, we met hikers coming down who mentioned seeing black bears about 3/4 mile up. Well, we definitely had time for that, so we started climbing.
The shadows were lengthening and we still hadn’t spotted the bears, although we’d been on the trail for about a mile. We hiked to the next switchback and decided to call it a day. No bears. As we neared the junction with the glacier trail, we met hikers coming up who told us the bears were sitting in trees above the trail. We’d probably walked right underneath them. Argh.
Well, bears or no bears, it was a fascinating day, one we plan to extend on our next trip with a hike to the icefield. The next day, we were booked on a Kenai Fjords cruise and hoped to see cetaceans, pinnipeds, birds, and more. Sure would be nice if the weather held, but the forecast didn’t look good.
