Alaskan Glaciers

Glaciers: Alaska's Mountains of Ice 

I've been to Alaska several times as part of my PhD research, but it was not until my third trip to Alaska that I finally set time apart to explore glaciers up close.  As a geologist from Florida, I have always wanted to climb and hike over these expanses of ice so dense, it emits a blue hue.  If not the sheer size of glaciers impresses visitors, the fact that these mounds of ice move should.  The immense mass of glaciers combined with the pull of gravity ensures these ice masses move downhill, although often so slowly as to be imperceptible to the naked eye.  I am not a glaciologist, and this is by no means a glaciology class.  I give an introduction to these wonders so as to explain why I wanted to explore them so badly.  

Standing in front of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park.

The first glacier we visited on our two days dedicated to glacier exploration was Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park.  Most of this national park is encompassed in the Harding Ice Field, an expanse of over 700 square miles of ice.  The Harding ice field feeds most of the glaciers, which skirt the ice field, in the national park.  Many visitors to the park take a glacier tour by boat out of Seward Alaska, a good opportunity to see calving of glaciers into the North Pacific Ocean.  However, we did not have the 8 hours required for a glacial tour by boat.  So we elected to just visit Exit Glacier.

The end of the hike to the side of Exit Glacier.

The access road to Exit Glacier is just a few miles out of Seward, and a 4 hour scenic drive from Anchorage.  Within this part of the park three hiking trails exist to view the glacier.  The first and longest parallels the glacier all the way up to the Harding Ice Field.  The second is a short hike up the side of the glacier near the base.  The third winds down to the braided stream at the base of the glacier.  We elected for the second hike to the side of the glacier, thinking we would be able to get close enough to touch.  Unfortunately the end of the trail lies about 20 feet from the wall of the glaciers and is partitioned off with cordage.  Signs also adorn the area warning hikers not to venture past the rope and climb on the glacier, much to my disappointment.

At the end of the Alice Mountain hike, finally making it above the tree line after 90 minutes of almost vertical hiking.

We spent another couple of hours in Seward to get lunch and go on a less popular (we only saw two other people and a dog) hike of Mount Alice.  The lack of people may be due to the lack of a clear trail head.  Our only indication of being in remotely the right area was a car pulled off the road. We wandered along the side of the road until finding a small gap in the shrubs.  Mount Alice offers a strenuous (15% grade) 1 mile hike from the coastline of Seward above the tree line to the peaks covered with snowpack.  Beautiful panoramas of Seward and the sea are also available almost the entire trek up the mountain.  After returning to our rental car parked on the side of the road we drove back to Anchorage and researched another glacier to view the next day.

Hiking on Matanuska Glacier in Alaska.  

Our second day of glacier exploration was spent at Matanuska Glacier, 4 hours by car the opposite (north) direction of Seward.  Matanuska Glacier is a privately owned valley glacier, 26 miles long and 4 miles wide.  Matanuska Glacier differs from Exit Glacier in that for an admission price of less than $20 a head and the signing of a waiver, visitors are allowed to walk, hike, and climb anywhere they desire on and around the glacier.

Amazing blue ice formations are abundant on Matanuska Glacier.

The entrance to the glacier is rather muddy, and boards are laid down for visitors to walk on safely until they reach firm ice.  While the ice may be firm, it is still rather slick.  I saw more than a few visitors sliding around on their back sides or perched precariously on a hill trying to eye a path of retreat.  For an additional fee visitors can rent a pair of crampons that will significantly increase their footing, but we bypassed this option in favor of our hiking boots.  

Our way off the glacier, after we turned to the side for a shorter exit off the ice.

Most visitors (including us) entered the glacier through the same area, but once on the actual ice everyone scattered leaving entire sections desolate.  When we decided to return to the parking lot, we tried to exit the glacier by turning to the side, only to find it much further than we first thought and cavernous holes in the ice from which sounds of rushing water echoed in our way.  Eventually we made it back to the car, but those caverns made apparent the need for an accident waiver for this attraction to exist.  Despite how dangerous the glacier trek may or may not be, it is one of my favorite experiences not just in traveling, but in my life.  I highly recommend it to any able-bodied person planning a trip to the Anchorage area.  

One of the cavernous holes from which the sound of rushing water emitted.  We were sure to not get too close, as we didn't want to fall in and get trapped in the ice below.