Kenai Fjords National Park!

What Is Kenai Fjords National Park?

Kenai Fjords National Park is made up of the glaciers and their patiently carved fjords surrounding the massive Harding Ice Field!

What Makes It Beautiful?

Most people who visit this park take a boat tour through the fjords with their breathtaking sea stacks and World War II era forts. I did this too, enjoyed the amazing Fox Island lunch buffet, and saw a few puffins and sea lions, but this was late in the wildlife season, and many of Alaska’s impressive sea creatures had moved away for the winter! That’s because the waves here get so high in the winter that they can wash entire cliff faces clean of bird guano!

For me, the highlight of this trip was hiking to the top of the Harding Ice Field! It’s a four-mile trail that leaves from Exit Glacier and travels way up to the mother of the park’s nearly forty glaciers. It’s an incredible hike, passing through incredibly lush vegetation, stark rock, and ancient ice! It’s hard to say how long the ice will last as the planet heats up, giving this place a very fragile feeling, as fragile as the tiny flowers growing from the bare rock above the plant line! Also, there were lots of mountain goats up here, and I got stuck behind some of them on the trail going down!

How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?

Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
Volunteer with Kenai Fjords National Park!
Donate to Kenai Fjords National Park!
Be a responsible visitor! Remember the old adages: Pack out what you pack in! Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints!

How Do I Get There?

Main Visitor Venter:

1212 4th Avenue
Seward, AK 99664

Exit Glacier Visitor Center:

24620 Herman Leirer Road
Seward, AK 99664

(Take Me There!)

When Should I Visit the Park?

The best time to visit is during the summer (June-August)! When I was there at the very end of August, the wildlife wasn’t very plentiful and the fireweed was past its prime, but the crowds were nonexistent, and the late summer storms made for very dramatic landscapes!