Exit Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers in Alaska, sitting just outside Seward inside Kenai Fjords National Park, and it earns every superlative thrown at it – provided you can actually see it. We stopped here on our way from Homer to Seward, and the weather had absolutely zero interest in cooperating.
Tongue of Ice
Looking at Exit Glacier from the roadside viewpoint
Kenai Fjords National Park
The mandatory Park entrance sign photo, with Exit Glacier in the background.
Exit Glacier is one of roughly 40 named glaciers that flow down from the Harding Icefield, the largest icefield entirely within the United States at nearly 700 square miles. The icefield sits at elevations between 5,000 and 6,000 feet and feeds glaciers in every direction, Exit being the most visited because it’s the only one you can drive to. The glacier has been retreating measurably for over a century – the NPS posts historical markers along the trail showing where the ice edge stood in various years going back to the late 1800s, and the distance between them is genuinely sobering.
The Harding Icefield Trail is the main event – an 8.2 mile out-and-back with about 3,000 feet of gain that climbs from the glacier’s edge all the way up to the icefield itself. On a good day, the views are reportedly otherworldly. On the day we went, the clouds had moved in, the rain had shown up, and the entire trail was a sloppy, boot-sucking mud run from the first quarter mile to the last.
We went anyway, because that’s what we do.
We made it nearly to the top before conditions and visibility made the rest of the climb an exercise in optimism over evidence. The views we got were spectacular in that moody, atmospheric way that blue glacial ice in grey mist can be – all deep crevasse blues and faded white in the clouds. Not what we came for, but still very much worth it.
What was less impressive was the parade of people we passed on the lower section of the trail in tennis shoes, jeans, grey sweat pants and hoodies, apparently unaware that "glacier hike" carries some implied gear requirements. This trail gets steep, wet, and slippery fast, and there were multiple snow sections requiring some actual commitment to navigate.
Colette hiked them like a reasonable person. I glissaded them like a twelve-year-old yelling ‘wheeeeee’.
JP did this hike in in August 2017, and has a great writeup on their experience overnighting at the glacier over on his blog.
Absolutely do this hike if you have the desire and fitness.
But check the forecast first and wait for a clear day – the Harding Icefield in sunshine is supposedly one of the great views in Alaska.
Just wear proper boots and bring your rain gear.
Blue and White
Blue and white are the only colors out here today
Faded Out
Everything fades in the clouds and mist
Blue Flow
Exit Glacier flows down from the Harding Icefield
Licks of Blue
Deep blue fissures in Exit Glacier
From The Top
Looking back up at Colette as she decends the Harding Icefield trail. I glissaded down a lot of these snow sections, while she chose to hike down.
Muddy Mess
The entire Harding Icefield trail was a sloppy muddy mess with this weather.
Harding Icefield Whiteout
It's a whiteout high up the trail along the Harding Icefield in Kenai Fjords National Park
