Kenai Fjords National Park

Kenai Fjords, just 130 miles south of Anchorage, is made of a range of coastal mountains which slowly sink into the ocean, transforming its former glacial valleys into long fjords with rocky and steep walls. More than half of the park is covered by the Harding ice field, a vestige of the huge ice sheet that covered Alaska during the last glacial age. The largest ice field in North America, it is at some places more than one mile thick. Like islands in a sea of ice, only the top of mountain peaks, called nunataks, emerge from the vast icy expense.

Only one small section of the park can be reached by the road, the Exit glacier. A short trail offers easy access to the front of the retreating glacier, while a longer trail let you climb 3000 vertical feet along it. You pass through the lush Marmot Meadows, enjoy great views, and have a glimpse at the Harding field from which it spills. However, the only way to judge the immensity of the Harding field is to see it from above, on a scenic flight. The cruise up one of the fjords let you have a look at the parks abundant shorebirds and marine life, as well as a few tidewater glaciers.