At the edge of the Kenai Peninsula lies  Kenai Fjords National Park, a land where the ice age lingers. Nearly 40 glaciers flow from the Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords‘ crowning feature. Wildlife thrives in icy waters and lush forests around this vast expanse of ice where Sugpiaq people have relied on these resources to nurture a life entwined with the sea.

Kenai Fjords National Park was established as a national monument in 1978.  It became a national park in 1980 to preserve the fjord and rainforest ecosystems, Harding Icefield, abundant wildlife and historical and archeological remains, and to provide visitor access.

This glacial wonderland features stunning scenery, incredible wildlife and aquatic adventures. Created in 1980 to protect some of the most incredible and impenetrable wilderness in Alaska, Kenai Fjords National Park spans 601,839-acres at the foot of Seward.

Snow and ice cover 60 percent of the park, and lining the edge is the vast 936-square-mile Harding Icefield. From the massive icefield, countless tidewater glaciers pour down, carving valleys that fill with seawater to form stunning fjords and icebergs the size of small houses.

The park is named for the numerous fjords carved by glaciers moving down the mountains from the ice field. The field is the source of at least 38 glaciers, the largest of which is Bear Glacier.

The park lies just to the west of Seward, a popular port for cruise ships. Exit Glacier is reachable by road and is a popular tour destination. The remainder of the park is primarily accessible by boat. 

Cruise tours originating from Seward provide access to the park via Resurrection Bay.

Various companies offer tours, many guided by National Park Rangers. The tours provide views of land and marine wildlife, particularly Steller sea lions, puffins, Dall’s porpoises, American black bear, snowshoe hares, Mountain goats, and humpback and orca whales, as well as natural sights such as the fjords and tidewater glaciers.

Kenai Fjords National Park includes three main areas – Exit Glacier, Harding Icefield and the coast.

Exit Glacier, a half-mile wide river of ice, is the easiest section of the park to access. The 700-square-mile Harding Ice Field is one of only four remaining ice fields in the United States, and is also the largest ice field entirely within U.S. borders.

The park includes the region’s deeply indented glaciated coastline and its interior icefields. The most significant fjords include Aialik Bay, Harris Bay, McCarty Fjord and Nuka Bay. Much of the interior is covered by the Harding Icefield.

The park’s landscape has been shaped by plate tectonics, with the Pacific Plate subducting beneath the North American Plate. The process has lowered the elevation of the Kenai Mountains, gradually pulling glacial features down into the sea, which is at the same time rising. The floors of the fjords can be from 600 to 1,000 feet (180 to 300 m) below the present sea level.

The motion of the North Pacific Plate has accreted a variety of terranes against the shoreline, so that the coastal region is a mixture of rocks that originated elsewhere, together with local igneous rock. Predominant rock types include shale and graywacke, with greenstone, tuff and chert.

The erosive power of the glaciers produces sediment as rock flour coloring the waters around the toes of glaciers, carrying minerals into the ecosystem that support phytoplankton, which in turn sustain larger animals.

The Harding Icefield receives 60 feet (18 m) of snowfall per year. The glaciers first formed about 23,000 years ago. Icefield coverage has declined, with a 3% reduction in coverage over a 16-year study period.

The park’s largest glacier is Bear Glacier. The most accessible glacier, and the only portion of the park accessible by road, is Exit Glacier.

The park’s highest point is an unnamed peak of 6,450 feet (1,970 m) in the Kenai Mountains. The park is bordered on the west by Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and on the south by Kachemak Bay State Park.

Plant & Wildlife

The park’s rugged coastline includes beautiful tidewater glaciers and abundant marine wildlife.

This seemingly harsh terrain is home to a diverse array of plants and animals.  Terrestrial animals, such as black and brown bear, beaver, coyote, mountain goat, river otter, moose, gray wolf and wolverine, cover the land, while marine life is as diverse. 

The glacial waters are home to sea otters, porpoises, sea lions, harbor seals and whales. 

Kenai Fjords is also a welcoming habitat for birds, where a total of 191 species have been documented in the park.Some of the birds that nest in this park include bald eagle, the Peale’s subspecies of peregrine falcon,black-billed magpie, and Steller’s jay. Maine birds include tufted and horned puffin, common and thick-billed murre, and marbled murrelets.

The plant communities at Kenai Fjords are shaped by glacial retreat. New lands exposed in former glacier beds are at first stony, lacking in soil.

The first plants to appear in recently glaciated areas are lichens and mosses, with a few hardy plants such as dwarf fireweed and yellow dryas. These pioneers are followed by other plants as the moss and lichen break rock down into soil.

In particular, Sitka alder is capable of fixing nitrogen, supporting itself and enriching the soil. Willows also appear at this stage.

Willows and alders are followed by black cottonwoods, then Sitka spruce. The mature forest features Sitka spruce and mountain hemlocks, with an understory of devil’s club, Alaska blueberry, elderberry, baneberry, watermelon berry and lady fern in the coniferous forest understory.

A similar succession pattern is seen at the park’s nunataks, exposed rock outcroppings in the Harding Icefield. Forested portions of the park are dominated by conifers, with deciduous forests confined to areas recently vacated by glaciers.

Harsh conditions at higher altitudes limit tree growth, creating an alpine ecosystem. The tree line at Kenai Fjords is between 750 and 1,000 feet (230 and 300 m) above sea level.

The alpine regions support shrubby grown to alders, devil’s club, elderberry, lady fern, cow parsnip and other plants.

Herbaceous plants can grow in areas with better soils, supporting grasses, Nootka lupine, fireweed and other perennial plants. Higher alpine regions support a dwarf shrub community less than 1 foot (30 cm) high, at a very slow rate of growth.

Dwarf plants in this region include bog blueberry, partridgefoot, black crowberry and Aleutian mountainheath, all of which are vulnerable to damage from foot traffic

Things to Do:

There is plenty to see and do for both roadside and backcountry visitors to Kenai Fjords National Park. Activities include kayaking, camping, public use cabins, fishing, beach combing, bicycling, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, boat tours, ranger programs, flightseeing and mountaineering.

To see the tidewater glaciers and the park’s abundant marine wildlife, visitors take advantage of tour-boat cruises along the coast, dipping into such sizable fjords as Aialik Bay, Northwestern Lagoon, McCarty Fjord and North Arm, as well as sailing beneath mountains exceeding 6000 feet in height.

Possible wildlife sights from the side of a vessel range from sea otters, Steller sea lions, harbor seals and Dall’s porpoises to Orcas, minke, humpback and fin whales.

For the truly adventurous, the coastal fjords are a blue-water kayaker’s dream and many utilize a drop-off service from a tour boat to spend days paddling projective fjords.

Hikers can ascend to views of the Harding Icefield from a trail at Exit Glacier, and experienced mountaineers equipped with skis, ice axes and crampons can continue on to explore the icefield.

Several gold mines from historical times have been documented in the park. Mining activity centered on Nuka Bay. Some sites had been active into the 1980s. Eleven mine sites have been documented and two of the mine sites have been determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Icefield crossings, which take successful mountaineers up to two weeks to complete, or the eight-mile Harding Icefield Trail, are popular options for visitors.

Alaskan Culture in the Southcentral Region

Alaska’s Southcentral region, encompassing Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, features some of the best the state has to offer for cultural travelers.

Anchorage is home to the impressive Alaska Native Heritage Center, a unique cultural site dedicated to educating visitors about Alaska Native groups. The Center presents programs in academic and informal settings, including workshops, demonstrations and guided tours of indoor exhibits and outdoor village sites.

After visiting Anchorage, cultural travelers may want to rent a car and drive south on the Seward Highway to the Kenai Peninsula.

The Seward Highway was recently named an All-American Road and boasts some of the country’s most spectacular scenery. A stop in hip and funky Girdwood is a must on this road trip.

Located at the base of Mount Alyeska, the ski town is home to a group of artists who like the small-town feel of the place. Visitors can visit any number of small, unique galleries year-round or time their visit to coincide with the Girdwood Forest Fair, a midsummer arts and crafts event.

Continuing down the Seward Highway, visitors will eventually find themselves on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Kenai area’s growing reputation as a place of creative expression is well deserved as it develops visitor-friendly cultural sites and centers.

The Kenai Fine Arts Center, located in Old Town Kenai, provides studio space for members of the Peninsula Art Guild and the Kenai Potters Guild. The guilds host monthly art exhibitions, maintain an artist sales gallery, and offer a variety of art workshops for adults and children.

The region is also rich in Gold Rush history. Visitors can raft down Six Mile Creek and see evidence of mining operations from days past.

Upon reaching the end of the road in Homer, visitors will arrive in a cultural mecca of sorts. The tight-knit, artsy community of Homer prides itself on its beatnik image. Galleries and small artisan shops can be found everywhere in this oceanfront community.