Look­ing beyond the penin­su­la you can see snow­capped moun­tains. This very active glacier now hidden inside a lobe of Portage Lake has undergone what may be the most closely watched retreat of any glacier in Alaska. Large cruise ships and day tours navigate tight S-turns to the glaciers. Set between Anchorage and Denali, Spencer bends the road-accessible glacier definition just a little: the only way to see it is by rail. NPS Image. McKinley is famous among mountaineers, you don’t have to be one of them to make your way there. Back in the 1700s, Grand Pacif­ic Glac­i­er filled the entire bay, and reached all they way to the Icy Strait. Talk about a room with a glacier view: This is the only glacier in the state with a hotel across the street. The inlet is incredibly narrow—often times no more than ½ mile wide—and cliffs rise over 3,000 feet on either side, with waterfalls covering the sheer rock walls. Icy Bay lives up to its name with an active tide­wa­ter glac­i­er often clog­ging the fjord with ice­bergs. The 700-square-mile Hard­ing Ice­field, one of four major ice caps in the Unit­ed States, crowns Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. These gleam­ing val­ley glac­i­ers perch in the moun­tains above Portage Val­ley, easy to view from high­way pull­outs. Let us simplify it for you, How much does an Alaska summer vacation cost? Tidewater glaciers originate high in the mountains and cover dozens of miles before plunging into the sea. You enter the Great Gorge of the Ruth Glac­i­er — the world’s deep­est. Located at the end of a private road through a resort at Mile 102 of the Glenn Highway—about 50 miles east of Palmer—this craggy, heavily crevassed river of ice is the real thing. Book entire boat for your family or group, or opt to bunk with other guests. You can, however, do some good exploring. Fig 3. If you can’t get enough snow, this spot is for you: Just 28 miles from Valdez, the Worthington Glacier is fed by the snows of the Chugach Mountains around Thompson Pass—and in fact, it's the snowiest place in the state.  ...more, Cross the Tokosit­na Riv­er which marks the south­east cor­ner of Denali Nation­al Park. Colum­bia glac­i­er is locat­ed in Prince William Sound. In this series of pho­tos from June of 2002, Bruce Mol­nia of the USGS doc­u­ment­ed the advanc­ing ter­mi­nus of Hub­bard Glac­i­er and the chan­nel cut into the top of its push moraine that blocked the mouth of Rus­sell Fiord. Which one is right for you? Overwhelmed by choices? Matanuska Glacier, one of Alaska's most accessible glaciers, is a stable 27-mile long river of ice flowing from the Chugach Mountains north almost to the Glenn Highway.  ...more, This is your vir­tu­al class­room in glacia­tion. These gleam­ing val­ley glac­i­ers perch in the moun­tains above Portage Val­ley, easy to view from high­way pullouts. The only issue here is access. Only 90 minutes from Anchorage by car or train, Prince William Sound has more tidewater glaciers than anywhere on earth, and it’s one of the easiest places to take a glacier cruise. Explore the glac­i­er, vis­it the muse­um, and go for…. In the 1980s, the lagoon was des­ig­nat­ed as the Ped­er­sen Lagoon Wildlife Sanc­tu­ary, a 1,700-acre sanc­tu­ary meant to pre­serve and pro­tect the area’s wildlife and land. If you look just below the 4 moun­tain peaks to the left side of the val­ley you can see the ice of God­win glac­i­er. Col­lege Fjord gash­es into the heart of the…. Geologists, for example, might describe a glacier as a large, persistent body of ice that features a distinct accumulation and ablation area.Luckily, though, it’s actually not too complicated! In fact, you can walk almost right up to the face of it in 30 minutes, by way of the Edge of the Glacier Trail. Three intimidating walls of ice surround boats that pull close to the glaciers. You can also take a guided hike of this area. When you get off the Alaska Railroad, you can float next to the ice on a raft trip across the lake with Spencer Glacier Rail and Raft. Billings Glac­i­er is named for British Com­modore Joseph Billings who com­mand­ed a Russ­ian explor­ing and sur­vey­ing expe­di­tion in 1791 and ​’92. If enjoying the views isn’t enough, directly across from the lodge is the office of Kennicott Wilderness Guides. One of two tide­wa­ter glac­i­ers at the head of Tra­cy Arm, South Sawyer Glac­i­er extends deep under­wa­ter and makes for a very blue ice­berg. There’s even a viewing platform, since big calvings send waves across the river that scour the beach. 1 View on Map. Alaska Marine Highway Inter Island Ferry BC Ferry Petersburg Mitkof Island Klawock Hollis Hydaburg Hoonah Metlakatla Gustavus Cross Gulf F erry t o: Y ak ut at, Cordova, Whit tier V alde z, Se ward, Homer K odiak & Aleutian Islands Cube Cove Elfin Cove Myers Chuck Port Alexander ©Bell’s Travel Guides . Listed above as a road accessible, Portage Glacier can be approached under human power via the Portage Pass Trail from the Whittier side of the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. Many terrestrial glaciers can be approached up close by people who can handle short hikes. It’s not as active as either Cas­cade or Bar­ry, but it packs enough punch to awak­en even the deep­est sleep­er when it cracks and thun­ders just a quar­ter mile away from camp. Just under 90 miles from Juneau, Muir Glac­i­er was a pop­u­lar stop for many tourists in the late 19th cen­tu­ry, and still is today. If you’re looking for more of an adventure, take the Harding Icefield Trail, which climbs 3,500 feet in 4 miles, and gives great views of the glacier. Three north-look­ing pho­tographs, all tak­en from about the same off­shore loca­tion, about 0.5 kilo­me­ters (0.3 miles) north of Tobog­gan Glacier,…, Three north-look­ing pho­tographs, all tak­en from about the same off­shore loca­tion, about 0.5 kilo­me­ters (0.3 miles) north of Tobog­gan Glac­i­er, doc­u­ment sig­nif­i­cant changes that have occurred dur­ing the 103 years between August 20, 1905 and August 22, 2008. The absence of any ice­bergs indi­cates that by 1909, the glac­i­er was no longer tide­wa­ter. Most have no names. Boutique, small ship adventure cruises in Alaska's Inside Passage, Cruises depart from Whittier, a 1 hr drive from Anchorage. And don’t forget the uncounted thousands in remote areas—many accessible by air charters or mountaineering trips. On a sunny day, the photography is outstanding, in a locale that’s as wild and exotic as it gets. The ter­mi­nus has a large… “Have a taste,” my guide on Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier says, handing me a canteen cup he’s just filled at a tumbling freshet on the slope we’re climbing. You’ll often see seals hauled out on the ice chunks, here; if you’re in front of the Margerie Glacier, you’ll also be within sight of the Grand Pacific Glacier. Only a short hike on a flat trail south of Portage Lake near the head of Turnagain Arm, Byron dominates its own gorge-like valley, offering a rugged, remote atmosphere that feels as though you’ve traveled deep into the backcountry. Free personal GPS–driven travel guide to Alaska. Dur­ing the busy climb­ing sea­son, there can be… To get a preview of this dramatic glacier, check out this aerial video, filmed by Alaska.org’s Bob Kaufman from his airplane. Bar­ry Glac­i­er actu­al­ly flows behind Col­lege Fjord and par­al­lel to it for a dozen miles before plung­ing into the head of Bar­ry Arm. Just a 2.5-hour drive from Anchorage, the Matanuska Glacier sits off the scenic but less-traveled Glenn Highway. The glacier is across the river, ¼ mile away, so you can’t walk up to it, but the view is great and the calving is intense. For now, the glacier isn’t surging, but you could say that it’s a pretty light sleeper— it does calve a lot. There was a problem with your submission. The Great Gorge of the Ruth Glacier has 5,000-foot sheer granite walls rising up on either side of the ice, making them some of the highest granite walls on earth. Tide­wa­ter glac­i­er in Glac­i­er Bay Nation­al Park. Depending upon the time of year and snow cover, Eklutna’s toe can be quite treacherous (but beautiful) with headwalls, rock slides and fins of ice. How to See Alaska's Fjords and Glaciers | Best Fjords in Alaska | … Great photographic potential during summer, with picnicking, wild blueberries and restrooms. During its peak winter, 1951-52, the area got more than 80 feet of snow. Just a 2.5‑hour dri­ve from Anchor­age, a glac­i­er you can walk right up to, Some 15,000 years ago, this glac­i­er reached anoth­er 50 miles west to the Palmer area. Bal­ti­more Glac­i­er has con­tin­ued to retreat and thin.  ...more, This pop­u­lar glac­i­er lies just beyond the end of a flat, well-main­tained trail south of the Portage Lake. (Otherwise, you might be no closer than 12 miles.). After seasonal snow recedes during spring and summer, scores of glaciers become readily visible on slopes overlooking highways that traverse Alaska’s coastal mountains and the Alaska Range. The sheer ice walls, deep blue holes (called moulins) and creaking ice make it an unforgettable experience. Record heat in Alaska melts glaciers, hints at bigger problems that … Nat­u­ral­ist and author John Muir first made his way to Alas­ka in 1879, where he went to explore Glac­i­er Bay. Gobs of hanging glaciers can be seen from just about every highway that traverses Alaska’s high mountains. While dif­fi­cult to access — even by bush plane — this area is a prime place for camp­ing, explor­ing, and to begin a raft trip down the Tokosit­na Riv­er to Tal­keet­na. A variety of destinations and a convenient round-trip schedule make the Glacier Discovery Train ideally suited for day trips from Anchorage. By the sec­ond half of the 20th cen­tu­ry, North­west­ern Glac­i­er’s reces­sion revealed a num­ber of islands in the Fjord that had pre­vi­ous­ly been cov­ered in ice. Southcentral Alaska Glaciers The Matanuska (Mat-Su) Glacier. 1. Portage Glacier is a glacier on the Kenai Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska and is included within the Chugach National Forest.  ...more, The Kahilt­na Glac­i­er is the longest in the Alas­ka Range — a 45-mile long riv­er of ice! The glaciers are situated on 11 mountain ranges, 1 large island, an island chain, and 1 archipelago and range in elevation from more than 6,000 m to below sea level. Scientists are more interested in total glacial land coverage as a measure. Signage identifies the glacier’s terminal locations during its retreat over the decades, making the access trail a real-time index into the dynamics of climate warming. Free personal GPS–driven travel guide to Alaska. But there’s plenty to do in this old mining town, including glacier day hikes, whitewater rafting and flightseeing over the ice-studded Wrangell St. Elias Mountains. Keep an eye out for sum­mer­time ice-climbers at this most impres­sive road­side glac­i­er. Both of these pho­tographs were tak­en from the same loca­tion in Nuka Pas­sage, about 6 kilo­me­ters (3.7 miles) south of…, Both of these pho­tographs were tak­en from the same loca­tion in Nuka Pas­sage, about 6 kilo­me­ters (3.7 miles) south of the posi­tion of the 1909 ter­mi­nus of the glac­i­er. The South Sawyer is the larger of the two, and if the ice conditions are good, you can come within ½ mile of the face. You have to fly or ferry to Cordova, a small fishing town, and from there you drive an hour along a road that was once the route of the Copper River Railway. Luckily, we have compiled a list of some of the best glacier tours and have categorized each experience by sea, air, or land. The 2000 pho­to­graph doc­u­ments the con­tin­u­ing advance of Har­vard Glac­i­er, which has com­plete­ly obscured the view of Rad­cliff Glac­i­er. Alder has become estab­lished on the hill slopes, but is dif­fi­cult to see from the pho­to loca­tion. Here’s where to find Alaska’s glac­i­ers – the slow-mov­ing rivers of ice that make for some of the most beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al attractions, The 13 most acces­si­ble and spec­tac­u­lar glac­i­ers out of over 30,000, Some of the most impres­sive glac­i­ers in Alas­ka are sur­pris­ing­ly accessible, Most Alaskan cruis­es include a vis­it to a tide­wa­ter glac­i­er — here are the best. Because of the steady snows, Worthington Glacier is not retreating as quickly as most. The reason? See any dark specs on the sur­face of the glac­i­er? Robust­ly col­or­ful and relax­ing to reach. Look for lat­er­al moraines on the sides of the glac­i­er and the ter­mi­nal moraine at the toe of the glac­i­er… You’ll know the ter­mi­nus of the Ruth when you see it: the con­tor­tions of earth and ice resemble… It has a wood stove and bunks 6. This glac­i­er dom­i­nates all views west of the his­toric mill town site of Ken­necott (basi­cal­ly locat­ed ​“across the street” from the Ken­ni­cott Glac­i­er Lodge) in the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias Nation­al Park. The Alaska Railroad is your transportation method. The terminus of this active glacier looms over the main channel of the Copper River just across from a popular campground. While not the most spec­tac­u­lar glac­i­er, it nonethe­less deserves note because one of the cre­ators of The Alas­ka App went to Amherst Col­lege. Most visitors want to see a glacier during their Alaskan vacation. Alaska's Glacier Names. Popular Alaska Itineraries Using In-State Airlines, Anchorage to Denali National Park Driving Map, Most people book a day-trip on a marine tour, How tidewater glaciers behave (technical), Worthington Glacier State Recreation Site, Johns Hopkins Glacier: One of Few Advancing Glacier. The historic Million Dollar Bridge—damaged in the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964—is nearby. The land of the Res­ur­rec­tion Penin­su­la is divid­ed between state park, nation­al for­est and pri­vate in-hold­ings. Car, train, or group tour. Vis­i­ble from a a day cruise in Prince William Sound. Twin Sawyer Glaciers in Tracy Arm. Southeast Alaska has just one glacier accessible by road, but it makes up for its novelty in being extremely accessible: you can even take a cab here pretty easily. There are also beau­ti­ful ice caves and rivulets to see, but be care­ful not to walk too far onto the ice of this tempt­ing glac­i­er. Barry Glacier is a glacier in Alaska and has an elevation of 3658 feet. There are stories of people finding salmon stranded in the forest, washed 20 to 30 feet from the river by these glacier tsunamis. Off the coast of Yakutat—200 miles NW of Juneau—Hubbard is certainly gigantic: it's more than six miles wide where it meets the ocean. Watch for climb­ing camps…These may be the world’s most impres­sive gran­ite mono­liths. Some of these might look overwhelming at first glance. The Copper River flows into and past the Childs, undercutting the face and causing continuous calving—and we mean continuous: during the summer, it happens about every 15 minutes. Look down Col­lege Fjord to Har­vard and Yale Glac­i­ers, 20 miles away. He gov­erned Alas­ka from 1845 through 1850 and was the first car­tog­ra­ph­er to pub­lish charts of the waters of the North Pacif­ic all the way from the West­ern Aleu­tians down to Fort Ross, California. Most people book a day-trip on a marine tour. Find how many days you need based on what you want to see and do in Alaska.  ...more. Hol­gate Arm is often filled with ice, but on a good day you can get to a close and safe dis­tance from the glac­i­er. Wor­thing­ton Glac­i­er State Recre­ation Site is made up of 113 acres, and includes one of the most vis­it­ed spots in the Cop­per Riv­er Basin, Wor­thing­ton Glac­i­er. Free personal GPS–driven travel guide to Alaska. You will be reward­ed through­out the… Read their respec­tive cap­tions for…. View Items on Map. It also hosts a population of ice worms. Har­ri­man named the glac­i­ers along the left of the fjord after East Coast Ivy League wom­en’s col­leges and those on the right after men’s colleges. Filter Choices. Inter­mit­tent views of the glac­i­er from the Gold Mint Trail will only get bet­ter the fur­ther you hike up the valley. It is the larg­er of the two glac­i­ers, and if con­di­tions are good you can come with­in 1⁄2 mile of the face.  ...more, A pop­u­lar place for cruis­es and kayak­ing. The first pho­to­graph by D.F. It’s easy to spend a couple days out here, thanks to the great lodges—not the big, cruise-circuit lodges, but intimate, family-run places that attract independent-minded travelers. You can hike on your own or join a Forest Service employee for an interpretive hike; there are two trails, both gravel-surfaced, which are 2.6 and 6.8 miles round trip. Barry Glacier from Mapcarta, the free map.  ...more, Car­roll Glac­i­er, found in Glac­i­er Bay, is a ter­res­tri­al glac­i­er. Look for three alpine glac­i­ers back in Thumb Cove. Only from the air do you fully perceive how glaciers are flowing downhill in slo-mo, in some ways resembling gigantic lava floes. Can be seen from a day cruise, or Inside Passage Alaska cruise, Campgrounds, RV Parks & Public Use Cabins. Alaska’s glaciers extend geographically Vis­it a dra­mat­ic, fast-mov­ing glacier. NOTE: A bridge at Mile 36 of the Cop­per Riv­er High­way is cur­rent­ly (2020) impass­able, with repairs not expect­ed for sev­er­al years. A pop­u­lar place for cruis­es and kayak­ing. Here you have a glimpse into the edge of the Hard­ing Ice­field. Tan­gle Pond and Tan­gle Creek are favorite fish­ing spots for locals, and there are lots of places to camp in Portage Val­ley itself. Both pho­tographs are tak­en towards the north and show the retreat­ing, calv­ing, tide­wa­ter ter­mi­nus of Yale Glac­i­er, locat­ed at the head of Yale Arm, Col­lege Fiord, Prince William Sound, Alas­ka. Take a cruise from Seward to see Ped­er­sen Glac­i­er, and the beau­ti­ful habi­tat sur­round­ing it just under 20 miles away. If you can’t get enough snow, this spot is for you: Just 28 miles from Valdez, the Wor­thing­ton Glacier…. Look up, and you shall see. The ice is 3700 feet deep, some of it more than a thou­sand years old. One of the most acces­si­ble glac­i­ers in Alas­ka, it can be reached by hik­ing a few miles up a relatively…. It was dubbed the Gal­lop­ing Glac­i­er and has been reced­ing ever since. Or, you can hike to the glacier. See other great roadside glaciers. There are sev­er­al decent camp­sites with head-on views of the glacier. If you’re want­i­ng a more adven­tur­ous vis­it, go sea kayak­ing in Glac­i­er Bay and make Lam­plugh Glac­i­er a stop on your route. Seeing icy glaciers is a quintessential Alaskan experience. Granted, most of that ice is below water, but the ice can be so thick that cruise ships can’t get too close. Aia­lik Glac­i­er is the largest glac­i­er in Aia­lik Bay, locat­ed in Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. It’s a great start­ing point, whether you have only a few hours or are plan­ning a mul­ti-day glac­i­er and moun­tain adven­ture. You’ll feel like you can reach and out touch the… The 1941 pho­to­graph by William O. Numerous glaciers and ice fields occupy the mountain ranges of Alaska, and the processes of glaciation and deglaciation have influenced much of the state's landscape. Robustly colorful and relaxing to reach. Approximate distribution is:91% in Antarctica8% in GreenlandLess than 0.5% in North America (about 0.1% in Alaska)0.2% in AsiaLess than 0.1% is in South America, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Irian Jaya. Calving events sometimes throw 10-foot waves that strand flopping salmon on the forest floor. With mas­sive ice­bergs and blue waters, see­ing the glac­i­er up close is a thrilling expe­ri­ence. The easy lower trail leads to overlooks of crevasses. Know what to look for from afar and up close, Some of the most impres­sive glac­i­ers in Alas­ka are sur­pris­ing­ly accessible, Most Alaskan cruis­es include a vis­it to a tide­wa­ter glac­i­er — here are the best. He gov­erned Alas­ka from 1845 through 1850 and was the first cartographer…. Plus, it’s one of the easiest “walk-up” glaciers in the state, with a short paved hike to a viewing platform. The Kennicott Glacier Lodge looks out over undulating piles of rock and silt, as well as the moraine on top of the ice. More than four miles wide at its terminus, Matanuska is so massive that the water flowing out of its snout forms the roaring Matanuska River. See other best glaciers from a cruise. This is your vir­tu­al class­room in glacia­tion. And while this mind-blogging spot near Mt. The Knik Glac­i­er snakes out of the Chugach Moun­tains, tum­bling into an ice­berg-stud­ded lake that feeds the Knik Riv­er. The cen­tral part of the ter­mi­nus is capped with séracs and ris­es about 35 meters (115 feet) above tide­wa­ter. The Alaska App. You can get there by taking a narrated bus tour, but you can also go on your own: A taxi to the glacier costs $35 one way, while a shuttle bus is just $8 each way. Please try again. Grand Pacif­ic Glac­i­er can actu­al­ly be found in two coun­tries. Book entire boat for your family or group, or opt to bunk with other guests. Were the ice to melt tomor­row, you would wit­ness a spec­ta­cle twice as awe­some as the Grand Canyon — a gorge a mile wide and near­ly two miles high. The sur­round­ing walls soar 4000 – 5000 feet above. It’s also been very active in the past, having had two major surges in the past 30 years.  ...more. Pho­to­graph tak­en by Bruce F. Mol­nia, USGS. Look for the his­tor­i­cal sign describ­ing the rapid advance of Black Rapids Glac­i­er. Explore the glac­i­er, vis­it the muse­um, and go for a boat ride. Alaska Railroad: Adventure Class or Goldstar Dome Car Service? Except one thing: When the Har­ri­man Expe­di­tion named the glac­i­ers in Col­lege Fjord, they had no idea the insult that would be felt more than a cen­tu­ry by Amherst alums cruis­ing Prince William Sound only to dis­cov­er their alma mater’s name­sake glac­i­er is some­what of a runt. This white rib­bon of ice merges with the much larg­er Ken­ni­cott Glac­i­er only a mile or so north­west of the his­toric mill town of Ken­necott in Wrangell St. Elias Nation­al Park. In a land of superlatives, Alaska’s glaciers …  ...more. Coxe Glac­i­er forms a dra­mat­ic and noisy back­drop to Black Sand Beach. The ice blocks ric­o­chet and shat­ter down the rock face before explod­ing into the water below. The large rock behind the kayak­er in this pho­to was under ice only five years ago. (USGS Pho­to­graph by Bruce F. Molnia). Those surges were big enough to cross the bay, turning the fjord into a lake and threatening to flood the coastal town of Yakutat. What might appear as a static (but enormous) landform from the ground or the deck of a boat suddenly seems to come alive in real time, like you’re rocketing down an undulating river as it twists through canyons and plunges over falls. Tour boats leave from Valdez to see the Columbia, and tours tend to be about seven hours long, with wildlife viewing along the way. Most climb­ing expe­di­tions begin here. The glacier ice drops 2,000 feet in ten miles— and if the ice melted away, the remaining gorge would be deeper than the Grand Canyon. A half-mile wide, the glacier feeds Mendenhall Lake, which stays pretty placid: While there are some icebergs in the lake, the face ranges from 5 to 200 feet tall, so you can’t expect booming calving action. From here… The mag­nif­i­cent coast­line of Kenai Fjords is steep val­leys that were carved by glac­i­ers in retreat. It’s 12 miles long, locat­ed in Glac­i­er Bay Nation­al Park and has been con­firmed to be one of few glac­i­ers that is still advanc­ing rather than shrink­ing. Maps - Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park … Salmon Glacier (Hyder) - 2020 All You Need to Know BEFORE You … Largest glac­i­er in Aia­lik Bay. Agassiz Glacier is a valley glacier in the Saint Elias Mountains in southern  ...more, Coxe Glac­i­er forms a dra­mat­ic and noisy back­drop to Black Sand Beach. 2. of Alaska, about 5 percent of the State. This tidewater glacier may be a bit of sleeping giant. You can also book excursions for kayaking, fishing, flightseeing, and more. The state recre­ation site fea­tures park­ing, pit toi­lets, drink­ing water, pic­nic sites and a shel­ter, all close to small lake. While fair­ly sta­ble, the glac­i­er calves most active­ly in May and June. Just as impressive as the glaciers, however, is the land exposed by the ice’s recession. And it is actu­al­ly advanc­ing! Anoth­er mile past the pass, and you can approach the edges or toe of the glac­i­er itself, for a more inti­mate expe­ri­ence of its tex­ture, col­ors and gnarled shape. This includes all the glaciers … We're open for appointments Tuesday through Friday, June 23-26 … Find a great over­look near the 3,880-foot Crow Pass, about three miles from the Crow Pass trail­head in Girdwood. Child’s Glac­i­er is not cur­rent­ly acces­si­ble by road. Motorcoach tours visit the glacier, which has a large parking area, covered viewing shelter and interpretive signs. Glacier Bay Basin in southeastern Alaska, in the United States, encompasses the Glacier Bay and surrounding mountains and glaciers, which was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925, and which was later, on December 2, 1980, enlarged and designated as the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, covering an … Just 15 miles from Seward—where many cruises embark and disembark—Exit Glacier is one of the most popular road-accessible glaciers in the state. Juneau Glaciers Directory. Dozens of glac­i­ers, calv­ing action and wildlife galore: this Nation­al Park and Pre­serve is pop­u­lar because it offers a…. Glaciers near Anchorage include a total of 60 within 50 miles of the city. Alpine glaciers form on the peaks or slopes of mountains, and are higher in elevation than valley or tidewater glaciers. Dozens of glaciers, calving action and wildlife galore: this National Park and Preserve is popular because it offers a greatest hits collection of Alaskan sights and is boat-accessible. Two of the glaciers shown in this image, the Kahiltna Glacier and the Ruth Glacier, originate on Mount McKinley (not shown), the tallest mountain in North America. Around a hun­dred years ago, Black­stone Glac­i­er extend­ed all the way out to here. The Ice Age hasn’t ended in Alaska! South­east Alas­ka has just one glac­i­er acces­si­ble by road, but it makes up for its nov­el­ty in being extremely…. This remote fjord in Prince William Sound is a spe­cial spot for pad­dlers look­ing for spec­tu­lar views of Tiger and Chene­ga Glac­i­er descend­ing into the sea. Bigger, Higher, Stronger. Guides and marine tour operators offer trips to the Valdez Glacier near town, the Shoup Glacier further out Valdez Arm, and to the immense Columbia Glacier—now undergoing drastic retreat and exposing a new spectacular fiord. Highlights plus less visited destinations. See Alaska's highlights by railroad or motorcoach in a group of up to 50, Travel in small groups, stay at exclusive wilderness lodges, and spend more time outdoors, All-inclusive multi-day vacation packages at a remote wilderness lodge, Travel with a professional photographer to the best photo locations around the state, Trips range from backpacking, rafting, to upscale remote lodge retreats, Cruises depart Juneau or Sitka. Locat­ed in the Hatch­er Pass area of the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains north­west of Palmer, the Mint Glac­i­er area is a pop­u­lar day-hike, sum­mer back­pack­ing and ski moun­taineer­ing des­ti­na­tion. This glac­i­er in the east­ern part of Prince William Sound has been in a ​“cat­a­stroph­ic”…. A pair of south­west-look­ing pho­tographs, both tak­en from the same loca­tion adja­cent to Lam­plugh Glac­i­er, show the changes which have occurred at the low­er end of Lamplugh’s inlet dur­ing the 62 years between August 1941 and Sep­tem­ber 8, 2003. It’s also one of the most studied glaciers in the state: a National Science Foundation project is three-dimensionally mapping its flow. A win­ter wag­on road from Talkeetna… You’ll cross it 35 miles up it, at an ele­va­tion of 5500 feet above sea lev­el. Go to sea on a day cruise or fishing charter, and you’ll discover the coastal mountains of Southcentral and Southeast Alaska are among the best places in the world to experience glacier calving. We'll match you with a local itinerary expert to help you plan your trip. In 1937, Yale Glacier’s ter­mi­nus was locat­ed at about the same posi­tion that it occu­pied when it was vis­it­ed by… The North and South Sawyer Glaciers are tidewater glaciers at the head of Tracy Arm, a 27-mile long inlet 50 miles south of Juneau. Just fifty miles south­east of Juneau, this glac­i­er is not one to miss! It is about two hours north of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway. Plan your journey with this gorgeous printed map. Once you enter the canyon, you will see the rugged, boul­der-choked ter­mi­nus with flut­ed ice above. Keep on the look­out for deep blue pools of ice melt. One of the most vis­it­ed nat­ur­al attrac­tions along the Richard­son High­way, this four-mile-long glac­i­er is easy to approach on foot. The two includ­ed pho­tographs were tak­en on the north­east side of Wachusett Inlet, Saint Elias Moun­tains, Alas­ka. Plan your journey with this gorgeous printed map. ...more, Just a 10 to 15 minute dri­ve out of Seward, you can hike right up to the Kenai Fjords…. The narrow gorge has the raw, wild feel of a defile far from civilization. For sheer rugged wilderness character in an ecosystem that’s fast exiting the ice age, there’s nothing else like it. 2-5 day small ship explorations. This 12-mile glac­i­er is part of Ton­gass Nation­al For­est and its vis­i­tors’ cen­ter is just a half mile from the glacier’s face.  ...more, Billings Glac­i­er is named for British Com­modore Joseph Billings who com­mand­ed a Russ­ian explor­ing and sur­vey­ing expe­di­tion in 1791 and…. The tide­wa­ter glac­i­er has been grow­ing rough­ly 30 feet per year for the last few decades, and has joined and sep­a­rat­ed from Grand Pacif­ic Glac­i­er over the past twen­ty-five years. Boutique, small ship adventure cruises in Alaska's Inside Passage, Cruises depart from Whittier, a 1 hr drive from Anchorage. If getting close isn’t enough, you can also join a guiding company for a glacier hike, ice climbing class or rafting trip (with the option of either scenic or whitewater routes). You can stop along the shore, pitch a tent and enjoy the soli­tude and scenic views for a day or two. This gigantic glacier is the largest in the U.S. that can be reached by vehicle. You can stop along the shore, pitch a tent and enjoy the solitude…. Sur­prise also seems to cre­ate its own weath­er; it can be clear around here even when it’s cloudy every­where else in the area. To see the glacier, you can just take one of the pullouts all along the highway —each with great photo ops—or you can drive near the glacier’s edge for up-close photos. Spencer Glac­i­er ris­es 3,500 feet in a stun­ning, nat­ur­al ramp from a lake of roy­al-blue ice­bergs in the Chugach Nation­al For­est just 60 miles south of Anchor­age. Glaciers are located throughout the Inside Passage, Southcentral Alaska’s coastal waters, and the high mountains of Interior Alaska. The East Glacier Trail, meanwhile, is a 3.5 mile loop with 500 feet of elevation gain, which gives you a good bird’s eye view of the ice. ...more. When the ice rolls, it reveals deep, dark blue ice that’s saturated by fresh water.  ...more, This short day hike — with an eas­i­ly acces­si­ble trail­head a few hun­dred meters from the Begich Bog­gs Vis­i­tor Cen­ter — offers you big…. You’ll step out of the plane and onto an ice sheet near­ly a mile thick. A state recreation site offers 12 campsites and trails to glacier viewing. Catch a cruise from Seward, or go kayaking! However, the number of glaciers is a misleading statistic. While it is one of the small­er glac­i­ers in Aia­lik Bay, Hol­gate Glac­i­er is still a pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion to see calv­ing glac­i­ers. Cruises and land tours are great ways to see Alaska. In the year 1850 this glac­i­er calved ice­bergs into Res­ur­rec­tion Bay waters. Trips available from Whittier, Homer, Seward, Juneau, and Sitka. Glaciers cover about 75,000 km. Visit September to April to see the Northern Lights, Best Northern Lights Viewing Spots Near Anchorage, How to Travel to Alaska in January and February, The Best Large Family & Group Vacations in Alaska, How to Get from Anchorage to Your Cruise Port in Whittier or Seward (or the reverse!). Flightseeing transforms glacier viewing into something like the grandest amusement park ride you’ve ever imagined. It is the easiest glacier to visit in Southeast Alaska, and one of the most popular glaciers in the state. Make sure to stop at mile­post 28.7 on the Richard­son High­way to view this favorite glac­i­er, or take a short walk to the glac­i­er and see it up close! This display of immense natural violence fills the senses. Stops include Seward (Kenai Fjords), Girdwood, Whittier & Spencer Glacier, Stops include Wasilla, Talkeetna, Denali National Park & Fairbanks. You can stay here for $100 a night. Vis­it on a kayak trip or day cruise from Seward. The ice­field may be a rem­nant of the Pleis­tocene ice mass­es once cov­er­ing half of Alas­ka. For a unique, European-style excursion that offers direct access to an active glacier that clogs its lake with amazing icebergs, take a train to the Spencer Glacier Whistlestop station during the summer visiting season. This is also a good van­tage point to look back up Bar­ry and Coxe Glacier. Considered one of Alaska’s best summer day hikes. You’ve like­ly seen those icon­ic glac­i­er images, with hunks of ice crash­ing into the ocean. The total elevation gain is about 3,000 feet, but the trail is mostly gradual and popular for backpackers and day-hikers, especially from July until snowfall. Being able to walk up to any glac­i­er is a stun­ning expe­ri­ence, and this big boy is the biggest,…. How to See Glaciers in Alaska (2:29). “It’s pretty good.”. Gustavus is the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park, the most stunning place in Alaska to witness a fiord system newly exposed by retreating ice. You’ll stare in dis­be­lief at… Lat­er, a val­ley glac­i­er in Glac­i­er Bay Nation­al Park was named after him. This 13-mile-long river of ice descends from the immense Juneau Icefield into a berg-strewn lake only minutes from downtown Juneau. McKinley (which is just 6 miles away). BRUCE F. MOLNIA. Receding rapidly, its face is now covered with rocky moraine. Because this glacier extends deep underwater, the ice is compressed, making for very big and very blue icebergs. There’s nothing else like the moment a giant hunk of ice calves from the face of a glacier and then crashes into the sea. Ped­er­sen Glac­i­er, locat­ed in Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, reced­ed through­out the 20th cen­tu­ry expos­ing Ped­er­sen Spit and Ped­er­sen Lagoon. During winter—once Portage Lake freezes solid—people also walk, ski, ice skate and snow bike about three miles to the vicinity of the glacier’s active face. Cruises and land tours are great ways to see Alaska. Calv­ing dimin­ish­es the…, Beloit Glac­i­er fluc­tu­ates betwen 125 and 250 feet high at water’s edge depend­ing on recent calv­ing activ­i­ty. Want some dra­mat­ic scenery? The Alaska Railroad is your transportation method. It’s an excit­ing spec­ta­cle. Spencer Glacier ends in a glacial lake, and such lakes are gorgeous sights themselves. The classic Alaska Cruise, offered by such companies as Holland America, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. The glaciers provide an outlet for snow and ice that build in the Alaska Mountains. You can hike right up to Seward’s Exit Glac­i­er and feel the dense blue ice while lis­ten­ing to it crack­le. Your must-have activity guide + map while in Alaska. Some of these tours make glacier landings, of a half hour or so, in the Ruth Amphitheatre, a wide-open section of the Ruth Glacier surrounded by mile-high peaks and views of Mt. In the right conditions, however, your ship might be able to get within 1/2 mile of the face. Once dubbed the Auk Glac­i­er by John Muir (after a mem­ber of the Tlin­git tribe), This glac­i­er forms a wall along the Cop­per Riv­er near a his­toric rail­road route that once ser­viced the world’s largest…, This very active glac­i­er forms a wall along the fabled Cop­per Riv­er near a his­toric rail­road route that once ser­viced the world’s largest cop­per mine. A landmark at the head of a multi-use trail inside Chugach State Park, this fast-receding glacier anchors one end of a popular mountaineering traverse that connects to the Girdwood area on the other side of the range. Note the fresh moraine deposits on the val­ley floor. This stranded mountain glacier sprawls from its hanging valley below Crow Pass—a white, striated mass with blue-etched crevasses. One qualifier: Access to the glacier is on private land, so there’s a $30 fee. Discover the optimal month due to daylight, temperature, and rain. McKin­ley’s) flank.… Popular destinations with a good chance of witnessing calving include Beliot and Blackstone glaciers at the head of Blackstone Bay and the very active Surprise Glacier in Harriman Fiord. Your best bet for seeing it is to take one of the flightseeing tours from Talkeetna that fly over the Ruth. At the very least, it’s a great excuse to drive the Glenn Highway. If the boat can get close to the glacier, you’ll be within one mile of its face, and you’ll get a 270-degree view of glacier ice that’s 200 to 400 feet tall. Off the coast of Yaku­tat — 200 miles NW of Juneau — Hubbard…. If you're not cruising, stay a few days at Glacier Bay Lodge, the only lodging within the National Park boundaries. Lam­plugh is about 96 miles north­west of Juneau, and is often a stop on cruis­es going through Glac­i­er Bay Nation­al Park. This 25 – 50 foot high ridge of rock debris looks like an exca­va­tion pit that extends for miles down the cen­ter of the glac­i­er. Gobs of hanging glaciers can be seen from just about every highway that traverses Alaska’s high mountains. There was a problem with your submission. Gor­geous Portage Glac­i­er lies just 48 miles south of Anchor­age. Beloit Glac­i­er fluc­tu­ates betwen 125 and 250 feet high at water’s edge depend­ing on recent calv­ing activ­i­ty.  ...more, A fam­i­ly-friend­ly recre­ation des­ti­na­tion fea­tur­ing camp­ing, hik­ing, glac­i­er explo­ration, nature walks, pad­dling and sightseeing. Visit September to April to see the Northern Lights, Best Northern Lights Viewing Spots Near Anchorage, How to Travel to Alaska in January and February, The Best Large Family & Group Vacations in Alaska, How to Get from Anchorage to Your Cruise Port in Whittier or Seward (or the reverse!). There’s a Forest Service Visitor Center overlooking the lake and glacier, which has a large aerial map of the icefield, an informational video and spotting scopes ($3). Want some dramatic scenery?  ...more, To the east is anoth­er Ice Age crea­ture known as a rock glac­i­er. On many days, it spawns enough ice into the Arm to pre­vent boats from get­ting close. Most day cruises take between four and five hours, but there are two distinct types of cruises, and they offer different experiences: You’ll see more glaciers on the high-speed catamarans—such as the Surprise Glacier in Harriman Fjord, which some people think is the best calving glacier in the sound. Expert Advice; 7-10 days is the most common. From this van­tage point, you can see the three types of Alas­ka glac­i­ers: pied­mont, hang­ing, and tidewater. Part of the tide­wa­ter glac­i­er is locat­ed in Reid Inlet with­in Glac­i­er Bay Nation­al Park in Alas­ka, while the oth­er side can be found in the Grand Pacif­ic Pass in British Colum­bia, Cana­da. These three pho­tographs show the sig­nif­i­cant changes that Tazli­na Glac­i­er has under­gone in recent years. On Byron, ice worms are com­mon, if you get down and look. The U.S. Forest Service maintains a campground (reservations required.) A push moraine is sed­i­ment that, in this case, has been bull­dozed from the floor of Rus­sell Fiord by the advanc­ing ice. Please check your email to verify your subscription. Use our calculator to find out, Stay casual, dress in layers, and get proper footwear, Guides to the best locations around the state to view wildlife. In a few views, some of this sed­i­ment can be seen in con­tact with the bedrock on the wall of the fjord. Trips available from Whittier, Homer, Seward, Juneau, and Sitka.  ...more, Stephens Glac­i­er is one of many Alaskan glac­i­ers that is rapid­ly shrink­ing. Maybe best of all: You have to take a train to get there! Alaska may be the best place in the world to witness this spectacular phenomena. With a five-mile-wide face and dai­ly calv­ing, it’s an impres­sive sight: 400-foot ice walls rise out of a lake filled with ice­bergs that are float­ing, turn­ing, and break­ing apart. That’s two glaciers in one day! Check for moun­tain goats at the base of the glac­i­er. It’s also a good spot to learn about glacial movement, since it’s receding quickly; there's even a guide marking its recession over the past 120 years. In the pho­to you can see the retreating…. Byron descends from the same ice field that feeds both Portage Glac­i­er on the lake and Black­stone Glac­i­er in Prince William Sound. Although it reced­ed through­out much of the twen­ti­eth century,…. Today, the rock is not only exposed, but the glac­i­er has pulled back away from it anoth­er sev­er­al hun­dred feet. Focus on Denali & Kenai Fjords. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Glaciers of Alaska. Active glac­i­ers still calve and crash into the sea as vis­i­tors watch from tour boats here. Stephens Glac­i­er is one of many Alaskan glac­i­ers that is rapid­ly shrink­ing. From this van­tage point, you can see the three types of Alaska…. Indeed, there is some comfort in the fact that you can’t get any closer. On clear days, you can see the alpine ice falls on Mount Blackburn (16,390 feet) at the head of the glacier. While many visitors aspire to visit the extraordinary icebound realms like Ruth Glacier in Denali or the Kennicott and Root glaciers of Wrangell-St. Elias national parks, don’t count out the less remote backcountry of the Chugach, Kenai and Talkeetna mountains. Or, choose the more chal­leng­ing 7‑mile round-trip Hard­ing Ice­field Trail. The North and South Sawyer Glaciers are tidewater glaciers at the head of Tracy Arm, a … You can find a great over­look that shows off most of the glac­i­er near the 3,880-foot Crow Pass, about three miles from the Crow Pass trail­head in Gird­wood. We'll match you with a local itinerary expert to help you plan your trip. Indeed, every day, 13 million tons of ice break off the face of it, leaving chunks in the water that are often twice as big as the boat you’re riding. This is also a great area to check for whales, sea otters, puffins, and oth­er wildlife. View on Map. Fly­ing down the medi­al moraine of the Ruth Glac­i­er is mes­mer­iz­ing. By Water Glacier & Wildlife Cruises, Sea Kayaking, Rafting, Canoeing, and Jet Skiing The only glac­i­er in South­east Alas­ka acces­si­ble by road, Mendenhall’s grand edi­fice plunges from the immense Juneau Ice­field, dropping…. It snakes its way 32 miles through the Chugach Moun­tains before dump­ing into the Colum­bia Bay, about 40 miles by boat from Valdez. The glac­i­er is very acces­si­ble on a kayak tour or day cruise from Seward. Travel on a set itinerary with lodging and tours booked in advance. Sea stacks, islets, and tagged shoreline… Self-drive vacations. Find how many days you need based on what you want to see and do in Alaska. This road trip gives you a feel for the colorful adventurers, guides and backcountry Alaskans who live in these remote corners of the state. Be sure to catch Muir on your cruise through Glac­i­er Bay! Alaska glaciers are incredible to see, and incredibly easy to reach. Many tour companies and small-boat operators offer daily excursions into Western Prince William Sound from this port town on the road system about 60 miles from Anchorage. You see rock ridges deposit­ed everywhere…. Glaciers exist on every continent except Australia. The classic Alaska Cruise, offered by such companies as Holland America, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. Car, train, or group tour. There’s no other place where a glacier is such a constant presence—that tongue of ice creating a backdrop for your whole stay. More of Alaska -- more than 100 times more -- is covered by glacier ice than is settled by human beings. Though the glacier finally slipped from easy view in the 1990s and became largely a tour boat destination in summer, Portage continues to generate icebergs that ground within sight of lakeshore parking. Alpine glac­i­ers keep their ice in the alpine region of a moun­tain and don’t descend to a val­ley floor or the tide­wa­ter’s edge. Bear Glac­i­er, found in Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, is a tide­wa­ter glac­i­er and a pop­u­lar spot for kayak­ers, but you can eas­i­ly see it on a cruise from Seward. To the east is anoth­er Ice Age crea­ture known as a rock glac­i­er. Although it reced­ed through­out much of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry, Car­roll Glac­i­er expe­ri­enced a surge in the 1980s. Shuttles regularly operate between McCarthy and Kennecott. How snowy can it get here? There are scores of carriers in dozens of communities, using both ski-equipped airplanes and helicopters. McKin­ley) base­camp! This glacier in the eastern part of Prince William Sound has been in a “catastrophic” retreat since 1982, a phenomenon predicted to stop by 2020. You’ll see sculpted rock, eroded hillsides and scraped granite. If you travel for the photo ops, the twin Sawyer Glaciers will keep you very busy: touring them gives you an up-close, vivid look at the ice. Glacier Bay has more than 50 named glaciers, as well as two major arms: East Arm and West Arm. Many peo­ple camp on the out­er beach near Bear Glac­i­er, and enjoy the glac­i­er views in the back­ground. Named after Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty in Bal­ti­more, Mary­land, this is one of Alaska’s most pic­turesque glac­i­ers. Or, totally immerse yourself in the sound on a multi-day small ship cruise or private yacht charter. One of them is The Trail of Time, a ½-mile paved interpretive walk, with signs marking the glacier’s recession. With a gorge deep­er than the Grand Canyon, and glacial ice 3,800 feet deep, it’s hard to find a…. Hig­gins, is an August 6, 1909 view of the then retreat­ing north­ern part of the ter­mi­nus. Take a catamaran tour for a close-up look at the bay’s massive, tidewater glaciers, a much more intimate experience than the typical visitor gets from the deck of a multi-story cruise ship. This is the most active tide­wa­ter glac­i­er in Prince William Sound and the best place to see glac­i­ers calv­ing. It's the most impressive glacier, which is advancing 12 to 14 feet a day and calves frequently. The most intimate multi-day cruise option. Traveling south from Anchorage, the train makes a brief stop in Girdwood, … Talk about a room with a glac­i­er view: This is the only glac­i­er in the state with a hotel…. Jump To | Map | By Road or Rail | Hike, Bike or Ski | Boat Cruises | Flightseeing & Glacial Landings. If you opt for a glac­i­er land­ing, this is where you’ll like­ly land. Now a days God­win glac­i­er is a val­ley glac­i­er and behind the low hills you see in the fore­ground God­win glacier… The most intimate multi-day cruise option. Also, a steady water­fall drains down; to the side, you’ll see a kit­ti­wake rookery. It now has a four-mile wide tow­er­ing face that you can walk right up to and touch. Get The Alaska App (iOS only) Get More Alaska. You’ve likely seen those iconic glacier images, with hunks of ice crashing into the ocean. The spectacular Kennicott Glacier dominates the vista from the historic copper mill town of Kennecott and the decks of the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, 4.5 miles from the end of the McCarthy Road inside Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Hike on Spencer Glacier with Ascending Path as your Guide. Exit Glacier is not huge, but it looks big up close, so it makes a great place for photos. If you trav­el for the pho­to ops, the twin Sawyer Glac­i­ers will keep you very busy: tour­ing them gives…. One of the most acces­si­ble glac­i­ers in Alas­ka, it can be reached by hik­ing a few miles up a rel­a­tive­ly easy trail. Outside the two major ice sheets that cover most of Greenland and Antarctica, glaciers in Alaska (and shared ice-fields with Canada) represent about 13 percent of the mountain glaciers and ice caps area on Earth. This very pop­u­lar glac­i­er lies just beyond the end of a flat, well-main­tained trail up a nar­row, glac­i­er-scoured val­ley south of the Portage Lake. This some­what stren­u­ous day-trip over a grav­el ATV route takes you deep into the back­coun­try in just a few hours, with great pho­tog­ra­phy and a chance to see the rav­ages of climate You can backpack a new trail system, rent a public use cabin on a mountain ridge, or explore a basin recently emerging from beneath ice. Alaska Railroad: Adventure Class or Goldstar Dome Car Service? This tide­wa­ter glac­i­er may be a bit of sleep­ing giant. Please try again. As they spill from accumulation zones through gorges and valleys, you follow the curves where crevasses rip open and track the serpentine lines of rocky lateral moraines that stripe their spines. One quarter of Alaska’s glaciers - more than 4.5 million acres - can be found within Alaska’s national parks. Talk about nat­ur­al dra­ma: This is prob­a­bly Alaska’s best road­side glac­i­er, because it’s the only one where you are…. Please check your email to verify your subscription.  ...more, This glac­i­er dom­i­nates all views west of the his­toric mill town site of Ken­necott in the heart of Wrangell-St.…. Out the left win­dow, you can look south to the Peters & Dutch Hills, an active gold-min­ing area since the ear­ly 1900s. Around a hun­dred years ago, Black­stone Glac­i­er extend­ed all the way out to here. They feed the near­by stream sys­tems that har­bor many species of salmon and trout. The Park is also filled with wildlife, with bears foraging the tide line, mountain goats grazing near sea level and seals, sea lions and whales bustling about in the water. ...more, Vis­it this Tide­wa­ter Glac­i­er in Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, This glac­i­er, named after North­west­ern Uni­ver­si­ty in 1909, can be found at the head of North­west­ern Fjord in Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, just under 30 miles south­west of Seward. The only challenge: McCarthy-Kennicott is pretty remote—an 8-hour drive from Anchorage or a 2-hour flight. Nine national park units in Alaska contain glaciers. Travel on a set itinerary with lodging and tours booked in advance. It’s a fam­i­ly-friend­ly recre­ation des­ti­na­tion fea­tur­ing camp­ing, hik­ing, glac­i­er explo­ration, nature walks, pad­dling and sight­see­ing. Prince William Sound, nestled in the coastal arc of Alaska’s Chugach Mountain Range, has more than 20 glaciers terminating at sea level; numerous others cling to precipitous mountainsides (hanging glaciers).These glaciers form because warm, low-pressure systems sweeping in off the Pacific Ocean in the winter encounter the high mountains, rise, cool and deposit their excess moisture as snow. Calv­ing dimin­ish­es the face but it builds back up again quick­ly as the glac­i­er descends to sea. When pho­tographed, Yalik Glac­i­er had a gen­tly slop­ing ter­mi­nus with… GPX: Glaciers in Alaska. Go to sea on a day cruise or fishing charter, and you’ll discover the coastal mountains of Southcentral and Southeast Alaska are among the best places in the world to experience glacier calving. Con­tact Cor­do­va Ranger Dis­trict for cur­rent venders pro­vid­ing trans­porta­tion options to the far side. From May to late August, you may see loons, mer­gansers, gold­en eyes, and arc­tic terns fly­ing through here on their migra­tion routes. Other well-known glaciers in the Park include Johns Hopkins, Reid, Carroll and Lamplugh glaciers. With a gorge deeper than the Grand Canyon, and glacial ice 3,800 feet deep, it’s hard to find a more impressive alpine glacier environment than this in Alaska. Known for the terminal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and colossal winter snowfall that can literally bury housing, this friendly port town at the end of the Richardson Highway is one of Southcentral Alaska’s best launch spots for glacier touring. Many air charters take off from Merrill Field and Lake Hood airstrips right inside Anchorage. Spencer Lake is filled with blue icebergs—which, in fresh water, are called growlers. Talk about natural drama: This is probably Alaska’s best roadside glacier, because it's the only one where you are almost guaranteed to see calving. Look down Col­lege Fjord to Har­vard and Yale Glac­i­ers, 20 miles away. Which one is right for you? Cas­cade is in rapid retreat. Spencer Glacier About 10 miles south of Turnagain Arm on the Alaska Railroad The divid­ing line between Cas­cade and Bar­ry Glac­i­er is some­times hard to dis­tin­guish, because they con­verge into each oth­er. Col­lege Fjord gash­es into the heart of the Chugach Moun­tains. Walk the low­er trail to get a good pho­to in front of the glac­i­er face. One hun­dred and fifty years ago the val­ley now occu­pied by the ship facil­i­ty and cor­rec­tion­al cen­ter was filled with the ice of God­win Glac­i­er. What you’re able to see of the Muldrow Glac­i­er from the park road is actu­al­ly just the tip of…, What you’re able to see of the Muldrow Glac­i­er from the park road is actu­al­ly just the tip of a 32 mile long riv­er of frozen ice. Beware of tight ice con­di­tions chang­ing with the tide and strong cold kata­bat­ic winds off of the Sar­gent Icefeild. At mile 102, you can dri­ve down to Glac­i­er Park and pay a day fee (888−253−4480), then hike 15 – 20 min­utes to the face of This dramatic tongue of ice descends from the massive Harding Ice Field to a visitor center with curated trail system, located inside the only portion of Kenai Fjords National Park reachable by road. Gor­geous Portage Glac­i­er lies just 48 miles south of Anchor­age. Rent a car and travel independently on a set itinerary, with lodging and tours booked in advance. This short day hike — with an eas­i­ly acces­si­ble trail­head a few hun­dred meters from the Begich Bog­gs Vis­i­tor Cen­ter — offers you big views of the Byron Glacier. Grand Pacific Glacier (Glacier Bay National Park): Two vast glaciers of deep blue meet at the top of an utterly barren fjord. Field shows the calv­ing ter­mi­nus of Lam­plugh Glac­i­er extend­ing to with­in 0.5 miles of the pho­to point. (And it’s been… There’s more than just ice to see, too: You can often spot bears and mountain goats on shore, and a seal colony near the glacier. Campgrounds, RV Parks & Public Use Cabins. There are some glac­i­ers you can dri­ve to, but very few that you can stroll to. His broth­er Willard (who gives his name to the near­by island) searched for him but found only the mail pack­et atop the glac­i­er which now bears his name. This glacier once filled the entire bay, reaching Icy Strait in the late 1700s. Set between Anchor­age and Denali, Spencer bends the road-acces­si­ble glac­i­er def­i­n­i­tion just a…. Glacier Terminology Ablation the retreat and degradation of glaciers Advance glacier flow exceeds ablation and the terminus extends beyond its … One of the most beautiful glaciers in Alaska accessible by car. Let us simplify it for you, How much does an Alaska summer vacation cost? The east­ern­most for­mer trib­u­tary lost con­tact with Stephens Glac­i­er dur­ing the lat­er part of the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry. The park features seven tidewater glaciers that actively shed icebergs and brash into 65-mile deep bay that didn’t yet exist in the 1700s. Most people who come to the Park—and there can be 400,000 of them a year—come by way of a cruise ship, and most of those ships head up the West Arm, towards the Margerie Glacier. This glac­i­er emerges from a gorge beyond the head of Eklut­na Lake, at the end of a mul­ti-use trail deep…, To see the glac­i­er, you have to trav­el into the gorge, a 26-mile round-trip from the trail­head over a most­ly flat mul­ti-use trail. Generally, by the time you can see green vegetation in the chutes and bowls near ridge tops, most of the white, icy masses on looming slopes will be bona-fide hanging glaciers rather than just late-melting snow. The slower cruising boats, on the other hand, spend more time at the glaciers they visit, and those trips often include Blackstone Bay, where you can listen to the creaking and cracking ice while eating prime rib and king crab. There’s also a self-guided audio tour on The Alaska App, narrated by the Park Service’s chief interpretive ranger. In the pho­to you can see the retreat­ing ter­mi­nus of Stephens Glac­i­er with sev­er­al of its retreat­ing unnamed val­ley glac­i­er trib­u­taries. An inter­me­di­ate age pho­to­graph shows the glac­i­er on Sep­tem­ber 4, 2000. Orig­i­nat­ing in a bowl, or cirque, of…. Abstract. 2-5 day small ship explorations. It feeds 38 large glaciers, including the Mendenhall, on the road system just north of Alaska's capital city, Juneau, and the Taku, the largest, visible only by boat or plane. A base camp man­ag­er coor­di­nates com­mu­ni­ca­tions between climbers and air taxis. You see rock ridges deposit­ed every­where by the glac­i­er before it retreat­ed 4 miles to its cur­rent location. 20 miles west of Valdez, this short glac­i­er fea­tures a very steep dropoff from ice to ocean! Choose a round-trip Inside passage or one-way Gulf of Alaska Cruise. Some­times, a bay clear of ice can fill up in less than an hour. Unfortunately, a washed-out bridge on the road to the glacier currently complicates access. Direc­tions: Head north from Anchor­age on the Glenn High­way. Guides offer activities such as sea kayaking and rafting, hiking and climbing. There is a short ranger-led walk dai­ly at 11am and 3pm, from Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day. If you opt for the longer trail, you’ll just have to hustle to get back in time. Here are the most popular glaciers and the best ways to see them. Your must-have activity guide + map while in Alaska. Use our calculator to find out, Stay casual, dress in layers, and get proper footwear, Guides to the best locations around the state to view wildlife. Enjoy them as you travel! Nearby, too, is the famous Million Dollar Bridge. The only access to the face of the glac­i­er is by cruis­ing up the Johns Hop­kins Inlet. See Alaska's highlights by railroad or motorcoach in a group of up to 50, Travel in small groups, stay at exclusive wilderness lodges, and spend more time outdoors, All-inclusive multi-day vacation packages at a remote wilderness lodge, Travel with a professional photographer to the best photo locations around the state, Trips range from backpacking, rafting, to upscale remote lodge retreats, Cruises depart Juneau or Sitka.