Ed L.
Yelp
The Kenai fjords National Park is one of Alaska's natural beauty that transcends many of the world's materialistic things. The good thing about coming to this national park is that admission is free.
The only downside - of course, is the 3 hour or so drive from Anchorage along Alaska Highway 1 southbound towards the town of Seward. I am so glad that I came here on a Saturday afternoon and that Alaska has 20 some hours of daylight to do wherever you need to do. Even during the non daylight hours, it was still light enough, but not pitch dark at like 1:30am. With that said, I drove into the town of Seward, Alaska around 3pm and asked google for directions to the Kenai fjords National Park visitor center. The area looks like a fishing village more than anything, but that's how it is, especially when they have cruise ships and small boats here. The visitors center is a small building that houses some exhibits about the Kenai Fjords National Park. It is staffed by 2 National Park service employees - and I'm sure they are probably rotated on a regular basis. There are also signs and exhibits outside the building too, just to give visitors a grand introduction of where everything is in the area. I'd like to think that the Kenai Fjords National Park is a great asset to the National Park service real estate portfolio. Most of the National Park itself are hiking trails and they're mostly not drivable. I took some time looking at the exhibits and taking photos along the way. I asked about what's good to do in the area and I was suggested to do the hikes and come back for the glacier cruise at a later time.
I didn't have time for the glacier tour during this trip, but I got in a nice glacier hike to see the Exit Glacier that afternoon and met a couple of cool people. The overall experience here at the Kenai Fjords National Park was a good one, even though the drive here was longer than I expected it to be. I enjoyed myself at the visitors center as well as the hike up to the exit glacier. There were other trails around the area connected to the National Park, but the one with Exit Glacier seemed to be the more popular one for the day's activity. For the most part though, it was a nice adventure to gain knowledge and insight at how the glacier was a very large ice mass back in the 1800's, but over the decades and with global warming, the glacier shrank 75% of itself and became nothing more than something on a mountainside. I didn't realize how man made global warming had that much of a drastic impact on the world, but that's how it is. On the exit glacier itself, the hike was moderately easy, but it had its moments too. There was plenty of photo opportunities up there with the glacier, so it was nice to see one up close in person. Took a selfie or two there. It was fun.
The Kenai Fjords National Park is located in the kenai Peninsula, where the visitors center is located in the town of Seward. There is no admission fee at all, so it was cool to come here and enjoy myself to see a glacier. The views were nice and scenic. Probably best to come during the morning or late afternoon during the spring or summer months to get it in before it gets too warm. There is a private parking area before you start hiking up to the Exit Glacier, but be warned that there may be not enough parking, so you'd have to wait a bit for people to return to their cars. While the immediate surroundings around the glacier seem to be somewhat dead and not have any vegetation that seemed significantly alive - except the trees, it was a treat to come here and hopefully you will take the time to come here and enjoy the Kenai peninsula @ the Kenai Fjords national park. The trail is pretty good, although there are some uphill climbs, but not really arduous by any means. I would recommend this place on your list of things to do while in Alaska.
5.0 stars for the overall experience. Breathtaking.
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