Advertisement
Published: September 30th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Meadow along the trail
Once above the tree/bushy line, but before the snow and ice, there are several meadows with beautiful wildflowers. Geo: 60.1042, -149.442
Sunday, 8/1/2010 – Drove back to Kenai Fjords NP for our hike to the Harding Ice Field. This was about a 9.0 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of some 3,000 feet. This was one of the two most difficult hikes we did on this trip but well worth the effort. The actual ice field trail is only 3.7 miles, one way, but you have to hike an initial 0.8 miles on the glacier view trail from the visitor center to get to the main trail head. The trail itself is well designed so that there are only a few extended steep climbs. In most cases, the areas with steep climbs are relatively short with flat or gradual climbs in-between for you to catch your breath. However, those longer steep climbs without the benefit of short flat areas are KILLERS.
The trail passes through a couple of beautiful meadows with an abundance of wildflowers blooming when we were there. After leaving the lower elevations, the bushes thin out and disappear, and the views all along the upper portion are breathtaking. To get all the way to the Ice field requires a descent of around Another meadow from the trail
That is the actual slope of the mountainside that the meadow was on. 250 feet right at the end of the trail.
The views from the high point just before that descent are probably better than those from right at the end of the trail. The ice field itself covers most of the terrain at this elevation with only the tops of a few peaks poking through.
The horizon is frequently difficult to discern with only the ice and snow as far as you can see blending with the mist and clouds that flow over the ice field from time to time.
After relaxing at the top and eating our lunch, we returned the way we had come. Descending was easier than ascending but not by much. The total hike took us a little over 7 hours.
We drove back to Seward and that evening walked down to an area with gift shops and picked up a few souvenirs for friends and family back home. I wanted to try some of the local Alaskan beer so stopped a young couple on the street and asked where the best place to find same would be. Turned out that I asked the right person. The guy worked at “Christo's Palace,”
Exit Glacier from the Ice Field Trail
The lower glacier is the Exit Glacier. Above it is a portion of another glacier fed by the Harding Ice Field. The field feeds some 38 different glaciers. a bar/restaurant nearby which he highly recommended. The bar was made of California redwood and had been hauled from California by steamer in the late 1800's. Pretty impressive. Beer was good too. Really liked the Glacier IPA. Also learned of the Mount Marathon race held each 4th of July, a grueling footrace starting at sea level, then up and down 3,022 foot Mt. Marathon along a mile and a half trail. I was told the winner of the race had done the complete race up and down the mountain in about 59 minutes. Hard to believe.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 36; dbt: 0.05s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb