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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM
Kenai Fjords National Park
Most of Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park is accessible via a boat ride through Resurrection Bay where you can find stunning views of glaciers and aquatic wildlife.
Alaska
2000
About The Park
Kenai Fjords is a park that the average tourist can see in a one or two night stay depending on how long a boat ride you want to take. If you plan on an all-
Most of the park is wilderness. Of the 1,000 square miles (2,711 sq km) roughly half is the Harding Ice Field which can only to be seen via a strenuous hike (see below) or a flightseeing tour with Natron Air.
The rest of the park, with the exception of the visitor center area near Seward, is accessible by watercraft to travel into the bays and fjords to see glaciers and wildlife.
Of course if you are the adventurous type there’s plenty of opportunity to go into the back country for hiking, fishing and camping.
Seward, Alaska is 125 miles south of Anchorage and the drive can be done in 2.5 hours. So if you leave early you can make good use of the rest of the day.
If you are driving, the road hugs the coast along the water (Turnagain Arm) and you’ll pass some interesting mud flats. When the tide is low people take walks on them. However, they can be dangerous as you can run into quicksand. I read of a woman whose legs were trapped and she could not get them out. When the tide came in she drowned before help could arrive to rescue her.
Boat Tours
The most popular way to see the park is via a boat tour where you can see the famous tidewater glaciers and aquatic wildlife.
Major Marine
Major Marine has a variety of boat tours. You can pick from 3 to 8 or 9 hour tours depending on what works for you. When we went I don’t recall all the different length tours that I see now. We took an all day tour that I remember to be about 9 hours. With the longer cruises they do have a buffet lunch. Depending on the time of the year you may see whales. Generally, you are likely to see Orcas, dolphins, sea lions, otters, puffins, other sea birds and, of course, glaciers.
Our tour took us to the Holgate Glacier which flows out of the Harding Ice Field. It is an impressive wall of ice which is flowing into the sea and regularly ‘calves’ huge chunks of ice that can be thousands of tons into the water. The one that we saw, and can be seen in the photo gallery, dropped a large enough chunk that we could see a wave emanating from it and heading in our direction. We could hear the boats engines rev up as the captain immediately turned the boat’s bow in the direction of the wave. The boat had been turned sideways to give everyone the best view and, in that orientation, the wave could have hit the boat broadside with enough force to knock someone into the frigid water.
Wildlife
The typical Alaskan wildlife can be found in the park: grizzly bears, black bears, moose, wolverines and mountain goats. In the sea can be found whales, stellar sea lions, orcas, dolphins, otters, salmon, eagles, puffins and other sea birds.
Lodging
Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge
The only lodging in the park is at the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge which is only accessible by boat from Seward. It is a full service wilderness lodge -
Seward Windsong Lodge
The Seward Windsong Lodge, in the Exit Glacier area, which was very nice and relatively inexpensive.
There are other many other lodging options in Seward and you can find them on trip advisor. You can find cabins, B&B’s and plenty of standard hotel rooms.
Hiking
There are these two trails in the Exit Glacier area.
Exit Glacier trail
You can reach Exit Glacier via the Exit Glacier road which turns off the Seward Highway (Alaska route 9). The last 4 miles of this road is a graded gravel road which, if taken slowly and carefully, won’t be a problem for your rental car. From the end of the road it is an easy half mile walk to the glacier terminus.
Harding Ice Field Overlook
There is also a considerably more difficult (8-
Kenai Fjords National Park Photo Gallery
Other Resources
Kenai Fjords National Park on the National Parks Service website -
Kenai Fjords National Park -
Other National Parks Within a Day’s Drive
Denali National Park known for its magnificent wildlife and gorgeous scenery is 365 miles north and about a 6 hour drive.
Alaska is America’s largest state. It has eight national parks. Of these there are five which have no roads into them and require bush planes to get to them.
From Kenai Fjords you could take a bush plane from Anchorage to Lake Clark National Park or Katmai National Park and might be able to get to either of these parks that same day. Certainly you could get there the next day.
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National Parks Zone