Exit Glacier

One of the places we enjoyed visiting in 2010 was Exit Glacier … the only part of the Kenai Fjords National Park that is accessible by car, It is just a short drive from Seward.

We knew to expect that the glacier has retreated considerably since 2010. In fact, we learned today that the rate of retreat is 11 inches per day. That’s more than 27 feet per month. I’ll let you do the rest of the math.

What we didn’t expect was the crowds. The parking lot was full and we had to park along the road. The trail itself wasn’t bad, though there were some logjams along the way. But because there were so many people standing around at the overlook, I didn’t get to re-create the photo we took back in 2010. Instead, we had to make do with a quick shot.

On the way back, we took the Outwash Plain Trail, which detoured down to the edge of the meltwater flowing down from Exit Glacier. The silty water was flowing fast and furious.

Good thing we didn’t follow my initial plan to hike to the toe via the outwash plain. Not only would we have had too long of a hike with no discernible trail, we never would have made it across the roaring water.Læs mere