Kenai Fjords Tour – Part 3

The glaciers visible on the Kenai Fjords tour are part of the Harding Icefield (named after President Harding).  The Harding Icefield is the largest icefield contained entirely within the United States.

During my two trips, I got photographs of four of the forty glaciers that spider out from Harding Icefield.  It doesn’t matter how many glaciers I’ve seen, I’m still impressed by their size and geology.  The blue color alone is amazing.  The ice turns blue due to compression.  These areas get so much snow it doesn’t all melt and over the years it compresses until it becomes a glacier.

The weather wasn’t great on either of my trips, but the blue hue of the glaciers still came through.

Map of Kenai Fjords National Park

I found this map on Kenai Fjords Tours website.  It gives some perspective of the routes they offer.

Bear Glacier

Of the four I photographed, Bear Glacier is the closest to Seward.  It’s also the only one of the four that isn’t a tidal glacier.  We didn’t get very close to Bear Glacier, but looking closely at the photo land can be seen between the water and the glacier.

Holgate Glacier

I saw Holgate Glacier on my trip in May.  The six hour tour includes going to either Holgate or Aialik.  Luckily when my hard drive crashed, a friend was able to retrieve some photos off my camera’s memory card even though I had already deleted them.

Surprise Glacier

Surprise Glacier was the smallest of the glaciers and was near Holgate.

Aialik Glacier

On my trip in June, we saw Aialik Glacier.  I loved seeing animals enjoying the cool blue glacial ice.

Kenai Fjords Tour – Part 1

Kenai Fjords Tour – Part 2