Hiking to Exit Glacier

On our way down to Seward last week to meet Karl's dad (who was doing some halibut fishing), we made a detour to visit Exit Glacier.  Just a few miles outside of Seward, it was the perfect place to kill some time while we waited for his dad to come back in from fishing for the evening.

Exit Glacier is easily viewable from the road, and is only a 1 mile hike from the parking area provided by  the NPS.

Exit Glacier is one of over 30 glaciers flowing from the Harding Icefield, a 30 by 50 mile stretch of ice in the Kenai Mountains.  This glacier was given its name by being the exit route for the first exploration party to successfully cross the icefield in 1968.  There is a longer hike that will take you all the way up to the icefield, but we started out far too late in the day to see it on this trip.

All in all, it was a great spur of the moment detour!  After we'd left, Karl told me about a sign near the entrance to the trail that he'd read while I was off searching for a bathroom.  Apparently, it warned about bears in the area and gave these instructions:  "If you see a black charging you, slowly back away.  If you see a grizzly bear charging you, play dead.  If the grizzly bear starts to eat you, fight back."  I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think I would be able to play dead while a bear was eating me unless I was ACTUALLY dead.