The Kenai Fjords National Park-The park covers an area of 669,984 acres of which more than half is covered by glacial ice. Kenai Fjords National Park signed into law and came to be in 1980 by Jimmy Carter. The Kenai Peninsula is home to the the Harding Icefield and has over 40 glaciers and is the remnants of the ice age. The glaciers continue to melt and these will all be gone one day. The park does a good job of marking out where the glaciers were by year with small signs so you can see for yourself. This place is a treasured you should invest the time to see it by land and sea.

*Learn more about the park: https://www.nps.gov/kefj/index.htm

Seward- This is where the journey starts and the visitor center is located. Your introduction to glaciers begins here as well by meeting the “Exit Glacier”. The Exit Glacier path is a mile long loop that leads to a spectacular view of glacier as it descends down the Harding Icefield. Words do not describe and these pictures do it no justice.

Kenai by Boat- This is not an option it is a requirement or should be anyways. All tours on the waters around Kenai Fjords are private operators, not the National Park Service.

Our Boat Ride- It was late September and well past the peak of summer. In fact this was the last week cruisers were going out and the boat barely had 25% capacity. It was a 6 hour tour and when we boarded it was calm as we cruised along harbors and bays spotting out wildlife. Bald eagles soared, puffins splashed about and seals did their best cliff dives to entertain the tourists. The little boat that could then went to open waters in search of glaciers and an hour or so later we found them. It was breathtaking! After we watched them for a boat found a quiet cove and we had lunch. It was fish and assorted sea creatures which meant we ate very little. The rest of the passengers were mostly Asians who traditionally prefer seafood but Im not such the fan. After everyone got there fill we headed home. Once again we were at open waters in the Gulf of Alaska. The chop began to increase and swells from a distant storm came in. The wind picked up and I was soundly on the set of deadliest catch. The rocking motion made an older lady vomit which made a child vomit which led to a total of 8 vomits. It began to rain and the water got in and allowed the separate piles to become one as it moved together as one with the up and down motion of boat. We immediately went to the top deck. We were alone and cold but away from the carnage. We sat on the floor of the observation deck for the remainder of the trip. It’s funny now but at the time it was rough. The boat operator did a great job of keeping us safe and out of the water and I thanked him afterwards. I would definitely do it again but maybe I’ll check the weather report first.

Puffin-The horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata) is an auk found in the these waters and live in huge colonies along these cliffside’s. This is Fred, he came up to me and told me good morning when we got on the boat.