Visiting glaciers in Alaska
Jan 6th, 2007 | 06:17 PM
#2
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 254
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Mama,
Assuming you are visiting in the summer, Exit Glacier is very accessible and free. A nice trail leads up to and around the glacier. Wear shoes you won't mind getting wet, roll up your pant legs and find a path across the melting glacier water to get close to the glacier -- beware it is very dangerous to get too close or stand under part of the glacier. It could collapse and crush you. There are warning signs but many decide to risk it anyway (touching the glacier).
Matanuska glacier -- we viewed from the highway -- there is a nice pullout along the highway with a covered signage explaining elements of the glacier. You can camp overnight in the parking lot (assuming an RV) for only $10. I remember the beautiful painted mountains along the opposite side of the highway from the glacier. I didn't visit Worthington -- have fun in Alaska -- you'll love it.
Assuming you are visiting in the summer, Exit Glacier is very accessible and free. A nice trail leads up to and around the glacier. Wear shoes you won't mind getting wet, roll up your pant legs and find a path across the melting glacier water to get close to the glacier -- beware it is very dangerous to get too close or stand under part of the glacier. It could collapse and crush you. There are warning signs but many decide to risk it anyway (touching the glacier).
Matanuska glacier -- we viewed from the highway -- there is a nice pullout along the highway with a covered signage explaining elements of the glacier. You can camp overnight in the parking lot (assuming an RV) for only $10. I remember the beautiful painted mountains along the opposite side of the highway from the glacier. I didn't visit Worthington -- have fun in Alaska -- you'll love it.
Jan 6th, 2007 | 06:45 PM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 336
Likes: 0
Exit is free. Worthington is free. I was never brave enough to get close enough to touch either. Well, I guess technically I DID touch Exit, as I picked up some glacier ice that floated away from it....
Matanuska, you can see from a distance for free from a state park overlook. To get close up enough to touch it - and even walk on it - you have to pay, & I don't remember quite what the cost was - maybe $10 per person, but I'm not sure. The access to the glacier goes through private property & the property owner has made a business out of that fact. They have a web site at wwww.matanuskaglacier.com, but you'd have to call for prices. I would be wary about venturing too far out on the glacier, as they can be dangerous.
My favorite of the 3 is Exit. I like the walk to it, and I think it's a pretty setting. Not to take anything away from the other 3, but while Matanuska looks nice from a distance, I think the approach is a little ugly looking.
Matanuska, you can see from a distance for free from a state park overlook. To get close up enough to touch it - and even walk on it - you have to pay, & I don't remember quite what the cost was - maybe $10 per person, but I'm not sure. The access to the glacier goes through private property & the property owner has made a business out of that fact. They have a web site at wwww.matanuskaglacier.com, but you'd have to call for prices. I would be wary about venturing too far out on the glacier, as they can be dangerous.
My favorite of the 3 is Exit. I like the walk to it, and I think it's a pretty setting. Not to take anything away from the other 3, but while Matanuska looks nice from a distance, I think the approach is a little ugly looking.
Jan 6th, 2007 | 06:48 PM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 336
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Jan 6th, 2007 | 07:51 PM
#5
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 774
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Closest of all to Anchorage is Byron Glacier in the Portage Valley, near where you catch the boat to Portage Glacier. It's a nice walk, maybe an easy mile, and you get right up to the tongue, and it's free. If you go with a guide from the Visitor Centre, they will show you ice worms.
You need a car to get here, about 40miles from Anchorage on the way to Seward. Go soon - the glaciers are retreating so quickly!
You need a car to get here, about 40miles from Anchorage on the way to Seward. Go soon - the glaciers are retreating so quickly!
Jan 7th, 2007 | 11:46 AM
#7
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 254
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I believe Al Gore has it right in regards to Global Warming -- but while it is good to be made aware, I am not sure really what can be done to stop the glacier melts. Which is why it is important to make time to visit the glaciers while you can. Exit glacier exhibits the intensified blue ice effect coming from refraction of the sunlight.
http://www.camsoft.us/personal2/Alas...ages/s_008.htm
exit photos:
http://www.camsoft.us/personal2/Alas...ages/s_008.htm
exit photos:
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