What is special about Exit Glacier?

The Exit Glacier is especially notable for being a drive up glacier (similar to the Mendenhall Glacier of Juneau). A spur road off the Seward Highway leads to the only road accessible portion of the Kenai Fjords National Park.

How old is the Exit Glacier?

Scientists have found an ice field in Antarctica which they estimate to be 1.5 million years old! Exit Glacier is young by comparison. It’s part of the Harding Ice Field, which has only been around for about 23,000 years.

What is happening to Exit Glacier over time?

After five centuries of expansion during the period known as the Little Ice Age, Exit Glacier reached its maximum expanse around 1815. Since then it has been retreating, slowly at first, roughly 3 feet a year, based on soil and tree-ring analysis. Now the glacier is retreating faster, much faster, in winter and summer.

How did the Exit Glacier get its name?

It received its name for serving as the exit for the first recorded crossing of the Harding Icefield in 1968. In the spring of 1968, the first documented mountaineering party succeeded in crossing the Harding Icefield.

Where is the Exit Glacier in Alaska located?

/ 60.1558765; -149.7405723 Exit Glacier is a glacier derived from the Harding Icefield in the Kenai Mountains of Alaska and one of Kenai Fjords National Park’s major attractions. It is one of the most accessible valley glaciers in Alaska and is a visible indicator of glacial recession due to climate change.

How big is Exit Glacier?

Exit Glacier, a finger of cracked, blue-white ice that drops out of 700-square-mile Harding Icefield , some of it outside the park, is relatively small, only 14 square miles. But its public stature is large.

Where is the parking lot at Exit Glacier?

Turn on to Herman Leirer Road, commonly called “Exit Glacier Road,” at mile 3 of the Seward Highway (AK-9). Proceed 8.4 miles. The road will end at the parking lot for the nature center. Note: There is limited parking at Exit Glacier, especially during the hours of 10:30 am – 3:30pm.