Kenai Fjords National Park
In 1980, Kenai Fjords National Park was established by the
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The park covers
an area of approximately 1,760 square miles on the Kenai
Peninsula in southcentral Alaska, near the town of Seward. The
park contains the Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice
fields in the United States. The park is named for the numerous
fjords carved by glaciers moving down the mountains from the ice
field. The field is the source of at least 38 glaciers, the
largest of which is Bear Glacier.
Kenai Fjords can be reached from Seward, 130 miles south of
Anchorage at the southern terminus of the Seward Highway. It is
only one of three national parks in Alaska that can be reached
by road, via the Exit Glacier Nature Center. A network of trails
from the Nature Center provide access to the glacier, and the
7.4-mile Cruise tours originating from Seward also provide
access to the park via Resurrection Bay. Various companies offer
tours, many guided by National Park Rangers. The tours provide
views of land and marine wildlife, particularly Stellar sea
lions, puffins, Dall's porpoises, American black bear, Mountain
goats, and humpback and orca whales, as well as natural sights
such as the fjords and tidewater glaciers.
