There are so many reasons that Alaska draws in tourists year after year. From the wildlife viewing, the pristine wilderness, to the hunting and fishing opportunities, Alaska is a true wonderland for the adventure seeker of any type. One of my favorite activities that we have enjoyed in our time here is glacier viewing! I had seen glaciers and ice fields before in my life, but nothing beats getting up close and learning about these spectacular natural wonders and there's no better place to do that than Alaska! First, some facts: There are over 27,000 glaciers in Alaska but only about 664 of these are named. The oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered is 30,000 years old. Most of the ice flowing in an Alaskan glacier valley takes a few hundred years to travel to the face from the time it forms at the top of the glacier. How is a glacier different than ice? The short answer is that ice is formed in water and glaciers are formed on land. Glacier ice is blue because it's so compacted that the red wavelengths of white light are absorbed and the blue (short wavelengths) are the only light reflected out, much like a sapphire. Though all of these glaciers are formed the same way, we have been to enough glaciers to know that no two are alike. We have had such different experiences between the glaciers we have explored that each time we leave a glacier we add more to our bucket list! The following list includes some of the easier accessible glaciers, including guided tours, to help visitors make the most out of their Alaska trip. So let's get started! Knik GlacierOne of the top Alaskan experiences we've had in our time here will go down as taking the Grande Knik Glacier Tour with Alaska Helicopter Tours. Knik Glacier averages 25 miles long and 5 miles across, and 200 feet thick making it one of the largest glaciers in south central Alaska. We opted for the Grande Tour because it included three incredible landings. Our first stop was at Lake George, a glacially fed alpine lake with massive icebergs. Though we didn't see any calving, we heard the ice cracking at times and it was an incredible view. Our second stop was at the peak of the mountain overlooking the spectacular view of the Knik and Colony Glaciers. It was a view that can only be seen from our unique vantage point and was just amazing to take in. Our last stop was probably the most incredible, when we actually landed on Knik Glacier. We were given cramp-ons to fit over our shoes to prevent sliding as we explored the hundreds year old ice and even drank from the blue glacier pool we landed next too. With no better way of putting it, the entire experience gave us a high that will stay with us in our memories forever. We only wish we had remembered our water bottles to bring back some delicious Glacier water to those in our group who hadn’t joined us! Valdez Glacier LakeYou might think that starting out with a helicopter glacier tour would be dumb because, well, what could top that experience? But the point of this post is to show how many epic ways there are to explore glaciers! Exploring Knik Glacier is indeed epic but exploring Valdez Glacier lake is just as incredible! The runoff of Valdez Glacier is so great that it creates a beautiful lake at the foot of the glacier. There are a few different tour companies that offer kayak tours of this gorgeous place but we brought our own kayaks for exploring. This is easily one of the top adventures we've experienced in our time in Alaska and we highly recommend a tour, but if you are able to venture out on your own, please do so with extreme caution! Always wear a life jacket. Valdez Glacier lake is 640 feet deep so this is a given. The lake is filled with giant chunks of ice due to calving of the glacier and conditions in the lake are constantly changing making the ice unstable. You know how they say icebergs only show 10% of their size above water? The icebergs breaking off Valdez glacier can be the size of large buildings to neighborhood blocks so it is important to stay a safe distance (100 meters) away from the icebergs. A few years ago, there was a tourist family venturing out on their own who got stuck between two giant blocks of ice as the glacier calved right in front of them, causing a sudden rise in the water level, flipping them over and unfortunately they didn't survive. Matanuska GlacierSo far we've talked about exploring a glacier by helicopter and kayak, but how about exploring one on foot?? About 7 hours south of Fairbanks (or 2 hours north of Anchorage) sits the largest glacier in the U.S. that is accessible by car. Matanuska Glacier (pronounced Mat-tan-ooska) is 27 miles long, 4 miles wide, and 250 feet thick at the face. This glacier is the most popular roadside attraction between Anchorage and Glenallen, especially in the summer season when tourists flock to the site. I was able to visit this glacier during the off season, when things are just a little more frozen and interesting - and easier to access. While there are a few areas to see the glacier, the only way to get up close and personal is through a guided tour. You can read about my experience more in depth on this post but I will tell you here that this was another thrilling Alaskan glacier adventure that I will recommend to anyone willing to listen. Glacier CruiseThe final way to experience a glacier is by taking a glacier cruise! There are a few different areas and companies you can do this with. Our favorite glacier cruise was one we took out of Whittier through the Prince William Sound. Tide water glaciers are a whole different breed when it comes to glaciers and the calving you can see of these beauties can be an amazing experience! While the biggest draw to a glacier cruise is seeing glaciers (duh), there is also a lot of wildlife to be seen on the route and a very knowledgeable crew to answer all your glacier questions. We were lucky enough to see calving on this particular cruise and it made for a highlight of our trip for sure! Honorable MentionsPortage Glacier - The area outside the tunnel to get to Whittier is home to Portage Glacier. If you don't have time for a glacier cruise out into the bay, you can take a short cruise to this glacier which is also a popular area to view calving. There are also some viewpoints along a hiking trail and hanging glaciers with epic views in the Portage Valley. Exit Glacier - One glacier we still have on our bucket list is Exit Glacier! We have been to Seward a few times and haven't made the time to get to this easily accessible attraction. Exploring this glacier means hiking along a trail but the most interesting thing might be the sign markers of where the glacier extended to in years past. Worthington Glacier - Worthington Glacier is one of Alaska's most accessible glaciers. It can be seen from the road while driving to Valdez just before Keystone Canyon. You can walk a short distance from the parking lot at milepost 29 off the Richardson Highway. This easy mile walk offers incredible close up views to this majestic 5,774 acre glacier. Valdez Glacier Cruise - I mentioned glacier cruises already when I talked about the one we took out of Whittier and have heard great things about glacier cruises out of Seward as well but one thing that has since been added to my bucket list is the glacier cruise out of Valdez on the Lulubelle. I have heard from a few different people that this cruise is the best! So if you're looking for more glaciers to explore out of Valdez beside Worthington and the glacier lake, this might be something to look into! Castner Glacier - Our first experience in getting up close and personal with a glacier here in Alaska was making the hike to Castner Glacier Ice Cave. We had an incredible experience that you can read about here. We have been back one other time and as of August 2022, unfortunately the front of the glacier as now caved in making the cave inaccessible at this point. It is pretty devastating for locals and visitors alike and we count ourselves incredibly lucky to have seen it in it's prime. So why put it on this list of places to visit if it's now inaccessible? To illustrate that no adventure is guaranteed to be there if you put it off for too long!
Are you putting any of these on your bucket list or have you already seen any of these stunning places? There are so many opportunities to visit these incredible natural wonders and so many ways in which to experience them! We have had a blast exploring all that we can in all these unique ways and we hope this inspires you to do the same. If you're interested in a one-on-one chat to help plan a custom trip to Alaska, check out our options here! Comments or questions? We'd love to hear them! Make sure to pin so you can come back to this post! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for some of our day-to-day adventures and until next time, get out and explore where you live!
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When we told people we were going to spend the weekend in Chicken, Alaska we got one of two questions: "Where??" or "Why??" Chicken was actually named after a local grouse - ptarmigan - though the local miners back then weren't quite sure how to spell "ptarmigan" and figured "Chicken" was close enough. This teeny gold-mining community is 100 miles from the nearest services and has less than 20 year-round residents. There is no cell service, no grocery stores, and the outpost and saloon/cafe/liquor store/gas station take payment in cash, credit, and gold. Mail is delivered by plane twice a week. Talk about off-grid! What could there possibly be there that would interest us for a whole weekend? It turns out, there's a whole lot to do! We had a blast and we knew we had found a hidden gem. First things first, we checked into our campsite at the Chicken Gold Camp. They did have electricity hookups for us, though most of the town doesn't have electricity and runs off generators. They did have fresh water but advised that it was limited and that we really needed to pack in our own water. Their reservation email advises to arrive with "full water tanks and empty holding tanks" because the nearest dump station is about 100 miles away, in Tok, Alaska. Limited running water also meant limited indoor plumbing. I truly am unaware of any bathrooms and wouldn't be surprised if everyone in town is using ye old outhouse ;). We already mentioned that there was no cell service but the campsite does offer free wi-fi! It runs off a satellite and is also very limited. Each person in camp gets their own passcode that lasts for 24 hours. Each passcode gets a small amount of data during the 24 hours so we were advised to turn our phones on "low-power mode" so we wouldn't run out of our data. I ended up having my phone off unless I was checking messages and I still ran out of data before the allotted 24 hours. But we definitely had enough entertainment without needing our phones! The outpost at camp serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner including wood-fired pizzas on Fridays! But get there early because supplies for this are also extremely limited. Exploring Chicken Gold Camp was a great activity, even if not staying there. First of all, there's a giant chicken that the kids had a great time running around. This famous landmark was made by high school students out of recycled lockers! Next to the chicken was a fun sign listing out other chicken-related towns around the world. Fun fact: We've been to Hatch, NM! It holds a special place in our hearts after our time living in New Mexico and is quite famous for it's Hatch Green Chilies! You'll have to let us know in the comments if you've been to any of the other towns listed! We thought it'd be a fun travel bucket list, what do you think? Within view of the giant chicken is the historic Pedro Gold Dredge. It is perhaps the most complete bucket line dredge open to the public in North America. It was actually assembled closer to our home in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1938 where it operated for 20 years and was then disassembled and trucked to Chicken. In it's 8 years of operating in Chicken, it mined roughly 80 million dollars worth of gold. For a proper tour, you'll want to schedule a time in the outpost of the campground. We weren't able to line one up because of a few scheduling conflicts. First, we were told at the office that tours need a minimum of 6 people (and kids count as 1/2). The men went out hunting for the day so we only accounted for 3 1/2 people though I wish we would've thought to just pay for 6 tickets so we could take the tour! The reason for the minimum number of guests is because they have miners come down from the operating mine during a break to do tours. Besides the Pedro Gold Dredge, the whole campground has historic artifacts all through the property. It was really fun to walk around the miners cabin and the old mining equipment scattered about the property, as well as check out all the old photographs in the outpost. A visit to Chicken wouldn't be complete without a visit to the downtown! Which consists of 4 buildings (the cafe, the saloon, the liquor store, and the mercantile gift shop) and an outhouse. The one pump gas station is also run out of these stores so it definitely gives you a feel of just how rural this place is. The cafe closes at 4 but they do serve delicious pie, including chicken pot pie! Which can be ordered after closing right there at the saloon. Speaking of visiting essential community building, the post office sits on a beautiful little piece of property - tiny log cabin with a great view of the surrounding area - also boasting a display of the inner workings of a gold dredge with information on what and how each piece does it's job. If you're lucky, you'll meet the post master of 20 years, Robin, and her dog, Zeke and she'll show you all the fun tricks Zeke can do, including a dramatic "playing dead" enactment which is quite entertaining. When we were visiting with her, she was so entertained by the kids in our party and had such a good time visiting with them and chatting. It wasn't until later, and a few more experiences with the locals like this, that I realized they probably had so much fun seeing littles running around because it's kind of a rare sight in this remote community! Okay, we've talked so much about historic gold mining practices but Chicken is one of Alaska's last surviving gold mining towns! Every summer the population of Chicken grows from about 20 to 100 with miners coming in to work their claims. Hang around the outpost long enough, and you may run into a miner bringing in their days' work to get it weighed. Beware: if you're anything like us, you may just catch a little gold fever if this happens! It was pretty exciting to see people coming in with their real-life treasure! We actually did bring our own gold pans and had a great time at the troughs with the pay dirt at camp. But if we ever end up in Chicken again, it would be so fun to set up a day excursion and go work the Chicken Gold Camp claims that they have opened to the public. These are scheduled through the outpost and sounded so fun! They mentioned learning about all different kinds of techniques of digging up gold. After all these activities, if you are still interested in gold, you can drive by the active gold dredge at Lost Chicken hill. The Cowden Gold Dredge in Mosquito Fork River is also visible to see from a 2.8 mile trail that gives a great view of the dredge below or you can rent kayaks and explore it close up. A visit to Chicken was as close to traveling in a time machine as it gets! We really had a great time exploring this historic town where the past meets the present. Another activity that Chicken is great for is world-class moose and caribou hunting! Jon and our friends took some ATVs out to try their luck and while they were successful in seeing caribou, they weren't successful in the hunt. It was a great learning experience and they are more prepared for next time, though! Last, but not least, if you can get to Chicken during the 2nd week of June, you will get to experience the Chickenstock Music Festival! Bringing in over 1,000 people to the Chicken Creek Valley for a weekend of camping, live music, contests, food and drinks, it has quickly become one of Alaska's better known summer weekend music gatherings. We left Chicken wishing we hadn't waited so long to visit! Is Chicken on your bucket list? If you're interested in a one-on-one chat to help plan a custom trip to Alaska, check out our options here!
Comments or questions? We'd love to hear them! Make sure to pin so you can come back to this post! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram for some of our day-to-day adventures and until next time, get out and explore where you live! |
AuthorWe're just a military family enjoying where we live, one PCS at a time. Follow us as we explore our current home, South Carolina, and beyond. The world is our backyard. Archives
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