The Exit Glacier, located in Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park, can be easily viewed from either a car or on foot, making it one of the most accessible glaciers in the United States. To see this sheet of ancient ice up close and personal, you can take the Exit Glacier hike, an easy trail that’s doable for hikers of all skill levels. The glacier is receding rapidly, so here’s everything you know to see it for yourself before it’s too late!
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What is the Exit Glacier?
The Exit Glacier is a 4-mile long valley glacier in Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park.
It’s one of 38 glaciers fed by the Harding Icefield, which, at 700 square miles, is the largest icefield that’s entirely within the United States. The glacier actually got its name when it served as the “exit” for the first expedition across the Harding Icefield in 1968.
It’s one of the most well-known glaciers in Alaska, in part, because of its accessibility, but also because of its role as a visible indicator of climate change. The glacier has been retreating hundreds of feet each year.
In fact, the national park has made it easy to visualize this recession, given that they’ve placed a series of signs along Exit Glacier Road and the hiking trail itself to indicate where the glacier terminated that year.
Even though the Exit Glacier is not as impressive as it once was, it’s still quite a sight to behold, with cracked blue ice towering 3,000 feet high!
About the Exit Glacier Hike
Length
2.2 miles
Elevation gain
314 feet
Difficulty
Easy
Dog-friendly?
Unfortunately, like most national parks, dogs aren’t allowed on any of the trails in Kenai Fjords National Park, including the Exit Glacier hike.
Trail map
How to Get to the Exit Glacier Hike
Kenai Fjords National Park is located just outside of the charming fishing village of Seward, on the beautiful Kenai Peninsula.
Out of the eight national parks in Alaska, Kenai Fjords is actually the easiest to reach, given that you can get to it via cruise ship, scenic train ride, or a short (and beautiful!) two and a half hour drive from Anchorage.
Even though it’s easy to get to Kenai Fjords, it’s not quite as simple to explore it. In fact, even though the national park sprawls for over one thousand square miles, the Exit Glacier area is the only part of the park that’s accessible by car. If you want to experience the rest of the park, you’d either need to do so in a helicopter or by boat, like on a Kenai Fjords cruise.
Luckily, though, the Exit Glacier area is just a 20 minute drive northwest along Exit Glacier Road from Seward. As you’re driving, be sure to keep a look out for the signs along the road that show how far the glacier used to sprawl across the land in the early 1800s!
There’s a fairly large parking area near the trailhead, with parking for both cars and RVs.
However, given that exploring the Exit Glacier area is one of the most popular things to do in Seward, parking can definitely get pretty packed. Accordingly, if you’re not in the mood to wait for a parking spot, I’d suggest getting here early, especially if you’re visiting on a weekend or holiday. My husband, Justin, and I visited this area twice on the Fourth of July weekend and definitely had to stalk other hikers back to their car in order to snag a parking spot!
Insider tip: If you have a wide vehicle, like a truck camper or Class A RV, I’d strongly suggest trying to find another way to the trailhead or getting here extremely early. When we visited the Exit Glacier trailhead during busier times, people parked on both sides of the shoulder, making it extremely difficult for even our mid-size SUV to squeeze through.
If you’re arriving in Seward by cruise ship or train, you can alternatively take the Exit Glacier shuttle to the trailhead, which leaves from the Seward Outdoor Store office and costs just $20 roundtrip.
What to Expect Along the Exit Glacier Hike
One important thing to note is that there is no specific trail called the “Exit Glacier hike.” Rather, there’s a network of three short and easy hiking trails that you can easily combine together to get different views of the glacier, including:
- Exit Glacier View Loop Trail
- Glacier Overlook Trail, and
- the Outwash Plain, which is a short offshoot of the Glacier Overlook Trail.
You can hike the Exit Glacier View Loop and Glacier Overlook Trail separately or, do what we did, and hike all three of them together!
Here’s what to expect along each of the trails:
Exit Glacier View Loop Trail
Length
1.0 miles
Elevation gain
85 feet
Trail map
From the Exit Glacier Visitor Center, you’ll walk along the paved pathway for 0.1 miles and then, follow the signs to the left for the Exit Glacier View Loop Trail.
Along this wheelchair accessible and stroller-friendly trail, you’ll wind your way through a lush cottonwood forest to the shores of Exit Glacier Creek and beyond, jaw-dropping views of the Exit Glacier spilling over the mountain tops.
Glacier Overlook trail
Length
1.8 miles
Elevation gain
229 feet
Trail map
Pssst…. there is no official AllTrails map for the Glacier Overlook Trail by itself. The linked map is, instead, a combination of the Exit Glacier View Loop Trail and the Glacier Overlook Trail. However, we’ve listed the length and elevation gain of just the Glacier Overlook by itself, in case you want to skip the Exit Glacier View Loop portion of the trail.
The Glacier Overlook Trail shares its beginning portion with the Exit Glacier View Loop, consisting of the first 0.3 miles of the flat and paved pathway leading from the Exit Glacier Visitor Center.
After that, you’ll start climbing your way up a gently sloping hill and eventually end at a rocky outcropping, overlooking the Exit Glacier and the surrounding valley. During the warmer months, there will oftentimes be waterfalls cascading down the mountains here as well—it’s absolutely stunning!
Outwash Plain
This one isn’t really a trail per se, but a short add-on (about 0.3 mile round trip) to the Glacier Overlook Hike that is well worth it.
The Outwash Plain is a rocky area, near the Exit Glacier’s terminus, where melting glacial water redistributes its glacial sediment. If you take this little detour, you can actually walk directly in front of the glacier (at a safe distance!) and see the unique ice caves and arches that are formed as it melts.
To get to the Outwash Plain, you’ll follow the Glacier Overlook Trail, but turn here, towards Exit Glacier Creek.
After a short walk through the forest, you’ll reach the Outwash Plain and walk across the rocky ground towards the glacier. There’s no established trail here—just walk towards the glacier and you’re headed the right way!
That being said, there’s signs here that clearly tell you how close you can get to the glacier before it becomes dangerous, due to unpredictable falling ice or glacial flooding. Please respect these signs for your safety!
As you stand in front of it (again, from a safe distance!), you get cool perspectives of the ice actively cracking and melting and some of the unique textures and shapes of the glacier.
When you’re done taking in the unique glacial views, just follow your footsteps back where you came from!
Combining all three trails in the Exit Glacier area
We’d highly recommend combining and doing all of these Exit Glacier trails at once!
This trail map is super helpful—we hiked the eastern portion of the Exit Glacier Loop, then continued on to the Glacier Overlook Trail, and finally hit the Outwash Plain, at 1.3 miles in, on the way back to the trailhead. We loved being able to get so many different perspectives of the glacier in such a short hike!
Pssst… if you’re looking for a more challenging hike, you can tackle the difficult Harding Icefield Trail, which climbs up to a mountain ridge overlooking the Exit Glacier AND the Harding Icefield. Or, for a REAL adventure, consider joining a tour, like this option, where you’ll get to ice climb on the Exit Glacier!
When to Visit the Exit Glacier Hike
The Exit Glacier hike is generally accessible from May through October. Be sure to check the weather forecast before you go—the Kenai Peninsula is famously rainy, with the weather getting progressively rainy starting from May and onward.
Even if the weather forecast looks sunny, it’s still a good idea to bring along a rain jacket (like this one for men or this one for women), as the weather can turn on a dime in Alaska!
From November through April, the Exit Glacier Road is closed, due to heavy snowfall, and accordingly, the Exit Glacier hike is inaccessible.
What to bring on the Exit Glacier Hike
Bugspray
The mosquitoes in the forested area of Kenai Fjords are NEXT LEVEL!
Bear spray
Kenai Fjords is home to both black and grizzly bears. Neither of these creatures are typically aggressive, but can may act aggressive if they feel threatened, surprised, or are protecting their young. Accordingly, you should always bring bear spray with you whenever you’re hiking in bear country.
Sunscreen
About half of the trail is exposed to the sun, so come prepared with sun protection, including sunscreen, sunglasses, and hat.
Binoculars
For spotting wildlife (we saw four bald eagles while we were here!) and the tiny people climbing up on Exit Glacier!
Hiking boots
Given the Exit Glacier hike’s easy rating, I wore my beloved hiking sandals, Tevas, while doing this trail. But, after actually hiking this trail, I’d recommend wearing hiking boots for extra support and traction, given that parts of it (especially if you do the Outwash Plain section) are rocky, uneven, and can be slippery when wet. I have this pair and Justin has these.
Trekking poles
If you have knee or other mobility issues and plan on hiking the Glacier Overlook section of the trail, I’d suggest bringing along trekking poles, given this section has some elevation gain over a short distance.
Water
You gotta stay hydrated on your hike! Justin and I both have these comically giant Nalgene bottles that we bring on every hike and LOVE them!
We loved getting so many cool perspectives of the glacier along the Exit Glacier hike and hope you love it as much as we did! Do you have any questions about the trail? Let us know in the comments below!
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