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Glacier View and Exit Glacier Loop
Hiking Trail
Easy
2.12 mi
214 ft
Kenai Fjords’ most accessible hike, leading to the foot of Exit Glacier and along its rocky outwash plain.
This figure-8 loop combines two relatively easy trails in the national park, Glacier View Loop and Exit Glacier Overlook. You’ll hike through lush temperate rainforest and over glacially-churned rocks to gaze upon a huge ribbon of ice and the river that emanates from it. The best views are had by turning left at the first junction on Glacier View Loop. This takes you along a paved path through the forest to the edge of a rocky plain, where the white tongue of the glacier is visible up the valley. For a better view, you could then walk out across the cobbles and mud to the edge of the flowing stream. The trail continues, however, along the edge of the forest and toward the glacier. The trail to Exit Glacier Overlook then departs the paved loop and leads higher up, over ledgy terrain with increasingly impressive views, both up to the glacier and over the valley below. The very best vantage is at the end of the trail, where you can see the river rushing out of ice caves at the foot of the glacier. Signs at the overlook explain that this glacier, as big as it is, actually extends much farther than what you can see, and that it’s only one extension of the massive icefield high above. To see more, you’ll have to hike the strenuous Harding Icefield Trail instead. Source: Written by Jesse Weber
This figure-8 loop combines two relatively easy trails in the national park, Glacier View Loop and Exit Glacier Overlook. You’ll hike through lush temperate rainforest and over glacially-churned rocks to gaze upon a huge ribbon of ice and the river that emanates from it. The best views are had by turning left at the first junction on Glacier View Loop. This takes you along a paved path through the forest to the edge of a rocky plain, where the white tongue of the glacier is visible up the valley. For a better view, you could then walk out across the cobbles and mud to the edge of the flowing stream. The trail continues, however, along the edge of the forest and toward the glacier. The trail to Exit Glacier Overlook then departs the paved loop and leads higher up, over ledgy terrain with increasingly impressive views, both up to the glacier and over the valley below. The very best vantage is at the end of the trail, where you can see the river rushing out of ice caves at the foot of the glacier. Signs at the overlook explain that this glacier, as big as it is, actually extends much farther than what you can see, and that it’s only one extension of the massive icefield high above. To see more, you’ll have to hike the strenuous Harding Icefield Trail instead. Source: Written by Jesse Weber
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