Hiking to the Harding Ice Field

Kenai Fjords National Park has only one main hiking trail, which starts at the Visitor Center and climbs, alongside the Exit Glacier, to overlook the Harding Ice Field, which covers 300 square miles and is the source of most of the glaciers in the park. The trail is only 3.5 miles long from bottom to top, but it climbs 3500 feet in that distance, so parts of it are extremely steep. The Ice Field is impressive enough to be worth the trip, though (it was like looking out over Antarctica), and I thought the wildflowers were even more so. Click on any of the small images below to see a larger view of it:

		Starting out at the trailhead	Crossing a glacier-melt creek	Looking over Exit Glacier	Devil's club (young)
		Forget-me-nots (Alaska state flower)	The shelter hut near the top	Looking out over the Ice Field	Lunch break at the top
		Moss campions	Another look at the Ice Field	Dwarf dogwoods	Resting near the trail's end

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