On to Exit

Exit Glacier is one of the many coming down out the Harding Ice Field in Kenai Fjords National Park.  After the Homer day we headed toward Seward and arrived at Exit Glacier, starting to climb around 3:00 PM. That was a little late in the day to start a long hike. as on our As we ascended, most everyone else was coming back down.  The  four mile, 3000ft. climb was on a trail alongside the Exit Glacier. Our goal was to see the Harding Ice Field.  We hiked through cloudy weather, a bit of misting rain, some fog.  The weather was changeable, as it always seems to be here. 

We started hiking in forest, went through the brushy areas, on to tundra, and finally to snow fields. 

The trail rapidly rose above the glacier.

Exit Glacier emerges from the ice field and heads down the valley. We reached the top, looked at what we could see of the ice field (it covers miles and miles of many mountain's upper areas) but clouds and fog obstructed part of the view.  Coming back down, we hiked back though the snow fields. 

We were the last of the day's hikers.  It was getting dusk, so we sang and yelled and generally made lots of wild animal deterring noise.  The down hill steepness was a challenge after a long hike.  All of us ended with sore muscles the next day. One regret-we didn't have time to sit and absorb the glorious views for hours.
Helen