Northwestern Glacier

Northwestern Glacier is a remote tidewater glacier at the head of Northwestern Fiord in Kenai Fjords National Park. You don’t drive here: reaching it means an extended cruise from Seward or a water-taxi and kayak trip. Keep it for a day when the boat ride through the outer fjords is part of the fun; there’s no quick roadside version. Wear layers for a long stretch on open water.

The glacier reaches the water between steep, dark rock walls, with two tongues of ice and floating chunks in front. Harbor seals are sometimes seen resting on that floating ice, at times in groups numbering in the hundreds. Calving can happen, but it’s unpredictable; don’t judge the trip by whether a big piece falls while you’re there.

A small kayak drop-off beach near the fjord entrance also carries Northwestern Glacier in its name. That’s a landing spot; the ice face is farther inside the fjord.

U.S. Geological Survey geologist U.S. Grant named the glacier in 1909 for Northwestern University, where he chaired geology. Comparing photographs from 1909 and 2011, the park reports that the glacier had retreated at least six miles.

A survey team in 1976 noted that the glacier had pulled back at least a mile over the previous 20 years. Spruce and hemlock forests have since recolonized exposed ground, creating habitat for land mammals as the ice retreats. The fjord is still changing with the glacier.

From the boat, frame some of the dark fjord wall with the blue ice so the glacier doesn’t become a flat close-up. The boat’s position shifts with water and weather, so use the angle you get instead of waiting for a perfect alignment.