Exit Glacier, Mountain glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
Exit Glacier is a mountain glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska. The deep blue ice flows from the Harding Icefield through a rock-framed valley and drops about 900 meters (3,000 feet).
Expeditions to the Harding Icefield began in the late 1800s, and the glacier served as a descent route for returning parties. The area became part of Kenai Fjords National Park in 1980.
Signs along the path mark where the ice stood in earlier decades, and visitors can read this retreat for themselves. The glacier takes its name from mountaineers who used it as a descent route from the Harding Icefield.
Several trails lead from the Nature Center to the glacier, including a wheelchair-accessible loop of about 1.6 kilometers (one mile) with views of the ice. Longer routes bring hikers closer to the glacier front or up to viewpoints at the edge of the icefield.
Deep moulins open in the surface, vertical shafts formed by meltwater that reach down into the depths of the ice. These holes form a hidden network of waterways inside the glacier.
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