Exit Glacier Road

You can hike right up to Seward’s Exit Glac­i­er and feel the dense blue ice while lis­ten­ing to it crack­le. Walk the low­er trail to get a good pho­to in front of the glac­i­er face. Or, choose the more chal­leng­ing 7‑mile round-trip Hard­ing Ice­field Trail. There is a short ranger-led walk dai­ly at 11am and 3pm, from Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day. 

Exit Glac­i­er Tent Camp­ground, at Mile 8.2 of Her­man Leir­er Road near Seward, offers 12 tent-only sites with views of Exit Glac­i­er in Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. Man­aged by the Nation­al Park Ser­vice, it’s sur­round­ed by spruce, fea­tur­ing fire rings and easy trail access for a prim­i­tive, peace­ful stay. Ide­al for hik­ing to the glac­i­er, explor­ing Hard­ing Ice­field Trail, and enjoy­ing coastal wilder­ness, with Seward close by.

If you want a taste of dim spruce for­est along a wild riv­er bot­tom, try the first few miles of this most­ly lev­el route into the Res­ur­rec­tion Riv­er Val­ley. From the trail­head Mile 7 of Exit Glac­i­er Road, the trail runs 4.5 miles to Mar­tin Creek and is suit­able for moun­tain bik­ing or ski­ing after snow­fall. It fea­tures two prim­i­tive camp­sites and occa­sion­al access or views of to the river.