We bumped along in the auto attempting not to pull over every five seconds to take pictures. Not that there would certainly be anything wrong keeping that, however, we had a destination in mind: the Matanuska Glacier near Palmer, Alaska.

My tour partner, Pete, pulled up ahead as a moose stumbled upon the road, swiftly complied with by its child. I took it as a good omen for the experiences ahead-- it's not cool down to see a moose!

It was the very first week of my women's experience trip in Alaska, and we were about to do one of my favorite activities ever before-- hiking on a glacier.

The Matanuska Glacier is a valley glacier as well as is the biggest glacier available by vehicle in the United States at 27 miles long by 4 miles wide. It feeds the Matanuska River, which has some excellent wild water rafting if I do say so myself.

The Matanuska glacier walk comes through Palmer. If you do!), I would certainly recommend staying in either Palmer or Wasilla (claim hi to Sarah Palin and making the hour drive to the glacier from there on the Glenn Highway nationwide picturesque byway.

Directly previous mile 97, the brilliant white of the Matanuska glacier lights up the horizon. Following you can either drive yourself straight to the glacier, or head to an excursion driver for a guided hike.

Think it or not, the glacier gets on personal property. You'll need to pay a $30 fee to go into the iceberg. If you take a trip, it's included in your excursion charge. You'll also wish to bring crampons, which will additionally be consisted of in your walking trip.

This increases the question of whether you need to take a scenic tour. I'm a huge follower of doing things individually, yet glacier walking is various -it's quite a high-risk task.

New abyss is opening all the time, ice is falling, as well as icy melt rivers move right into moulins, which are thick, water-filled crevasses within the glacier. For these reasons, it's great to go with an overview who knows the iceberg as well as goes out there frequently.

Staying on the trail is vital. The silt is deep as well as simple to sink into as well as there aren't people around to make sure that everybody remains safe. While we are on the topic of silt, it additionally creates a beautiful facial mask!

The short answer is absolutely yes! Glacier trekking is among my favorite activities since the glaciers are so lovely, they are also different regarding ice shapes, Cav's, and Mulan's, and also it's rather outstanding walking on ice that's tens of countless years of ages. It's much more outstanding to consume alcohol the water!

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