Kenai Fjords National Park

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Kenai Fjords National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Location	Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, USA
Nearest city	Seward
Coordinates	59°55′0″N 149°39′0″W / 59.91667, -149.65
Area	699,983 acres (2,833 km²)
Established	December 2, 1980
Visitors	284,604 (in 2007)
Governing body	U.S. National Park Service

Established in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Kenai Fjords National Park is a United States National Park on the Kenai Peninsula in southcentral Alaska near the town of Seward. The park contains the Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the United States. The park covers an area of around 1,760 mi².

The park can be reached from the town of Seward, 130 miles south of Anchorage. The park receives about 250,000 visitors per year and, although it is one of the quieter National Parks, the visitation is quite high for Alaska.

Kenai Fjords National Park

Bear Glacier Lake in Kenai Fjords National Park

It is only one of three national parks in Alaska that can be reached by the road, at the Exit Glacier entrance. An easy stroll there leads to the base of an impressive glacier. The other popular way to visit the Park consists in taking day tour on a boat, starting in Seward. Along the way, one can see marine wildlife, steep fjords, and tidewater glaciers. Other visitation options require extensive planning and backcountry travel.

Fjords are narrow inlets of the sea situated between cliffs or steep slopes. Fjords exist where glaciers once formed on mountains bordering costal areas.

[edit] External links

• Official NPS site
• Photos of Kenai Fjords National Park - Terra Galleria
• Packrafting trek through the Kenai Fjords
• [1]

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