Kenai Fjords National Park - Stunning Views
Every once in a while, Mother Nature produces a masterpiece that
simply leaves you breathless. Kenai Fjords National Park is one
such masterpiece.
Kenai Fjords
Located in Alaska, Kenai Fjords National Park is simply
stunning. A seemingly peaceful location, the park can be
extremely active geologically. We’re talking glaciers, mountains
and untamed wilds.
Classified a national park in 1980, Kenai Fjords has been a
geological catch for scientists and people alike. The park is
situated on the edge of two tectonic plate intersections.
Specifically, where the Pacific Plate is slowly being pushed
under the North American Plate. There is an obscene amount of
geological tension where two plates push on each other. When one
wins out, the phrase “shake, rattle and roll” takes on new
meanings. In 1964, for instance, the edge of the Pacific Plate
buckled and the shoreline on the Pacific Ocean dropped over six
feet in less than five minutes.
As the park shifts, global warming is also playing a part. With
vast glaciers, the park is a white beauty. Now they are melting
and leaving previously unseen valleys and canyons that make the
Grand Canyon look like a crack in the sidewalk. It is truly
amazing to see the extent to which a glacier can carve a valley
out of sheer rock.
Kenai Fjords is also the home to the huge Harding Ice Field.
Dating back to the ice age, the field covers over 300,000 acres.
Over 30 glaciers originate in the field and spread out across
the park. With hundreds of inches of snow dropping on the field
each year, the glaciers continue to grow notwithstanding global
warming issues. The field and glaciers simply have to be seen to
be believed.
As you might imagine, getting around Kenai Fjords National Park
is not particularly easy. Changing geology, earthquakes, glacier
flows and so on make it fairly difficult to create and maintain
a stable road system. As a result, one of the best ways to see
the park is by boat. While you will not get into the heart of
the park, you will be able to see much of the most dramatic
terrain that is located on the coast.
