SEA KAYAKING ADVENTURES SEWARD, AK LAT 60 / LON 149
907 - 224 - 2600
GUIDED SEA KAYAKING SEWARD, ALASKA
1 - 907 - 224 - 2600
P.O. BOX 2487
SEWARD, ALASKA 99664
This page was last updated: August 11, 2008
LLC
Bear Glacier Trip Descriptions - Full Day and Overnight Adventures
This is where the ice bergs are! The largest glacier in Kenai Fjords Naional Park. "Guiding for many years in Bear Glacier, I personally have not observed this amount of ice ever before! It is unbelievable." Says (Rick Brown ) guide and co-owner Adventure Sixty North LLC.
Bear Glacier Day Adventure
Guided kayaking / hiking
8 hr. - 10 hr. Trip
$385.00 ea.
( 2 person min. for a trip)
Note! Our price includes taxes, water taxi, snacks, and lunch!
Photographers dream! Bear Glacier Lake is the result of Bear Glacier retreating from the terminal morane which actually was the beach at the ocean. This area is home to some of the largest Black Bears, Goats, harbor seals, wolves, wolverine, and a multitude of other wildlife. THhe area is home to many of the wildflowers and is home to many of Alaska's berries. This lake are is generally cooler than that of Seward and we encourage everyone that visits Bear Glaceir to prepare for a cooler, some times wet expereince.
Entry into Bear Glacier Lake is made by entering the river flowing from the Bear Glacier Lake ending up at Bear Glacier Beach. ( Gulf of Alaska) Being that the river empties into the tidal area, access is really dependent upon the tides and height of the tides. This fact mandates our entry and exit times from the river from which we are dropped off and picked back up.
Advemtire Sixty North LLC uses a reliable, safe, yet fun captain (Matt Cline) to do our water taxis aboard his boat the Little Gem. Our schedule is dictated by the tides, hence we encourage everyone to book early to insure room on the water taxi.
Comments from our guests never cease to amaze us, such as Amazing, I have never seen anything like this, This would certainly be one of the 10 wonders, how will I ever explain what I have seen today? Will anyone believe me or even understand, and the always present " Pictures just don't do it justice"
We hope that you also will judge for yourself and also leave amazed by the grandness of it all.
Bear Glacier Guided Kayaking & Hiking Day Adventure Itenerary
Normally the Bear Glacier Trip starts early in the morning. We pick you up if needed
and board the water taxi at the harbor and head south down Resurrection Bay. Along
the way we see mountain goats some times, Orcas some times, otters and othe sea
and wildlife. We travel past Caines Head, and round the point and immediately get a look
at Bear Glacier. Even from there it looks immense. We continue along the rocky shore
towards the glacier river and enter the river by sweeping around sand bars that show up
every year in the tidal zone. As we make the transition from ocean to river we start to
see bergy bits floating down the river. The Little Gem will beach a ways up the river and
we unload the gear and prepare to hike up the river and start our kayaking adventure.
Normally we have bagels, fruit, and hot drink before we paddle onto the slow flowing
river. As we paddle into the glacier lake we will explore and search for openings that
will appear in the ice field. The picture below is of the transition point from where the
Bear Glacier Lake releases its water into the fork of a river we call the false river and sometimes
portage because of the level of water due to the tidal conditions or glacier conditions.
This portage normally is only aprprox 30 - 50 yards at this point.
While we paddle through the ice filled lake we try to stay in the open water areas
narrow openings where large ice can break down and collapse upon itself or the water opening.
we also avoid the large ice bergs and observe them from a comfortable distance, these ice
bergs can and do roll over as the ice melts or wind blows.
Normally we paddle along the islands and make our way over to the east of the face of the
- glacier and break for lunch. This is a picturesque area and is a sweet place to
- do lunch.
After lunch we paddle parallel to the face of the glacier out in open water, stay far enough away
from the face to avoid large ice calving should it happen. Bear Glacier is a floating glacier which
makes this glacier a more complicated type of glacier to deal with. Ice can calve from beneath the surface and get launched to the surface
resembling a submarine breaching the water line. We avoid this potential problem and remain well away from the wall of the glacier.
The group then paddles back crossing the lake and watching the curious seals following us throughout the lagoon. We then re-enter the
false river and paddle back down to be picked up by Aquetec's Little Gem captained by Matt Cline.
This trip is truly a full day adventure, we think it is far superior to Aialik day trips because
- Instead of riding on a water taxi for 2-3 hrs or more to just get there,
, we generally take about 1 hr to get there giving us lots more time to
explore and enjoy.
- There are No Tour Boats in this area! Very rarely do we see other folks here!
- The ice is larger than elsewhere!
- You are not paying $300.00 just to get there and back!
- This trip gets canceled for weather issues much less than Aialik trips.
- Its just way better!
Bear Glacier Overnight Adventure
2 day / 1 night
$650.00 ea. ( trip requires 2 people )
To kayak and hike and see most of Bear Glacier it takes at least 2 days!
Yep, we do it in the snow!
Bear Glacier Overnight adventures begin at our office on the Seward Hwy. just before you get to Seward. Our guests stop in and talk to our staff to check in and set up a meeting to go over and pack gear. Our staff review the latest marine weather reports and we advise our guests of expected conditions upon departure and planned return. We load the up and head to the water taxi for the ride out to Bear Glacier.
The Little Gem captained by Matt Cline takes us south on Resurrection Bay past Cines Head and into Bear Glacier river to unload and
unpack. The campsite / campsites that we use are below Bear Glacier Lake and are actually along the river. This is done to minimize
our impact to the fragile plant life and minimizing human contact with this pristine environment. We really want to leave no tracks or imprints
on these lands; By using already established campsites we will minimize our impact and participate in practicing the Leave No Trace
ethic. We set up camp, socialize for a while and as a group set about a plan for kayaking, hiking, dinner, and meal planning and discuss
park rules and requirements, and distribute supplies.
We then go with the plan and start our adventure in Bear Glacier!
Day 2 We arise and do breakfast and prepare for the rest of the day, maybe making and packing lunch for the day. Group participation begins with clean up and make sure food is stowed in Bear Resistant food containers. There are no food lockers yet in Bear Glacier which mandates that we use bear resistant food storage containers.
The day continues with the plan that was implemented on day 1 and terminates approx. 2 hrs before the pickup time to allow for staging and meeting the water taxi, loading up and heading back to Seward.
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LLC
.Please note! Access to & from Bear Glacier is tide dependent and must be done on high tide.
Access into Bear Glacier is very limited throughout the year because it is frozen most of the year.
This is why trips are not started into Bear Glacier until the river starts to run freely.
This trip will require hiking, paddling, while making sure that you are dressed for the elements... Rain gear, polypro, wool socks
are a must for this trip. This is a glacier area, with temperatures that vary due to weather conditions. We encourage
all participants to dress with layers (base polypro,capelin), a layer of fleece or two, and a gortex or equivalent rain proof
jacket with hood. We do supply boots and provide neoprene gloves for our adventures....
Bear Glacier is one of the most unique paddling destinations in one of the most challenging environments
Please call for additional information.
