Root Glacier 🧗 🌨 🥶- Wrangell St. Elias NP - Kennicott, Alaska

This is Root Glacier, here in Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Kennicott, Alaska.
I would feel safe in saying this is the #1 activity to do while at the park.
It’s not often you get to hike on a glacier while in Alaska. They are few and far between.
Most glaciers are explored from cruise ships and tour boats out on the waters.
So…having an opportunity to be guided out onto the ice by experienced professionals was certainly a wonderful experience and I highly recommend to everyone out there to do a guided hike while spending time in McCarthy/Kennicott.
I took my tour with St. Elias Alpine Guides. I found them online after I Googled tours for Root Glacier.
They offer half day and full day guided hikes.
I chose the full day for sure, which was 8 hours long starting at $145. Then, I also chose to be given a snack pack of nuts, chips and beef jerky for an extra $8, and then with tax, the total was $162.
The half day tour was around $115 before tax. I guess if you’re limited on time, then this is an option, but if you’re venturing all the way to Wrangell St. Elias…which is very difficult to get to…you might as well go all the way and choose the all day tour! Right, lol, go big or go home! Hahaha.
For my day excursion, I had 2 experienced tour guides with me, Kelsey and Victor. And, my tour group was maybe 10 people in total so it felt like a real intimate group where we all got Kelsey and Victor’s undivided attention for most of the time.
Kelsey and Victor had no problems no matter how many times I asked them to take my picture.
In fact, they even encouraged it. They were extremely friendly and accommodating and of course, doing it all for a nice tip in the end.
I did give them each $20. I hope that was good enough. I actually was only expecting 1 tour guide for the day so when it was going to be 2, that was a bit of a surprise.
Now, the weather. Grrrr…yes, tough. It pretty much rained for most of the time.
Usually I’ve been able to avoid the rain during my travels through Alaska this summer, but when I viewed the forecast it pretty much said rain for the next week, so then I was forced to just do it rather than sitting around and procrastinating.
They do say that exploring glaciers is better to be done during cloudy times to enhance the blue colors of the ice in comparison to sunny days.
But, one thing is for sure…there is nothing like having clear skies outside. It totally elevates your photographic moments no matter what the experts say.
Yeah, the glacier may appear more white than colorful, but nothing beats a happy, sunny day for getting outside and enjoying such natural wonders of the world like this, Root Glacier.
This tour did involve hiking 2 miles to and from Root Glacier. Then with venturing around on the ice…another few miles added to be about 7 - 8 miles altogether.
But…nothing was really strenuous along the way and at the end of the day, I wasn’t even tired. I wanted more, actually, lol.
We did stop for 30 minutes during the day to have lunch, which we were told was our responsibility to handle. Kelsey and Victor did make us complimentary coffee, tea or hot chocolate…which was great to warm up for a little bit.
Out on Root Glacier, I got to experience viewing blue pools, glacial crevasses and moulins.
Btw, moulins (like the French word) is extremely dangerous. I was told if you fall into one of the those, it’s the end. You will get swallowed up.
Still, Victor held our backpacks tightly as we looked down into colorful moulins, which dropped deep into the bottom of Root Glacier.
While here in McCarthy/Kennicott among Wrangell St. Elias National Park…here were some other worthwhile activities…
- Take another tour of the Kennicott Old Mill and Mine.
- Hike Bonanza Trail, Jumbo Mine Trail or Erie Mine Trail. All good day hikes.
- Eat at the Meatzah Wagon Food Truck or The Potato. Have a drink at the Golden Saloon.
(In fact, Kelsey and Victor invited me for a drink later in the evening at The Golden Saloon, which was nice of them).
- Walk around downtown McCarthy.
- Take a sightseeing flight tour with Wrangell Mountain Air.
- Stop in at the Visitor Center to buy souvenirs and get your National Parks Passport stamped.
Alright, well, these were some excerpts from my time out on Root Glacier in Wrangell St. Elias NP.
Thank you for taking a moment to watch and hope you appreciated how hiking on glacial ice can be a wondrous experience unlike anything else out there.
#rootglacier #wrangellstelias #mccarthykennicott #glaciers #glacier #alaska #hiking #nationalparks #steliasalpinetours

[@digitallyaligned]

really nice vibes seth

[@SethAugust]

Appreciate that! Thanks for even taking a moment to watch ☺️

[@master_880]

Rlly wanna see him for 3rd time!

[@SethAugust]

Lol, 😄. Yes we can make that happen! I’m currently on a roadtrip throughout North America, but when I return come fall time, (October or so) a 3rd video will happen! Thanks for the support 🙏 👍

[@billchristianson3451]

Lol masks

[@SethAugust]

Yep wearing masks 😷