Girl’s Trip to Matanuska Glacier
Once upon a time…
Three adventurous girls- Piera, Nicole + Lilah- decided to go meander around a glacier on a very cold and sunny Alaskan weekend.
It was below zero temps and windy, but nothing was stopping them from getting outside and exploring. The winter months in Alaska are hard so any opportunity to get outside is a good one.
The Matanuska Glacier Tours is roughly 2 hours northeast of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway.
It costs $150 per person but if you are an Alaskan resident, it’s only $50! The tour itself is about 1.5 to 2 hours and all of the guides are amazing!
The girls were guided by a very nice man named Shay. He was extremely chill and knowledgeable when it came to all things glacier! He even posed for a few photos, hehe.
A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE GLACIER:
- The Matanuska Glacier is a large ice flow, 24 miles long and 4 miles wide at the terminus, averaging approximately 2 miles in width.
- The Matanuska is an active glacier that advances at one foot per day! The ice takes approximately 250 years to form up-glacier and advance to the terminus *mind blown* The ice of an active glacier always moves forward due to gravity; like water in a river, the ice will flow down the valley.
- A frequently asked question concerns the cause of the blue ice. The density of glacier ice allows the entire spectrum of light to be absorbed except the blue light, which is reflected and can therefore be seen by your eye.
(Resources; https://glacier-tours.com/facts-about-matanuska-glacier/)
If you haven’t been to this glacier yet, grab your kids, bundle up and make the trek! It will no doubt create a core memory for you and your family. From glacier slides to tunnels carved into the ice, the whole tour will have you smiling from ear to ear!
Dena’ina land acknowledgment:
Dena’inaq ełnenaq’ gheshtnu ch’q’u yeshdu.
“I live and work on the land of the Dena’ina.”
Translation: Helen Dick, Sondra Shaginoff-Stuart, Joel Isaak.
