Near Anchorage

June-July 2021

Matanuska is the largest Glacier in the US that can be accessed by car. Its location is between Anchorage and Kennicott along Glenn Highway. You can see it from the highway and there are pull-out areas for you to park the car. This 27-mile long glacier is relatively stable; the position of its terminus (the end of the glacier) has changed very little during the past 30 years. In the past you could buy a permit and then explore the glacier on your own. But from this year on you must join a guided tour. This policy change is reasonable because walking on a glacier could be very dangerous. If you slip and fall on ice, you could fall all the way down into the icy water. There is no non-slippery surface you could grab onto and hypothermia could limit your mobility. The last picture on this page shows a rock carved by the glacier. The pattern on the rock looks like a painting.