Sample Itinerary for a Two-Night Stay at Alaska Wildland Adventures’ Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge

Photo found at: https://gonorth-alaska.com/travel-center/kenai-fjords-glacier-lodge/

Note: The company I wrote this article for used it to help its seasonal staff understand what a stay at the lodge was like before they arrived in Alaska for the season

We’ve all heard of the freshman fifteen. And we’re still familiar with the Covid five – maybe a little too familiar. But here’s another one: How about the Glacier Lodge 100?

If you’ve never heard of it, here are a few clues about what it is. Picture yourself living the kind of busy, hectic life that’s typical of a middle-class working person such as yourself. You’re married with a couple kids and a nice house. You are good at what you do, but boy is your job stressful and demanding.

But now you have the chance to take a vacation from your high-stakes job and you don’t know what to do with it. You’re so busy with your daily life that trying to plan a whole vacation seems like it’s too much to handle.

You’ve tried calling a travel agent, but none of them seemed to understand what kind of experience you’re after. You want an adventure. You want to go somewhere few people ever get to go. But you don’t want to bother with camping gear or worry if a bear is going to attack you in your sleep. You want to have the most peaceful night’s sleep you’ve had in years.

And that’s when you stumble across the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge.

Benefits of a Stay at the Glacier Lodge

The lodge is far removed from civilization in a wildlife sanctuary outside of Seward, Alaska. So it’s remote, a place few people ever get to go.

It sits right on the Pedersen Lagoon near glaciers, lakes, streams, and mountains. Black bears, spawning salmon, harbor seals, river and sea otters, and numerous species of waterfowl call it their home. It meets your adventure-seeking needs.

And it is equipped with all the modern amenities of home. Heated cabins with warm beds and hot showers, world-class meals prepared by professional chefs, and even a sauna you can relax in after a long day of adventuring. You imagine you’d sleep just fine in a place like that.

But for all this glacier lodge seems to offer, you still hesitate to book a trip. You’ve been burned by so-called “all-inclusive resorts” before. The salespeople you’ve talked to at those places hyped them up and got you all excited to go.

But once you arrived there, the staff was rude to you the whole time. You weren’t treated like they were happy to host you. Mostly you felt like they wanted you to leave as soon as possible so the resort could squeeze more money out of some other poor souls who booked a trip that turned out to be too good to be true.

Not so at the Glacier Lodge. Everyone there genuinely enjoys being around people, loves living in a place as special as the Pedersen Lagoon, and wants to make sure your stay there is exactly how you envisioned it being, if not even better.

So you breathe easy and gather all the information you need from the administrative staff at the Glacier Lodge’s parent company, Alaska Wildland Adventures. And then you book your stay, preparing to have a trip of a lifetime.

And that’s when you begin to lose the Glacier Lodge 100.

Getting Out to the Lodge

Because a stay at the lodge is a weightless experience. All the stress of your day-to-day life disappears when you set foot on the boat in Seward, Alaska – about a 2.5-hour drive south of Anchorage. Once on the boat, you’ll be whisked away into Resurrection Bay, and eventually the Kenai Fjords National Park. Humpback whales, orcas, Dall’s porpoise, Steller sea lions, harbor seals, and sea otters all reside in the waters of the national park. You’ll also have a chance to see coastal goats, puffins, and plenty of birds.

The boat also makes a stop at Holgate Glacier, one of 40 glaciers stemming from the Harding Icefield. When you do stop, keep your eyes on the lookout for harbor seals resting on some of the larger pieces of ice, and listen for the sounds of ice calving from the glacier and crashing into the sea.

While stopped, you’ll eat a sandwich lunch prepared for you by the staff at the Kenai Riverside Lodge, the Glacier Lodge’s sister location in Cooper Landing, Alaska. And then you’ll head to the Pedersen Lagoon where the Glacier Lodge’s staff will be waiting to welcome you and lead you on a short, leisurely walk to the lodge itself.

Your First Evening at the Lodge

Once you arrive at the lodge, you feel like you’re in a different world from the one you left back home. The ten-acre property is nestled a short distance from the ocean in an old-growth spruce forest that seems frozen in time. And one of the first things you notice when you get settled into your own private cabin is how quiet it is there.

The lodge was built on a parcel of native land. Outside of the lodge compound, much of the area has remained untouched by humans. You can rest assured that you are isolated from the nonstop lightning pace of the 21^st century.

After you get situated in your cabin, you will enjoy your first meal while at the lodge. Fresh Alaska salmon, charbroiled burgers, and slow-cooked ribs are not uncommon entrees served at the lodge. And the chefs there are happy to prepare special meals for anyone with dietary restrictions.

Following dinner, the staff puts on a nightly program to educate guests on what they will be able to do while at the lodge (more on that below), plus the lodge’s history, and facts on the natural environments that thrive in the area.

Once the dinner is over, you will be free to do as you please. You can sign up for one of the several trips leaving from the lodge the following morning or afternoon. Or simply sit by the fire enjoying a nice read about Alaska’s wilderness. Or get to know some of the other guests at the lodge’s bar, which is equipped with beer, liquor, and wine.

When you’re ready to get some rest, your cabin is situated along a boardwalk connected to the lodge for you to easily find your way to it.

Gearing Up for Your First Adventure

Day Two of your stay at the lodge begins with a warm breakfast of eggs, bacon or sausage, and waffles, French toast, or pancakes. And then once you’ve eaten, you’ll have a chance to prepare for the day’s adventure.

Depending on what activity you signed up for the night previously, you’ll head right out on the lodge deck and be geared up with rubber boots, rain gear, and either a life jacket for those headed out on the water or a hiking pole if you’ll be going on one of the hikes around the area. For those going kayaking to Aialik Glacier, you’ll also be given a waterproof spray skirt.

And if you are going on the longer Aialik Glacier kayak trip, you will make your own sandwich lunch at the lodge and pack it into a small waterproof dry bag to take with you.

Once you’re kitted up, your guide will direct you to a map of the area, explain the day’s journey, and lead you through a round of group introductions.

For the rest of this section, I’ll follow the itinerary of the Aialik Glacier kayak trip since that’s the one I did on my first full day at the lodge. I’ll also be detailing the Pedersen Glacier canoe and hiking trip along with the Addison Lake canoe and hiking excursion.

All-Day Aialik Glacier Kayak Trip

For those who signed up for the Aialik Glacier kayak trip, you’ll leave from the lodge and walk back toward the coast where the boat dropped you off the day before. When you arrive at the coast, your guide will walk you through the basics of how to handle a sea kayak, including a briefing that includes paddling techniques and safety tips while on the water.

Your guide will outfit you with kayaking paddles and pair you up with the partner you will be sharing your double kayak with. When you sit into your kayak onshore, your guide will push you out into the sea, where you’ll wait for the rest of the group to join you.

And then you’re off. Your journey to the glacier will take you to the eastern side of Slate Island. While you paddle out, keep on the lookout for harbor seals and sea otters taking a peek at you from a distance. Rain or shine, these critters are out and about and curious to see who has come to join them in the water.

When you arrive at Slate Island, your guide will direct you to the island’s rock features, waterfalls, and plant life. You will make your way around the island toward Aialik Glacier and have a chance to stop on one of the island’s rock beaches to stretch your legs and take a look at your surroundings from dry land.

Once your group makes it to the glacier, you’ll take a break from paddling and enjoy your lunch while listening to ice calving from the glacier and crashing into the ocean. The harbor seals may also be lying out on some of the larger pieces of ice, providing an extra bit of mealtime entertainment for your crew.

After you finish your lunch, you’ll paddle back to the lodge on the western side of Slate Island, again stopping on a different beach to stretch and take a break if your group would like. You can plan on arriving back at the lodge at some point in early to mid-afternoon when you will be free to take a hot shower and relax by the fire until dinner, or take a self-guided hike along one of the nature walks located around the lodge property.

Pedersen Glacier Canoe and Hiking Trip

If you choose to go on one of the shorter morning trips during your first full day at the lodge, you have the opportunity to go out again in the afternoon. One such afternoon trip is the canoe and hiking trip to the Pedersen Glacier.

Leaving in the mid-afternoon, you will first gear up with a rain jacket and pants, hiking poles, and life jackets before following the boardwalk to the edge of the water, where several canoes will be waiting.

Your guide will direct you regarding canoe safety and paddling techniques before you climb aboard and paddle across the lower lagoon. Again, sea and river otters and harbor seals all call this water home, and there is a good chance you will see one or all of the species on your short canoe trip across it.

When you do arrive on the other side of the lagoon, you will step out of the canoe, leaving your life jackets inside and grabbing your hiking poles. The trail to Pedersen Glacier provides you with the path of least resistance up to the glacier. But during or after a heavy rainfall, water is likely to have flooded it, which makes for a soggy (and sometimes slippery) hike, so it’s best to pay attention to where you place your feet.

The trail takes you through a forest that gets younger as you approach the glacier. Alders and willows grow all around, and you’ll notice the spruce shrinking as you progress uphill toward the upper lagoon and the glacier. In August, you’ll likely see watermelon berries, salmon berries, and nagoon berries all ripe for the picking along the trail’s edges.

Black bears also use the trail, both as a chance to travel quickly and feast on the many berries that grow there. But don’t worry, none of the bears in the area are aggressive, all of them will want to avoid people, and in the rare case one of them does become problematic, your guide is equipped with bear spray to scare it away.

(If you’ve never lived in bear country, read this helpful guide explaining what to do if you encounter a bear in Alaska.)

Once you reach the upper lagoon, you’ll have a fantastic view of the Pedersen Glacier on a clear day. Your guide will likely explain some of the glacier’s notable features as well as provide some information on the Harding Icefield from which it stems. S/he will explain the history of the glacier, show you pictures of it dating back to the early 1900s, and answer any questions you may have about it.

When your group is ready to return to the lower lagoon, your guide will lead you back down the same trail you hiked up. You’ll hop back into your canoe and paddle back to the lodge, making it back in plenty of time to freshen up and get warm before dinner.

Your dinner will be followed by another program educating you about glaciology or the ecology of the area. And then you are welcome to sign up for the sauna or a different trip the following day. You can then spend the evening around the fire, the bar, or in the sauna before retiring to your cabin for the night.

Addison Lake Canoe and Hiking Trip

If you are spending only two nights at the lodge, the last trip I would recommend for you is the Addison Lake canoe and hiking trip. You will meet on the lodge deck at 8:45am, where your guide(s) will help you get geared up like normal. When everyone is ready, your guide will walk you through the details of the trip and then lead you around the lodge to the canoes.

Your group will then hop in a canoe and paddle across the lower lagoon. On the other side, you’ll get out and grab your hiking poles, but you will stay in your life jackets. You will hike up the trail to Addison Lake where two more canoes are waiting for you. If you have a larger group, your guides will split you up and get you situated in them before you disembark.

Addison Lake has all the right conditions for salmon to spawn, which means black bears like to hang around its shores and snag their meals. You will make a full trip around the lake in your canoes, stopping at the lake’s northern end to watch for bears and look at the salmon. Harbor seals and otters like to swim in the lake’s freshwater, too.

When you are finished watching the wildlife, you’ll circle around the other side of the lake until you arrive back at the spot from which you set off. Then you follow the same course you took up to the lake in reverse, hiking down to the lower lagoon and canoeing across it to arrive back at the lodge where you will have lunch and prepare to leave.

Leaving the Lodge

When you are ready to depart from the lodge, one or several of the staff will lead you down the path between the lodge and the beach where you landed two days previously. The staff will have gathered your luggage from your cabin porch and will be loading it onto the boat you will be taking back to Seward.

When the captain and deckhand are ready, they will welcome you aboard and take you back to Seward, stopping to look at any wildlife they see along the way. Once you arrive back in Seward and the staff unload your luggage from the boat, you are free to continue on your own vacation in Alaska.

Some guests head off to one of the two other lodges owned by Alaska Wildland Adventures. Others choose to ride the train up to Anchorage before heading home. Still others like to stay in Seward and enjoy the many activities the town has to offer or drive their rental car to different places in Alaska.

How to Book a Stay

A stay at Alaska Wildland Adventures’ Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge is nothing short of magical.

While at the lodge, you are isolated from all the stresses and headaches of your normal life, but will still enjoy modern conveniences of the highest quality in your party’s own private cabin. You are highly likely to see wildlife you may have never seen in the wild before. And you will eat delicious food prepared by top-notch chefs and bakers.

You’ll also be served by staff who genuinely enjoy being around other people. Because all of the employees at Alaska Wildland want to help you make your Alaskan vacation a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you will be talking about for years.

By the time you leave, you may just actually feel like you’re 100 pounds lighter. And that means you will have truly come to know what the Glacier Lodge 100 really means.

If you are ready to book your own wild Alaskan vacation at the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, click here.

Still have questions? Call 800-334-8730 to speak to one of the company’s friendly, knowledgeable agents. Or request a brochure to be sent to you.