Kenai Fjords National Park.

Dominated by the massive Harding Icefield, Kenai Fjords National Park is a landscape defined by the movement of ice and the volatility of the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike many of Alaska’s remote wilderness areas, this park is accessible by road from Seward, though its most dramatic features—massive tidewater glaciers and rugged sea stacks—are best seen by boat or kayak. Over 40 glaciers flow from the central icefield, carving deep fjords that serve as a rich habitat for orcas, humpback whales, and harbor seals. On land, the Harding Icefield Trail offers a strenuous climb through temperate rainforest to a horizon of literal blue ice. Whether you’re watching a glacier calve into the sea or spotting puffins nesting on granitic cliffs, the park feels like a prehistoric world still in flux.