2 Best Sights in The Kenai Peninsula and Southcentral Alaska, Alaska

Seward is the gateway to the 669,984-acre Kenai Fjords National Park. This is spectacular coastal parkland incised with sheer, dark, slate cliffs rising from the sea, ribboned with white waterfalls, and tufted with deep-green spruce. Kenai Fjords presents a rare opportunity for an up-close view of blue tidewater glaciers as well as some remarkable ocean wildlife. If you take a day trip on a tour boat out of Seward, it's highly likely you'll see frolicking sea otters, crowds of Steller sea lions lazing on the rocky shelves along the shore, a porpoise or two, bald eagles, and tens of thousands of seabirds. Humpback whales and orcas are sighted occasionally, and mountain goats wander the seaside cliffs. The park's coastal fjords are a favorite of sea kayakers, who can camp or stay in reserved public-use cabins. One of the park's chief attractions is Exit Glacier, which can be reached only by the one road that passes into Kenai Fjords. Trails inside the park lead to an overlook of the vast Harding Icefield. Named for President Warren G. Harding, this area has more than three-dozen glaciers flowing from it. Backcountry travelers should also be aware that some of the park's coastline has been claimed by local Native organizations and is now private property. Check with park headquarters to avoid trespassing on Native land.

In a land of many grand and spectacularly beautiful mountains, those in the 13.2-million-acre Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve are possibly the finest of them all. This extraordinarily compact cluster of immense peaks belongs to four different mountain ranges. Rising through many eco-zones, the Wrangell–St. Elias Park and Preserve is largely undeveloped wilderness parkland on a grand scale. The area is perfect mountain-biking and primitive-hiking terrain, and the rivers invite rafting for those with expedition experience. The mountains attract climbers from around the world—whereas Alaska's mountains have been summited many times over, there is the opportunity here to be the first or one of few to summit. Most climbers fly in from Glennallen or Yakutat. Although there are few facilities in Wrangell-St. Elias this is one of the few national parks in Alaska you can drive to. You don't have to be a backcountry camper to experience this park—it's possible to stay in comfortable lodgings in Kennicott or McCarthy and experience the massive glaciers that stand at the foot of Kennicott—Root Glacier and Kennicott Glacier or go on a multiday, guided rafting tour along the Nizina.