The three hundred square mile Harding Ice Field (named after president Warren Harding) entombs the Kenai mountains, and feeds some thirty active glaciers, which are currently receding. These rivers of ice move slowly down steep slopes crushing boulders to silt, and often calve spectacularly into the sea. The Harding Ice Field is one of four remaining ice fields in the United States; they are the last vestiges of the Pleistocene era when a massive continental ice sheet covered much of North America. The ice field reaches elevations of 6,000 feet entombing valleys and mountain tops. There is a four to five miles hike starting at Exit Glacier that leads to the Harding Ice Field. While on this hike I have seen marmots, goats and bear. The park service has labeled it as a difficult hike.
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