Exploring the world is such a great adventure and climbing upon the Matanuska Glacier is one in many. For a small fee, the glacier is accessible, through private land, to walk upon and explore.

At one time (approximately 18,000 years ago), this 27 mile long and 4 miles wide glacier covered the area which is now known as the town of Palmer, a drive of about 90 miles to the west along the Glenn Highway. This winding road follows the steep valley carved by the Matanuska River, of which the glacier is its source. It is a drive of spectacular beauty with Chugach Mountain Range to the south and the Talkeetna Mountains to the north.

A spectacular fly-through animation of the matanuska valley and glacier can be found at the Alaska Images home page. Be warned that the animation is nearly 16MB in length and will take approximately 75 minutes to download at modem rate of 28.8 kbs. But the image is well worth the wait.

Click on any of the thumbnail pictures below to see close-ups of this glacier.