"Aialik Glacial Basin (Left) is the top kayak destination in the Kenai Fjords National Park. Hikers can explore the south moraine of Aialik Glacier where the ice terminus is land based but rapidly receding."

"Glaciologists suggest that Aialik Glacier rested on its terminal moraine (4.5 miles away) sometime prior to 1700. The glacier then retreated into the deep water of the glacial basin. By all accounts, Aialik Glacier has been relatively stable for the last century."

"Aialik Glacier's ice face is more than a hundred feet high and when large ice seracs fall, they create waves that slosh around the basin."

"At the mouth of Aialik Bay is Cliff Bay (right), the shore is sheer rock and mostly inaccessible. The bay's southwest exposure traps the gulf swell that continuously rolls into the bay. Good for a tempory anchorage on a calm day, with no reliable kayak haul outs available."

"Today Holgate Glacier (Left) sits at tidewater at the head of Holgate Arm on the western flank of Aialik Bay. At times, Holgate Arm is obstructed by ice pack generated from Holgate Glacier."

"In Holgate Arm, birders can watch for marbled murrelets that feed in the icy water and nest in the old spruce forest."

"At the peak of the Little Ice Age in the 1600's, Holgate Glacier filled the entire 3 mile long Holgate Arm with ice. Today the glacier rests at the head of the Holgate Arm and still calves vast amounts of ice into the fjord."