Outback: Cool spots on the Kenai's outer coast
Excerpts and photos from Exploring Alaska's Kenai Fjords:
"If you are looking for a remote place to explore, check out Port Bainbridge. Hike the Bainbridge Glacier moraine to the ice terminus, less than 1/2 mile from salt water." Photo: Looking across Port Bainbridge at Bainbridge Glacier. "I love Port Bainbridge, from Cape Puget to Cape Elrington, the whole area is rich with marine life and scenic wonders. The raw landscape of Bainbridge Glacier moraine or the isthmus into Icy Fjord located at the head of Puffin Cove are terrific places to roam on shore." |
![]() |
|---|
![]() |
"Concealed along the towering sea cliffs of Granite Island's western shore is one of the most scenic and secluded small boat anchorages on the Kenai Fjords seacoast. Known to local fishers as "the hole in the wall" and on nautical charts as Taz Basin (Left), this tiny cliff-lined shelter is a geological oddity worth exploring. Visitors to Taz Basin should go ashore and explore the north entrance point where water erosion has etched the granite ledges with potholes and spillways. The expansive view from atop the north point is on a grand scale." |
|---|
"Pedersen Glacier Lake (Right) and lagoon are one of the highlights of Aialik Bay and the Kenai Fjords National Park. For kayakers, the Pedersen Lagoon area is a must-see destination." "The lowland terrain surrounding Pedersen Lagoon includes the best bird watching areas in Aialik Bay. Birders may see Arctic terns, mew gulls, semipalmated plovers, spotted sandpipers and black oystercatchers" |
![]() |
|---|
![]() |
"The spruce and hemlock forest growing along the shoreline perimeter of the Kenai coast was a highly prized resource to the Unegkurmiut. Many products from the spruce and hemlock were utilized including limbs, roots, needles, and cones." "In the Kenai Fjords physical evidence of Native habitation is often found in the form of a culturally modified tree (Left). The Unegkurmiut cut, peeled, and pulled sheets of bark from trees and used the material as siding and roofing for their steam bath houses, smokehouses, and other buildings. The culturally modified tree in this photo (Left) is from Home Cove, Nuka Island." |
|---|



