Spire Cove in Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska

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Rugged peaks and wild waters. Spire Cove in Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska

As National Park Week rolls on, let's turn our attention to Kenai Fjords National Park, a gem on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Stretching over 1,000 square miles, this landscape features fjords, river valleys, and alpine landscapes. More than half of the terrain is blanketed in ice. Throughout the 20th century, the park's glaciers have receded, uncovering new land for plant and animal life to take root. From ancient Sitka spruces to delicate fireweed shoots and moss carpeting the forest floor, plant life in Kenai Fjords flourishes. The park is also home to diverse terrestrial and marine mammals, including timber wolves, porcupines, Canadian lynxes, and cetaceans like orcas and fin whales. It also hosts a variety of birds, such as bald eagles and Peale's peregrine falcons.

Kenai Fjords isn't just about stunning landscapes and flourishing wilderness—it's also a place rich with human history. For thousands of years, Alaska Natives have called this region home, leaving behind traces of their lives in the land. Within the national park, the past still lingers—from the camps left by Alaska Native Sugpiaq people once scattered along the coastline to the remnants of old mining camps in Nuka Bay.