Knik Glacier Tours

Daily Knik Glacier Flightseeing Tours

As our Knik glacier tour progresses we soon come to the glacial lake at the toe of the Knik glacier with its endless ice bergs which have calved off the glacier. Crossing the icebergs in the lake we follow the gorge along the cliffs to Inner Lake George at the toe of the Colony Glacier.

Rocky Mountain goats and white Dall sheep are a common sight along the cliffs near the waterfalls, depending on the season. We fly over the North West shore of Lake George to get a look at the hundreds of big ice bergs, many with a rich blue color phase. Good photo opportunities here of the Colony glacier as it terminates into the lake.

Other glaciers are in view at this point of the tour. Turning back to the Knik Glacier we follow the east side of the mountains and have a look at Cataract Glacier, which is a hanging glacier approximately 3,000 feet above us with a large waterfall shooting out of a cave with the water tumbling down the cliffs beneath the glacier. Crossing the Knik Glacier at Gannett point offers a bird’s eye view of the deep crevasses as we soar right over the countless cracks deep into the heart of the glacier.

The aircraft makes a gentle descent following the large medial moraine. As we near the toe of the Knik glacier there is the option of a landing on a gravel bar along the terminal moraine of the glacial lake.  After landing, a short hike of about ten minutes brings us to the ice bergs and the toe of the glacier right in front of us across the lake. This is a spectacular view of the Knik and Colony glaciers with Mountains on all sides, ice bergs you can touch and amazing wildflowers.

Heading west out of the valley on the return flight to Willow, we skirt the Chugach Mountains to the north in search of moose and Dall sheep. Bears and wolves frequent the area, but are only occasionally sighted.