"MacLaren Glacier, Alaska"

©2011 Elroy Christenson

This photo montage shows the glacier and its melt off river.  It has receded a good deal as have the glaciers in Glacier Bay due to warmer weather.  This is a remote area of central Alaska on the Denali Highway which runs from Denali to Paxson. It is closed during the winter months. This view is only accessible by taking a jet boat about five miles up the MacLaren River and then hiking up a small mountain.  The glacier is still about two to three miles away but a fairly easy walk across the gravel bars.  We took two canoes down the braided river back to the MacLaren Lodge.  A few week after this picture was taken a hunter was reported to have been mauled by a grizzly in this same region.