Matanuska Glacier is 100 miles far away from Anchorage, Alaska, at valley emerged as Mat-Su, which encompasses about 24,000 square miles of wilderness. The only sound there is an occasional rush of cool wind sweeping down from the towering Chugach Mountains. The temperature in Matanuska Glacier soaring to 75 degrees, and you walking on ice.

Like other glaciers the Matanuska has begun to shrink, because of warming of the region. This dense ice is so fluid and flexible and thousands of years old, but still active, shifting and creeping along its 27-mile length each day. The glacier is also home to bears, wild sheep and goats, wolves, caribou and moose, as well as good restaurants and a variety of lodging, from campgrounds and rustic cabins to more elegant bed-and-breakfasts.

It is known that part of the glacier is privately owned, but the rest is managed by the state. If you following the Little Susitna River, you will get to the Independence Mine State Historical Park. The park is the restored site of the Alaska-Pacific Consolidated Mining Company’s gold-mining camp, which operated from about 1937 until 1943. Near by is Gold Cord Lake, offering mineral-rich blue water.

When to go: Any time, is always freezing there. Getting there: The Matanuska-Susitna Valley is about 36 miles from Anchorage on the Glenn Highway. The glacier can be reached from the parking lot in regular walking shoes but a guided tour is recommended for the steeper parts. Photos by: Mark Meyer