Kayak to the Disappearing Columbia Glacier

Columbia Glacier at Columbia Bay of Prince William Sound, Alaska, is one of the fastest retreating glaciers in the world due to climate changes. The hope is, now that the glacier has almost retreated to land, it will stop retreating and start approaching again at some time. Columbia Glacier, like almost all other glaciers in Alaska, is not easily accessible unless you have a boat and are experienced enough to deal with floating ice. Visitors like me typically join a tour group to get to these gorgeous formations. The tour of kayaking to the face of Columbia Glacier starts from Valdez, Alaska and is a popular one. Although not dog friendly, I highly recommend this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Why Are Dogs Not Allowed?

Almost all tours in Alaska are not pet friendly. Even if your pets are service animals, I don’t recommend you bring them because the tours usually involve long travel time in transportation such as in a car, a boat, or a plane. It’s boring for the animals. Also, space is usually limited. Often times there’s even not enough leg room for human beings, not mention additional room for pets.

In terms of kayaking tours, everyone is placed into tandem kayaks. So there won’t be any room for pets on the kayaks. In addition, it’s not safe for them because, unlike lakes or rivers else where, Alaska water is freezing cold even in summer. You don’t want them or yourself to get wet. So Ariel ended up staying in our RV for the day. I made sure to tire her out before I departed. Thankfully, in Alaska, summer is not super hot and Valdez is a port city with cool ocean breeze.

Does it Require Prior Kayaking Experience?

No prior experience is needed. Kayaking is easy and the tour guides will provide basic instructions about how to get on and off the boat, how to use the paddles, and how to steer. Also, this’s leisure kayaking. No one is competing for speed and the tour guide will follow the pace of the slowest paddler in the group.

How to Pick the Right Tour?

If you google “kayaking tours to Columbia Glacier in Valdez”, there are only a few options and they are pretty similar in terms of the itinerary and price. So it doesn’t matter which one you choose. I went with Anadyr Adventures. This company has many tour offerings. Only the 10-hour tour to Columbia Glacier face will bring you close to the glacier and that’s the most popular option.

Does it Require Physical Fitness?

When you book the tour, the tour company will tell you anyone can do it. It’s true to some extent, because the tour is slow, water is very calm, and you will have lots of breaks. Sometime we even sat in kayaks for a long time to watch ice breaking off from the glacier.

However, it is still a roughly 10-hour tour. You will get tired after a long day and lots of excitement. I don’t think bringing your kids is a good idea. In addition, in some sections, we had to paddle continuously for quite long. We all got sore and tired even with the breaks. Lastly, it’s tandem kayaking. If one of the paddlers tires out, it’ll be all on the remaining person, which will be even more tiring. So I think you need to be reasonably fit or used to regular exercises in your daily life.

What is the Itinerary of the Tour?

The tour of kayaking to Columbia Glacier face takes about 10 hours starting at 8am regardless of the touring company you choose. The actual duration of the tour will depend on the weather, your tour guides, and other people in your tour group. My tour took about 11 hours. You will spend only about 2-3 hours kayaking on the water. There are typically 8-15 people in a tour with two tour guides. Other than the tour guides, everyone will be put in tandem kayaks.

1 Hour of Preparation

The tour company will check you in at 8am. The guides will introduce themselves and hand out dry bags for you to store your items. Then they will give everyone a set of rain gears including a rain jacket, a pair of overalls, and a pair of boots, all made in rubber, so very waterproof. They have different sizes that will fit everyone.

It’s very important to make sure everybody stays dry because 1) rainy weather is pretty common in Alaska; even if the weather is perfect when you depart, it can change fast on your way; and 2) in case you fall into the freezing water, you won’t be completely wet. If you are confident about your own waterproof gears, you don’t have to use theirs. Last but not the least, the guides will hand out life jackets or PFDs. Those are life savers and have to be worn at all times when kayaking.

Once we arrived at Columbia Bay, the tour guides provided more gears such as kayak skirts and neoprene mittens.

Anadyr Adventure is located at the harbor of Valdez

2.5-3 Hours of Water Taxi to Columbia Bay

The actual kayaking activity happens at the west of Columbia Bay no matter which tour company you choose. You will take a boat ride to it before starting kayaking. The boat ride is not a fancy cruise even if the tour company may say so on their website. It’s more like a water taxi and there’s not much touring on the boat unless you chat with the tour guides privately over the loud engine noise. Everyone will have a seat on the boat but space is limited. You can also choose to stand on the front board. My day started out foggy and cold. So most of us stayed inside and seated. However, the fog cleared up and it became perfectly sunny when we reached the heart of Prince William Sound. So we all went out and enjoyed the incredible views and wild marine lives.

View from the boat ride to Columbia Glacier

Sea lions and a rainbow in the morning fog

The boat ride will take about 2-2.5 hours depending on the condition of floating ice. Then the tour guides will need another 30 minutes to offload gears including kayaks and paddles. It’s a good time to take a “bathroom” break – “bathroom” in quotes because there’s no facility or any human intervention at the bay. The back of a big rock is where you do your business.

1-1.5 Hours of Kayaking

First thing first, safety talk. Our tour guides taught everyone how to use paddles, how to get on and off kayaks, and what to do after you fall into the water. Then they helped everyone get on board and we started kayaking to Columbia Glacier. We were asked to stay with the group even if we were experienced kayakers. The tour guide controlled the speed to accommodate the beginners in the group. So it was not too tiring for me. The tour guide also talked about the formation of glaciers, the history of Columbia Glacier, and the notorious oil spill at Prince William Sound.

We took many breaks to watch ice breaking off from the glacier. It was magical. At first, we heard thunder-like sounds and thought it was going to rain soon. But when we stopped to watch carefully, it was the sound from the falling ice colliding with the glacier after breaking off. Even a small piece of ice could make a loud sound. Then the ice dropped into the water. It was not the end of it. Seconds later, big waves started to make their way out and shook our kayaks that were hundreds of yards far. So the tour guide didn’t allow us to get too close to the glaciers without permission.

0.5-1 Hours of Lunch

Everyone got out of the kayak at a beach, ate lunches, and went to the “bathroom”. The tour guide offered us hot chocolate. We also adjusted our layers of clothes as it got hot under the cloudless sky.

Another 1-1.5 Hours of Kayaking

We continued kayaking around Columbia Bay, watched more ice breaks, and paddled to our return boat. We paddled next to the blue Columbia Glacier formed over thousands of years; we paddled on the icy and silty water from the glacier; we paddled through floating ices that were making bubbly sound as they melted and the air went in; we paddled alongside mountains covered by countless creeks and waterfalls shining like diamonds under the sun; we paddled in the absolute silence of Columbia Bay with our chatter and laughter echoing between icy cliffs.

No vegetation on the mountains because they were all covered by Columbia Glacier 5 years ago

At the very end, we were a little behind the schedule and our boat parked a bit far. So we had to continuously paddle for about 20-30 minutes to get to our boat. It was pretty tiring. My arms, wrists, shoulders and back were sore. Same for the person on the same kayak with me even though we were both experienced kayakers. So I think you need to be reasonably fit to enjoy this tour and it’s definitely not for small kids.

2.5-3 Hours of Water Taxi Back to Valdez

We loaded everything to the boat and went back. Everyone dozed off at some point on the boat ride. Even though the actual kayaking time was not long, it had been a long day.

View of Columbia East Bay on our way back

0.5-1 Hours of Offloading and Returning Gears

We helped the tour guides carry everything back to the shop, returned gears, and checked out. Tips were optional. But it was a long tiring tour. So I tipped well. If your guide takes pictures for you on the trip, remember to ask for them before you leave.

What to Bring for the Tour?

The tour company will send you a packing list ahead of time. Here’s my list which I believe covers everything you will need.

Wear layers of clothes: One thing I learnt about Alaska is that weather changes fast. It can be sunny in the morning but turns rainy in the afternoon without any warnings. Wearing in layers will prepare you for all types of weather conditions.
A complete set of dry clothes from underwear to socks and jacket in case you get wet from the rain or fall into the freezing water; but no cotton apparels including jeans – they hold water
Hat: a winter hat like a beanie for cold weather and a sun hat for sunny weather
Sunglasses and sun screen are essential at snowy and icy places
Water: You will be out for 10 hours. So bring your daily consumption.
Lunch and snacks: The tour company doesn’t provide food. So it’s all on you.
Hand sanitizer: There won’t be any facilities to wash up before lunch.
Prevention for motion sickness: Medication or patches or both. I prepared Dramamine pills and MQ Motion Sickness Patch, but only took a pill for this trip. I didn’t get any motion sickness at all.
Bug spray: Mosquitoes are everywhere in Alaska and even at a glacier. So be sure to wear bug spray.
Small dry bag for your phone: The rain gears from the tour company don’t have any pockets and the dry bag has to be in storage on the kayak. So if you want to have easy access to your phone for photos and don’t want it to get wet, I highly recommend a small crossbody or waist waterproof bag.
Cameras and extra-battery for your phone: You will take home a once-in-a-lifetime experience and lots of amazing photos.
Cash if you want to tip your tour guide

Kayak to the Disappearing Columbia Glacier

Why Are Dogs Not Allowed?

Does it Require Prior Kayaking Experience?

How to Pick the Right Tour?

Does it Require Physical Fitness?