2 Best Sights in Kenai Peninsula, The Kenai Peninsula and Southcentral Alaska

In addition to fishing, clam digging is popular at Clam Gulch, 24 miles south of Soldotna on the Sterling Highway. This is a favorite of local children, who love any excuse to dig in the muddy, sloppy goo. Ask locals on the beach how to find the giant razor clams (recognized by their dimples in the sand). Ask also for advice on how to clean the clams—cleaning is pretty labor-intensive, and it's easy to get into a clam-digging frenzy when the conditions are favorable, only to regret your efforts when cleaning time arrives. The clam digging is best when tides are minus 4 or 5 feet. A sportfishing license, available at grocery stores, sporting-goods shops, and drugstores, is required for clam diggers 16 years old and older.

A mass of ice that caps the Kenai Mountains, the Harding Icefield covers more than 1,100 square miles, and oozes more than 40 glaciers from its edges and down the mountainsides; Exit Glacier is the most accessible part of the ice field. Just outside Seward, if you hike a mile up the paved trail that starts at the parking lot, you'll find yourself at the terminal moraine of Exit Glacier. Look for the marked turnoff at Mile 3.7 as you enter town, or you can take the hourly shuttle from downtown ($15 round-trip). There's a small walk-in campground here, a ranger station, and access to the glacier. The hike to the ice field from the parking lot is a 9-mile round-trip that gains 3,000 feet in elevation, so it's not for the timid or out of shape. But if you're feeling up to the task, the hike and views are breathtaking. Local wildlife includes mountain goats and bears both black and brown, so keep a sharp eye out for them. Due to recent ice fall at the toe of the glacier, the entire toe is currently off-limits.