This is a mind-blowing hike with unreal 360 degree views of the beautiful Blackstone Bay and so many glaciers you can barely count them all! This hike has it all: Alaskan forests and meadows, rocky scrambles, and insane views. A big disclaimer though: we waited all summer for the right conditions to do this hike and ended up hiking it the day before we left. They don't say the weather is always "Sh*tier in Whittier" for nothing. On a (rare) clear sunny day, Blackstone Bay Vista has absolutely no competition and is our favorite day hike from Anchorage.

The hike begins a short drive from the center of the town of Whittier. (Note that if you're driving from Anchorage, you will want to check the tunnel times to make sure you do not get stuck waiting for the one-way tunnel to open.) The first mile of the trail is well built and maintained: the first half mile or so is through a beautiful forest (you can see and hear the cruise ships in Whittier) then a gravel and easy-to-follow trail continues past the tree line partially on wooden pontoons. There were many salmon berries when we were there. We also saw many bags of gravel on the side of the trail: thank you to the trail maintainers for all the hard work!

Soon after this first mile, you can already see great views of Whittier and Passage Canal. (There is one tent platform here with beautiful views.) The trail then gets less built out as you walk through an incredible meadow for the next mile. We felt like we were in Shire from Lord of the Rings with the greenest moss and beautiful ponds and waterfalls surrounding us. Some parts of the trail in this section were muddy but manageable (in very early September). We would imagine it can be snowy and muddy throughout the summer (and there may be mosquitoes in mid-summer, check recent AllTrails reviews!).

After the meadow, the trails begins ascending more rapidly. We ate lunch at the bottom of this section and admired the views of the glacier across Passage Canal. We climbed up a couple of steeper bouldery sections here. Past those ascents, all signs of vegetation are gone and the rest of the trail is on boulders and rocks. In fact, there isn't really a "trail", so just make sure you're in the right general direction. This section was longer than we anticipated it as you have to climb up and down some smaller "hills". There wasn't any snow when we were there the first weekend of September, but this whole section is likely covered in snow for most of the summer. We saw some beautiful ptarmigans.

Prepare to be amazed, wowed, blown away when you reach the end of the trail! The view open up completely as you look down the peninsula and the two bays. You can see Blackstone glacier in all its glory as well as the icefield and other glaciers extending from it. We lay in the sun for at least an hour, basking in the beauty of Mother Nature. We even saw big groups of sandhill cranes noisily migrating south for the winter.

Overall, the hike became our favorite day hike though again, the perfect conditions played a big role in this. Read recent reviews about snow, mud, and bugs, and wait for a clear day if you can.

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