Castner Glacier Caves Richardson Highway, Alaska

Castner Glacier Caves – Richardson Highway, Alaska

The Trek Details

The Trek in a snapshot

Location

south of Delta Junction, Alaska. It’s located at milepost 217.3 on the Richardson Highway

Managing Agency

Alaska DNR

Pets

Allowed

Fees

None

Restrooms

None

Camping

Allowed

Trail Condition

Dirt and rock trail. If you hike in winter, plan to hike on the snow and ice

Sights

Castner Glacier caves, Castner Creek, Alaska Pipeline

Water Info

Bring a liter of water per person

Best Season

All

Sun Exposure

Lots of sun exposure

Time Required

2+ hours

Parking Elevation

2495 ft

Summit Elevation

2611 ft

Elevation Difference

116 ft

Trek Planner Maps

Trail Map

GPS Coordinates

Trailhead: 63.40238, -145.73466

Glacier Caves: 63.40367, -145.69952

Experience. Discover. Explore.

The Trail

Follow along on our adventure then go out on your own!

Be a responsible explorer



The trailhead is located right off the side of the Richardson Highway at about mile post 217.  There is plenty of room for vehicles in several pullouts and the actual trailhead is on the east side of the highway marked by a highly visible path.   The glacier is located on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management). If you go to the BLM link for Castner Glacier, they say it’s only a 1/2 mile hike to the glacier – this is not correct.  It may have been 1/2 mile before but the glacier has since receded and it is now just barely over one mile to the caves.

The hike to Castner Glacier is easy and straightforward.  All you do is follow Castner Creek for about 1.1 miles until you come to the glacier caves at the front of Castner Glacier.  I hiked this in the winter so I couldn’t comment on summer hiking conditions but hiking on top of the hard ice from the creek made things so much easier!  The entire hike doesn’t gain much in elevation either, making this an easy and casual hiking adventure.

The entire valley is beautiful and full of sharp and crazy looking mountains.  I would love to come back and spend a few days hiking around and even hike farther up the glacier valley to the small Thayer Hut.

Devil’s Thumb
I think these peaks from left to right are Old Snowy, Black Cap, and White Princess

Even in the winter this hike was somewhat crowded.  There must have been over a hundred people on the trail that day.  Granted, it was a Saturday, but this glacier is literally in the middle of nowhere!  It’s more than a two hour drive from Fairbanks and the largest nearby city is Delta Junction with about a 1,000 residents.  Castner Glacier is also one of the more easily accessible glaciers in the area so it makes sense why many people would be visiting this one more.



The cave is hidden from view

You will see the massive glacier in the distance and it just looks like piles of dirt and rocks.  All the ice is of course, below this and the cave is hidden from view.  The first thing I did was hiked on top of the glacier to get a better view.

Looking down from the glacier

Hiking on top of the glacier is not recommended by the BLM because you never know where weak ice is and you could easily fall into a crevasse.  Also, going inside the caves is not recommended.  If I visited in the summer I wouldn’t enter inside the caves, but it would still be awesome to see.

Keep in mind that if you go inside the caves, you are hiking on the actual frozen creek and in some spots towards the very back you can hear the running water below you.  The ice is slippery but it wasn’t so slippery that I was falling over every five seconds.   There are plenty of small rocks and dirt for grip.  But if you want, bring some of those metal yaktrax things to add a little more traction to your shoes.

The cave opening is fairly large and you will quickly notice the amazing blues and greens in the ice.  If you look closely, you can even see trapped air bubbles, rocks, and sand.  The caves were so cool! (get it?…OK, that was dumb)

Since this is a pet friendly hike, many people brought their dogs and the dogs seemed to be having as much fun as the humans were.  The cave echoed with dogs barking, kids screaming, and adults taking lots of photos. 



I’m not the best at judging distance underground but if I had to guess, I would say that the caves went in about 500+ feet.  Towards the back I could hear running water and didn’t want to venture past that point – safety first!  🙂  Bring a flashlight if you want to venture in towards the back.

Even though the outside temperature was near the 50 degrees, at the back of the cave it was closer to 30 degrees.  You could see tons of ice crystals hanging from the ceiling and colorful rocks and pebbles frozen in time inside the ice.



Personal Thoughts

Personal Thoughts

Visiting the Castner Glacier Cave was really fun! The hike was easy. The cave was awesome! Bring the kids, dogs, friends, neighbors and visit this amazing place! Make sure you are prepared when you visit. I visited on a nice warmer day in the winter, so my pictures are a little deceiving. This adventure is also remote, so make sure you are prepared with proper coats, pants, boots, hats, gloves, and even food, fuel, and water.

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Mady

This looks amazing! We are visiting Fairbanks the last week of December. Is that too cold of a time to go see them? We also have 4 kids coming, ages 9 and 10. Is this too difficult for them? Thanks for the help.

Leah Cox

I leave for Fairbanks on 2/24./2020 and hope to get out to see the caves. Thanks for sharing!

Stephanie

Jeff, do you know if snowshoes or skis are a must this time of year? Any tips appreciated!
Stephanie

Grace

Do you know if it’s still possible to visit this coming April 2021, first week?

Grace

Also, can you give some insight on the road conditions of Richardson Hwy, and whether a rental SUV will suffice. Thanks!

john Doe

how’s about in August?

Kristen k

Hey just wondering if Alaska 4 was the exact address you used for the gps? I can’t get my google to show it correctly. When I use Alaska 4 and zoom in it looks like a residential area not off highway area. Please help. Since I’m going alone I just want to make this as smooth as I can.
Thank you.

Kristen k

It worked! Thank you so much.

Kristen k

I made it!!! It was totally worth it.

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