The Davidson Glacier is a large valley glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

 near Haines

Haines, Alaska

Haines is a census-designated place in Haines Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the area was 1,811. Haines was formerly a city but no longer has a municipal government...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 that finds its source in the Chilkat Range

Chilkat Range

The Chilkat Range is a mountain range in Haines Borough and the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, west of the city of Juneau....

.

History

The Davidson Glacier was originally discovered by 1867 and was recounted by John Muir

John Muir

John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...

 in his famous travels in and around Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay Basin in southeastern Alaska, United States, encompasses the Glacier Bay and surrounding mountains and glaciers, which was first proclaimed a U.S. National Monument on February 25, 1925 and which was later, on Dec...

 in 1879. The glacier was, at that time, a tidewater glacier that protruded into the Chilkat Inlet

Chilkat Inlet

Chilkat Inlet is an inlet in Lynn Canal in the Southeast region of the U.S. state of Alaska that includes the delta for the Chilkat River and borders Haines and the Chilkat Peninsula....

. It has since receded into the mountains and created its very own glacial lake in the glacier's moraine (similar to the Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier is a glacier about long located in Mendenhall Valley, about from downtown Juneau in the southeast area of the U.S. state of Alaska....

 and lake

Mendenhall Lake

Mendenhall Lake is a lake in the Mendenhall Valley at the 1962 terminus of Mendenhall Glacier, North of the Juneau City and Borough Airport in the Coast Mountains...

) about one mile inland from the Chilkat Inlet.

Current status

Currently, the Davidson Glacier serves as a tourist attraction for Haines. While not actually located on the Chilkat Peninsula

Chilkat Peninsula

The Chilkat Peninsula is a peninsula in Lynn Canal, Southeast Alaska that divides the Chilkoot and Chilkat Inlets and divides the Chilkat and Chilkoot watersheds. The peninsula extends into Lynn Canal as well....

, tour operators boat or kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...

tourists over to the glacier and then drive or hike them from the shore to the glacier on a road constructed for tourists' use.