August 4 - Portage Glacier and Whittier (or was that "WETtier"!)

We left Seward on Wednesday, hoping that we could get away from the wet weather, but the rain followed us.  We set up camp at the Williwaw National Forest Campground on Portage Glacier Road and drove the mile or so to the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center for the Portage Glacier.  We're about 50 miles southeast of Anchorage.

The wind was blowing so hard (about 60 mph!) at the Visitors Center, we could hardly get from the truck to the building.  It was like being in a hurricane!  And as it turns out the Portage Glacier area is in what the NP Ranger told is a "vortex" for winds coming between the mountains and off the Prince William Sound to the west.  And we hit it on an exceptional day.

Here's pic of the Portage Glacier, which as it turns out is the most visited glacier in Alaska.  They even have a tour boat that goes across the lake to the base of the glacier, where there are icebergs falling off the face of it.  This is a must see area for anyone thinking of going to Alaska, so click HERE for some more info.

On Thursday, we awoke to rain again.  So we loaded up and drove west about 4 miles to visit Whittier.  The only way to get there is through a 2.5 mile long tunnel, which is billed as the longest combined railroad and vehicle tunnel in North America.  It is only one lane, so there are westbound times, eastbound times, and train times.  Here we are driving up to the toll booth to shell out our $12 toll.  Whew, at least we only have to pay one way!

And we get in our assigned lane and wait for the green light.

Then we're off!

The tunnel is like a mine.  Not a very good pic here, but you can see the train tracks going down the middle.

2.5 miles later and we're at Whittier.  Still raining - surprise!

Whittier was hopping during WWII.  It was a major supply point for battles in the Alutian Islands and other Pacific areas.  In 1964, it was all but destroyed by the largest earthquake (9.2 on the Richter Scale) recorded in North America.  The earthquake was centered in the middle of Prince William Sound and caused a 20 or 30 foot tsunami that flattened all the town except for the higher ground and the heavy-duty concrete buildings constructed during WWII.


Now it is mainly a tourist, fishing, and there's a lot of shipping activity due to its proximity to Anchorage and the railroad access

One good thing about rain is that it makes great waterfalls.  The large building is one of the WWII leftovers that is now apartments where most of the permanent residents live.

Here's a view of the small boat harbor.

It's also a stopping point for the Alaska Marine Highway.  You can drive your car, RV, or motorcycle onto a boat like the blue and white one on the right and sail all the way back and forth to Seattle, with stops along the way.

While in Whittier we made a much-needed stop at the only laundromat in town and visited the gift shops.  One of the shopes had fudge and reminded us of Mackinaw, so Roxane just had to have some.  We got to talk with a fellow Spartan for a while who worked there and on the Marine Highway boats for the summer.  There are a lot of people that come to Alaska to work for the summer, then return to the lower 48 for the winter.  The pay is very good, but the hours are long and there isn't any time for them to see the sights.


After the return trip through the tunnel, we took a 1 mile hike to the Baxter Glacier.  We just can't seem to get enough of these things.  Each one is different.  This one was a beautiful baby blue color and had some cool ice caves where the water flowed at the base.

Greg couldn't resist some rock-hopping to get close the the huge cave where the stream came out of the glacier.  Didn't want to get wet feet though - this water is cold!

And Roxane just had to have another rock momento.  Greg says "is this the one?"

One our way back, we spotted this ominous sign of fall.  We also noticed a lot more of the fireweed plants are flowered out at the top of the plant.  They say that when this happens, there is only 6 until winter.  We will hopefully be gone by then!

 We spotted this chunk of blue glacier ice floating in Portage Lake on our way out.

Back at the campground, this is our view of the waterfall flowing out of a glacier that we listen to all night long.  This has been one of the most scenic spots and nicest campgrounds we've stayed in.  No hookups or TV reception, but it's private and the surroundings are great.