Portage/Whittier
We had a lot of fun in the Portage area, despite of (or possibly because of) the weather. We arrived from nice mild weather only 50 miles away. The closer we got the harder it rained, the more windy it became, and the colder it was. By the time we got to the Forestry visitor’s center it was 40 degrees with gale force winds and rain with sleet. Brrr! We stayed in the area 2 nights and the weather improved only slightly. The rain eased up for our hike to Byron Glacier but started raining again as soon as we decided to ride our bikes on a trail nearby and really started coming down for our boat ride to Portage Glacier. The Forestry Service Center there made it as enjoyable as possible, though. The day we arrived was Saturday and they did a free ‘Saturday night at the movies’ presentation. I mean, the movie was about the Forestry Service but it was actually really nicely done and interesting. The next day there were celebrating the 99th year of the Chugach National Forest and had free cake and coffee for everyone. That was nice after cycling 2 miles from our campsite in 30 mph winds and rain! We did drive into Whittier through the amazingly cool $12 toll tunnel that is shared by trains and traffic going each direction. Maybe by then we’d just had enough of the rain but the town actually seemed pretty grim and didn’t offer a lot to do. There was a cruise ship in port when we arrived and it looked like they loaded up the passengers on trains and busses and got them out of that grey little town as quickly as possible!
This is Byron Glacier near Portage.
Dave and Molly hiking on Byron glacier.
This amount of ice can really make a person realize how small they are!
On our boat ride to see the Portage Glacier we saw this piece of ice floating along…doesn’t it look like a whale’s tail?
There is the main attraction, the big and beautiful Portage Glacier.
This waterfall is in Whittier, adding a bit of beauty to what we found to be a rather unhappy seeming little town.
Tags: North, to Alaska
Sissy