Alaska Day 7 - Summary

Wow, Alaska is beautiful - nature lover's paradise, plenty of trails, hikes, waterfalls, camping opportunities, fishing, ice climbing, glacier hikes, cruises, kayaking, motorbiking, wildlife encounters, sealife viewing. The train tours are excellent although time consuming, they are the best way to see some of the wilderness inaccessible by road. 

What we couldnt do: Denali NP shuttle bus tour (long 5hr drive to denali plus 8hrs tour).
Wish List: Juneau, Glacier Bay, Fairbanks, Arctic Circle, Northern Lights.


View Alaska - Placemarks in a larger map

Alaska Day 6 - Talkeetna & Alaska Experience

Denali remained a dream, owing primarily due to the driving time & distance - 5hrs one way, plus the park shuttle tour is a minimum 6.5hrs, also Mt. McKinley sighting is not guaranteed.

Mt. McKinley from a vista point

Talkeetna

Instead, we choose to take the aerial route to Mt. McKinley and Denali. Our flight-seeing expedition by K2 Aviation @ Talkeetna. There are various providers serving this purpose - Talkeetna Air Taxi, K2 Air and few others. We picked K2 coz we had some gift vouchers. They had various tour options and we picked the "Grand Denali Tour with Glacier Landing"

Since we were early for our tour departure, we explored the tiny town of Talkeetna - since it is a very small, not much to explore. We hiked on the "chase" trail along the railroad tracks until the bridge crossing. Another "river" trail takes to the river park - here one can see the confluence of 3 rivers. Drive a little away (5 miles) to the bed of sister Talkeetna Lakes also called locally as the X-Y lakes (the shape they resemble). Relatively uncrowded and makes for a good picnic spot.

We saw Mt. McKinley from all sides; north, south, east and west; and circled around the mountain.We got a view of the climbers' Kahiltna base camp, Mt. Foraker & Mt Hunter, dozens of glaciers,

Hikers

Glacier Landing at Ruth (i think)

Glacier bed

Glacier terrain, each is some 30+ feet deep

Mt. McKinley

Truly, the glacier landing and McKinley viewing were our "once in a lifetime experience"!

Mt. McKinley

Alaska Experience Theater

A fitting end to our vacation, chill out and watch a movie about Alaska at Alaska Experience Theater in Downtown Anchorage. They had a double feature "Journey to Alaska & Northern Lights Adventure" showing and we picked the last show of the day. The movies were enlightening.

Alaska Day 5 - Anchorage

Anchorage July 4th Parade

July 4th! Happy Independence day.. or Happy 4th of July. Almost 99% of the Americans said "Happy 4th of July" and this led both of us to wonder why. Is it cause the 'independence' has brought has nothing? Is it cause UK signed the agreement recognizing US independence on Nov 30th and July 4th was only the adoption of 'Declaration of Independence'? Is it because we rather celebrate the day off rather than squabble about independence?

Anyways, Anchorage has a July 4th downtown parade, fireworks, food & live music. The parade consisted of  Military (although nothing interesting was displayed), Guards, Vintage Cars, Harleys, Lotus (car), Native Alaskans, Student band, police & fire service, Japanese Drums, and much more.

Vintage Cars

Harleys

Lotus 1 & 2

Parade

Other points of interest in Anchorage

There are various locations in Anchorage that can all be covered in a single day - pick up the downtown activities map (free) from any shop. The most popular ones are:

- Tony Knowles Coastal trail. This is a nice trail for cycling, running, roller skating etc. Very popular among locals and tourists. Access was a block away from our hotel.

- Earthquake park

- Lake hood - busiest floatplane base

Lake Hood parking lot

- Point Woronzof

Downtown from Pt Woronzof

Downtown from Pt Woronzof

- Alaska Wild berry farm

Reindeer @ Berry farms

Chocolate fountain @ Berry farms

- Alaska zoo (vs Alaska Wildlife center.. I think both are good)

- Alaska native heritage center

Although we skipped the zoo & the native heritage center, we visited the other points. They all have some history and amazing views.

Alaska Day 4 - Whittier

On Day 4 we headed to the city of Whittier. Land access to Whittier is through the tunnel - locally known as the Whittier tunnel or the Portage tunnel, the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel is a tunnel through Maynard Mountain. It links the Seward Highway south of Anchorage with the relatively isolated community of Whittier. It is part of the Portage Glacier Highway and is the second longest highway tunnel and longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America. Eastbound traffic, westbound traffic, and the Alaska Railroad share the tunnel.

Whittier Tunnel

With a population of about 200, almost all of them live in Begich Towers - like a "city under one roof", the other older Buckner Building is just an abandoned building.

Begich Towers

Portage Pass trail to Portage lake

The trail to Portage pass and on to the lake is close to the town of Whittier. Coming from Anchorage via Portage the trailhead comes shortly after you exit the tunnel - take the first right across the railroad track onto a dirt road and then a second right past a cinder block building to reach the signed trailhead. About 2 miles roundtrip to the pass, 4 miles roundtrip to the lake. 

The trail to the pass is moderately steep but well maintained and offers good views of the glacier and lake. The trail down to the lake is steeper and made somewhat adventurous by the forest/natural conditions, but provides magnificent views of the Portage glacier.

portage glacier trek

At the pass, someone has installed a solid wooden bench. Great views of the valley & lake from the bench point. Heading back from the bench, cross over to the other side of the pass, over the hill and the trail continues down to the lake.

View from bench

view of portage glacier from bench

Prince William Sound Cruise

There are various tour companies serving the PWS area - Philips Cruises, PWS Cruises and Major Marine. All three of them are great, the PWS cruises and Philips cruises have similar route, Major Marine navigates a different arm of PWS. Kenai Fjords Tours is the sister company of PWS Cruises and after our meal incident, we decided to try out Philips Cruises.

The 26 Glacier Cruise travels over 135 miles into Prince William Sound, the cruise cover 26 “named” glaciers and many more unnamed. We saw several types of glaciers, including Alpine (hanging), Piedmont and Tidewater. 

We got face to face with Surprise & Cascade+Barry+Coxe glaciers - these towering masses of ice, so close you can “hear” the glaciers move and gaze at their brilliant blues hues. After spending about 15-20 minutes at Surprise glacier, we witnessed glacier calving (when broken pieces of ice fall into the water and become icebergs). 

Surprise Glacier

Cascase, Barry & Coxe Glaciers

We also saw humpbacks, orcas, sea lions, sea otters, eagles, mountain goats and kittwakes. There was a US Forest Service Ranger on board to narrate the tour. (Incidentally, she was the same person on our Spencer train tour)




http://www.26glaciers.com/route.htm

Scenic view like this along the tour

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Alaska's wildlife - they take in injured and orphaned animals and provide food & shelter. Between the zoo & AWCC, we chose AWCC since it was on our way back from Whittier.

 

Alaska Day 3 - Portage Valley

Driving south on Seward Hwy, we planned to cover Portage Valley on day 3. The valley is known for its beautiful and scenic routes. The highway with the Turnagain Arm coast on one side and the railroad track on the other side is reminiscent of the movies especially when a train is also chugging along.

Mt Alyeska Resort & Tram

• Access: Take the highway and look for signs to Girdwood, the home of Alyeska Resort. At the Tesoro Gas Station, take a left-hand turn and follow the Alyeska Highway for three miles. You will come to a "T" intersection - turn left and go one mile for The Hotel Alyeska. At the "T", turn right for Alyeska Resort's Daylodge and base area.

• http://www.alyeskaresort.com/resort/about-aerial-tram.aspx
  

Tram is a seven-minute scenic ride from The Hotel Alyeska to 2,300 ft in elevation and the top of Mt. Alyeska. From the Tram & top one has spectacular views in all directions  – including views of the Turnagain Arm. There are also trails to reach the top.

Alyeska Resort from atop Mt. Alyeska

Turnagain arm from tram, midway to top

Spencer Glacier & Grandview Whistle Stop

There is only 1 track and route from Anchorage to Seward and it is very scenic. It is one long path from Anchorage-Portage-Whittier-Portage-Spencer-Grandview-...-Seward. The "Glacier Discovery Train" only does the roundtrip to Grandview. Since we had other activities planned for the day, we drove to Portage and boarded the train there (although there is little difference in price).

Chugach Explorer - Glacier Discovery

After the 2nd Portage stop, the train heads south into the Kenai Mountains. The next stop is the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop, accessible through a unique partnership with the Chugach National Forest Service. The adventure begins here and you can only get there by train. You can either go hiking or rafting. Take a guided 2.6 mile round trip hike with a Forest Service interpreter, or for the more adventurous types, take a self-guided 6.8 mile round trip hike to the face of Spencer Glacier. Or, take a guided Rafting/paddling on the Spencer river.

Spencer Glacier

The train continues south to Grandview through some of the most breathtaking landscapes along the entire railbelt. If you just need a day of relaxation and fabulous scenery, this is the segment - lakes, creeks, rivers, waterfalls, wildlife and ofcourse glaciers. When the train reaches Grandview, after a peek at Trail Glacier, it reverses direction to the Spencer Whistle Stop, picks up hikers, bikers and canoers, then makes a quick stop downriver to pick up rafters. Back to portage.

Spencer - to - Grandview scenic views

Train side view

Train chaiya-chaiya top view

http://www.alaskarailroad.com/

Begich Boggs Visitor Center

This small visitor center ended up being a decent surprise for us. The nearby views are nice, with glacier chunks floating by in the portage lake. 

Glacier ice floating on Portage lake

Apparently, the portage glacier has receded quite a lot and is now present only the southeast tip of the lake. From this vantage point, we didnt have a good view of the glacier. We missed watching the glacier movie "Voices from the Ice". The Ptarmigan cruise is cheap, but with 2 glacier cruises planned, we didn't plan for another glacier cruise.

Begich Boggs Visitor Center (front view)

BBVC is built on the terminal moraine left behind by Portage glacier !!

Byron Glacier 

• Access: Drive south from Anchorage for approximately 50 miles. Turn left on Portage Glacier Road and drive 6 miles to the trailhead on the right side of the road (past the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center). The road continues to a boat dock for summer tours of Portage Lake. Parking is free.

Byron Glacier Trailhead

• http://www.rei.com/passport/Byron-Glacier-Trail 

This trail is a great, easy little trail with nice scenery. The trail was in good condition and popular for humans and mosquitoes. It takes you along a rushing glacier river into a steep glacier valley to basically the base of Byron Glacier. If you are adventurous you can ignore the "End of Trail" sign and proceed to hike on the glacier rock and ice - the black rock surface is actually solid ice!

Byron Glacier (up close)

View of Portage Lake from Bryon Glacier

The forest is lush with ferns for a serene beginning to the hike. Byron Creek is a cascading, whitewater, glacial creek. Navigating on the rocks of the side and terminal moraines can be a challenge. Portage Lake and Valley can be seen looking north from the trail. Trail is very flat. First half of trail to Byron Glacier viewpoint is well maintained, with a wide footpath and brush cleared away from trail. Second half becomes rocky with small stream crossings some standing water. There was company and we decided to hike up further "on" the glacier.

On Byron Glacier

Byron wall