July 13, 2018
Driving north 20 miles from Seward, we stopped in Moose Pass
for breakfast at Trail Lake Lodge.
Across the road from the Lodge is an old water wheel with the sign, “Moose
Pass is a peaceful little town. If you
have an axe to grind DO IT HERE.” There’s
a working lathe run by the waterwheel for your grinding needs.
 |
| downtown Whittier |
It was a gray, cold, blustery day with intermittent
sprinkles. We were headed north to
Anchorage and from there, east to begin our circuitous way back to Canada and
then Michigan. Twenty miles north of our breakfast stop, we turned off Seward
Highway for Portage Glacier and Whittier. We thought we’d visit the glacier
first, and, if we felt we had time, we’d drive the 10 miles more to Whittier.
However, with a little confusion over road construction signs, we took a left
fork instead of a right, and there we were in the line going through the tunnel
to Whittier. I guess that inked our
decision.
 |
| Whittier condo building |
 |
| Downtown Whittier |
The tunnel one must drive through to get to Whittier was
originally a train tunnel. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel was built in
1941-43 as part of the effort to safeguard the flow of military supplies from
the port of Whittier. Until 2000, the only way to get to Whittier was by train.
Trains still run through the tunnel on a regular basis, but because of upgrades
to the tunnel’s road surface, cars can use it, too, one direction at a time, straddling
the tracks, when no trains are scheduled. Vehicles line up in the staging areas
and wait for the computerized system to give the go-ahead to each direction of
traffic. It takes about 6 minutes to drive through the tunnel at 25 m.p.h.
Whittier, set on the edge of Prince William Sound, closed in
by mountains, is a small village of a couple hundred people, most of whom live
in one of two condo buildings. There are
no houses. There is a busy harbor on the Sound for cruise ships, the Alaska State
Ferry System ferries, fishing boats, charter boats, and boats off-loading to
the train. And there are parking lots for all the cars belonging to people on
the ferry and other boats. There are a
few businesses crammed along the waterfront – a restaurant, a small hotel and
gift shops and there are a few fish processing buildings. It was very much a
place for coming and going, not staying.
So, we took a few photos, got fuel for the Siesta, let Nina run
around on a grassy area and then we got back in line to go through the tunnel the
other way.
 |
| Glacier ice |
This time we stopped at the Visitor Center near Portage Glacier. The US Forest Service operates the Begich,
Boggs Visitor Center. Portage Lake sits behind the building. Across the lake is Portage Glacier which, a
woman sitting at the viewing window told me, reached down from the mountain to
the edge of the lake 20 years ago when she had last visited. Now the glacier only stretches a short way
down the mountain cut. A chunk of glacier ice was floating in the lake.
 |
| Visitor Center |
 |
| Nearby Byron Glacier |
July 13, 2018
It was a gray, cold, blustery day with intermittent
sprinkles. We were headed north to
Anchorage and from there, east to begin our circuitous way back to Canada and
then Michigan. Twenty miles north of our breakfast stop, we turned off Seward
Highway for Portage Glacier and Whittier. We thought we’d visit the glacier
first, and, if we felt we had time, we’d drive the 10 miles more to Whittier.
However, with a little confusion over road construction signs, we took a left
fork instead of a right, and there we were in the line going through the tunnel
to Whittier. I guess that inked our
decision. 
The tunnel one must drive through to get to Whittier was
originally a train tunnel. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel was built in
1941-43 as part of the effort to safeguard the flow of military supplies from
the port of Whittier. Until 2000, the only way to get to Whittier was by train.
Trains still run through the tunnel on a regular basis, but because of upgrades
to the tunnel’s road surface, cars can use it, too, one direction at a time, straddling
the tracks, when no trains are scheduled. Vehicles line up in the staging areas
and wait for the computerized system to give the go-ahead to each direction of
traffic. It takes about 6 minutes to drive through the tunnel at 25 m.p.h.
So, we took a few photos, got fuel for the Siesta, let Nina run
around on a grassy area and then we got back in line to go through the tunnel the
other way.
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