Texas Gypsies: Girdwood and Whittier AK

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Even though it is an overcast day, today we are headed to 2 very different excursions.

First we are going through the 2.5 mile one-lane Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel that goes between Portage and Whittier.
This tunnel is used by both cars and trains, yes trains. On the hour cars go from Whittier to Portage. On the half-hour cars go from Portage to Whittier. Obviously cars don't go at all when the trains run, which is not frequent.

Shortly before the tunnel was the Begich, Bogg Visitors Center is built upon the terminal moraine left behind by Portage Glacier in 1914.

This small iceberg was floating in the waters in front of the visitors center.

The building is the visitors center. What a beautiful setting.

This is the Portage Glacier. The hike is approximately two mile in length, one way (four miles roundtrip). The trail begins with 750 feet in elevation gain over fairly strenuous terrain and levels out at the top of the pass. From there the trail decends down past Divide Lake and ends at Portage Lake. We opted out because we had a lot we wanted to see today.

This is a short tunnel near the visitors center. No pictures from inside the tunnel because it was so short.

Above is a glacier we could see while waiting in line to go through the tunnel. Below is a close up of the above tunnel.

This is as we were driving through the tunnel. You can see the train track. As you can see the tunnel is lit.

There was not much to see in Whittier. It is a port town on the Prince William Sound where people catch tour boats, kayaking tours, fishing boats and the Alaska Marine Ferry. There are a few support businesses; i.e., restaurants and a few hotels. It was VERY windy and cold so we did not feel like walking around.

Above is one of many water falls resulting from glacial melting. Below is a man kayaking out. The dot that is the kayaker shows the vastness of the Prince William Sound.

Our next excursion was to Winner Creek Gorge. It will be about a 2.5 mile hike.

The hike was like we were walking through a rain forest. It was wonderfully refreshing!

OMG we are about to have fun! We must cross Glacier Creek in a hand tram before the trail continues to Winner Creek Gorge.

2 to 3 people max can cross. The tram is coming back empty to the side we are currently on.

As we cross in the hand tram we could see these glaciers in one direction and below the Glacier Creek.

Here's the walking bridge across the Winner Creek.

Above and below are pictures of the Winner Creek Gorge.

Here we are headed back across the hand tram. It was fun!

These pretty flowers were in lots of places along our hike.

Next we are headed to the Alyeska Tram up to the top of the ski hill.

Two trams ran. While one was going up the other was coming down. It was a 6 minute ride. You could catch a tram every 15 minutes. Each tram could hold up to 60 people.

This is the visitors center/gift shop and restaurants at the top.

From the top looking down, you can see the Alyeska Hotel and huge parking lot.

From the top we could see several glaciers. The following 3 pictures are of some of the glaciers we can see.

Below is a closeup of the above picture.

This is a panoramic from the top. You can see Turnaround Arm and many of the surrounding mountains.

Next we went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. All the animals there, were rescued. It appeared that most will not be released back into the wild for one reason or another.