Saturday July 31, Whittier, AK

60  Miles

It rained for much of the night but by morning it had stopped and in fact the sun peeked out at times. Hope is busy with fishermen at this time of the year, so Ian put on his waders and joined them. He caught two pink salmon but released them as they are not the best eating fish. I had a quiet time as still getting over the after effects of yesterdays seasickness.

We had a late lunch on the side of the road where there was some available firewood for Ian to refill our wood bin….always the hunter and gatherer!

Detoured off into Portage Glacier Information Centre which was built to view the glacier, unfortunately it has receded over the years and is no longer visible. We were surprised though to see a huge iceberg right in front of the centre. Evidently it had broken free about 5 days ago and was one of the biggest they had seen in awhile, it really looked amazing. We watched a great film at the centre showing the formation of the glaciers over the years.

We decided to go to Whittier which is only a short distance from the glacier, but it meant driving through the longest road and rail tunnel in North America at over 4.5 kms, and takes 6 ½ minutes to drive through. There was a toll of $12 and as it is only one way, we had to wait about ½ an hour while traffic came through and then a train. It was worth the trip though.

We had read about Whittier in the Lonely Planet Guide, the most interesting place. When there was the threat of the Japanese invasion during WW 2, the Americans needed a secret military base, so they chose this spot as it is an ice free port, surrounded by high mountains and more often than not is enclosed in clouds…as it was today. They blasted the tunnel through the mountain to get access to the area, and also built 2 huge tower buildings where all the personal were housed, one of which is now derelict.

Nowadays Whitier is a port where the cruise ships call into. There were about 15 tour buses that went through the tunnel before us, taking passengers to start their cruise on the boat that was in port this afternoon.

Had a drive through town, then took the road up to a high point. Just loved the feeling of this place,  the mist is hanging low, waterfalls plunging through the rocks and the mosses and lichens growing on the trees show the feeling of dampness.   

We went for a walk and ended up checking out a private property beside the road where the owners were stoking a fire to heat the hot tub, filled from a waterfall, just amazing. Kelsey the owner arrived and we got chatting. This is their weekend retreat with a cabin above the falls, just a beautiful spot. We asked about camping locations in the area and they said that we could park right beside their hot tub…talk about walking into paradise. 

They mentioned about a bald eagle nesting up the track, so we walked up the hill and were able to look down on the eaglet sitting in the nest with the mother further off in another tree, this is what we love about traveling in our house…being able to stay in these beautiful locations.