NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAYS 49-52 - PORTAGE GLACIER, WILLIWAW AND BLUE ICE TRAIL

I left off from the last blog by coming out of the Anderson Tunnel on our way back from Whittier. 

We drove up to a scenic overlook, and gazed down upon Portage Lake. Even up at this height it was very pleasant and warm and we didn't even need a jacket. 

We were literally only 7 miles away from the windy and freezing atmosphere of Whittier. Now we had our jackets off and we were enjoying the sunshine and the warmth.

I used my camera and zoomed in on this waterfall way over on the other side of the lake.

I believe this is Portage Glacier around the corner, and there was a tour boat company down below that would take out ferry boats full of tourists to glide over by the Glacier and the waterfalls. We watched two tour buses that came in and everybody loaded up into the boat.

Like I said, it was so nice and pleasant there. Nicholas posed for a regal mountain photo of an Elegant Doggy.

Then he clearly told us he was tired of all this posing and it was time to relax in the sunshine.

We left that lookout area and drove a little bit further down the road, maybe another half of a mile. There was a really nice campground called Williwaw Campground that was in between that glacier and Byron Glacier. 

There were some very private sites available and we found a really good one in the far loop that was facing the glacier.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232324

It was beautiful and peaceful. With our America the Beautiful Golden Access Pass, we got it for half price for $11.50 a night.  

The bright white snow glaring in the sunshine actually made us feel like we had to put on sunglasses. 

Out came the lawn chairs, and it was time to relax.  The birds were singing all around us and we heard no other noises other than the distant gurgling of the stream and a rushing waterfall way far off in the distance on the Byron Glacier. Yes, we could hear a waterfall from that far away.

While we were cooking dinner, it was time to break out a couple adult beverages. This is my last bottle of my "Two Buck Chuck" wine from Trader Joe's!   (Charles Shaw label sold exclusively at Trader Joe's). 

I'm going to have to start shopping for and trying some Alaskan wine. Steve is drinking Alaskan beer. That is his Uncle Dunkle beer from the Denali Brewing Company, made in Talkeetna, Alaska.

We spent three wonderful days in this campground, totally enjoying the serenity and quiet and sleeping in peace. 

We walked on The Trail of Blue Ice for a ways and took in the scenery. It goes on for many miles, but we just walked the short section of it that went around our campground and over to the fish viewing platform.

Through the swamp, and alongside of a babbling brook was this wonderfully built boardwalk. It really made it nice to walk amongst the trees and alongside the brook with ease.

Across the walkway bridge over the Williwaw River. From here we could finally see the waterfall that we've been hearing all the while from our campsite!

I zoomed in with the 1200 mm lens on my camera and I could actually photograph the waterfall far far away on the mountainside. 

The waterfall is actually way up this mountain that is over Steve's shoulder. 

There's a big fish viewing platform for when the salmon are running. This is a nice depiction of all the types of salmon that are native to the Alaskan waterways.

We wandered among the displays and the storyboards, learning about the area and the life cycles of the salmon.

Beautiful tiny flowers are in bloom all over in the woods. There are wild roses, lupine, bluebells and some little tiny white flowers we aren't sure what they are.  These pink ones smell especially fragrant.

We walked along in beautiful sunshine weather in the 70s. Hard to believe just a little ways away there are huge drifts of snow. This curled one at the top we said might become an avalanche!

Yep, it's kind of fun to play "tourist"... And we've been doing that for the last 2 months.

We thought these were interesting fire pits up here in some of the National Forest campgrounds. It's a l-shaped piece of heavy iron that creates a windbreak with a grate on top and a triangular shape. The grate pivots up out of the way if you don't need it. I think it would be rather cozy to sit around, because it would direct the heat over towards your legs in your lawn chairs if you were sitting on the open side of it.

Back to the campsite:

We cooked up the other half of our slab of salmon from Valdez. It was tender, flakey and just fell apart with the touch of a fork.

This next video clip didn't make it into the bigger You Tube link below... So I am going to try to attach it here: 

All too soon, Steve said let's throw in our gear and pack it up and hit the road again...

We headed back up towards the Seward Highway and drove alongside of the Turnagain Arm by Portage. 

We wanted to refill our freshwater tank by Girdwood again, and have a chance to watch a "bore tide" come into the Turnagain Arm.

What Are Bore Tides?

The bore tide is a rush of seawater that returns to a shallow and narrowing inlet from a broad bay. Bore tides come in after extreme minus low tides created by the full or new moon.

It was a gorgeous day, so we drove up near Beluga Point to watch the tide come in. 

This is a strange phenomenon where the tide comes in so fast, it makes a long curling wave as it comes in. During full or new moons, it's even higher.  Some people go out and use a surfboard to ride the small wave!! 

It's hard to show the rapid increase of the tide in photos, so you will have to watch on the video below. 

Here's the YouTube video 

that goes with today's blog post:

55 miles traveled today 

4,649 miles so far