Tunneling to Whittier

We went back to the visitor center at Portage Glacier/Lake this morning to finish going through it since wet got there at closing yesterday. Another really nice visitor center! (This is probably getting redundant, but they are all pretty good, and the rangers all have good info to share!)

We really wanted to go back to Whittier (we were there before on our first RV trip in Alaska) through the tunnel because it is a pretty unusual solution. One way traffic through the tunnel, shared with the Akaska Railroad. (This is the longest combined railroad/vehicular tunnel in North America) So you have a 15 minute window, each hour, to actually get through the 2.5 mile tunnel, which also collects a toll heading into Whittier. And this vehicular addition (the railroad had put the tunnel in place in the 1940s or so...) was only put in place in June 2000!

I thought they're might be a little bit more to do in Whittier, but it is what they say it is, a port city, no more. Year round maybe 300 people live here, and two, large, multistory, unattractive buildings left from the 1950s. And not much more. The harbor looked very "Alaskan" to us, which I guess would mean it was kind of rainy, had a harbor, lots of fishing boats and (of course) surrounded in mountains that were capped with clouds.

Fish and chips for lunch, and back through the tunnel!

Back at camp we had time to do a little day hike around the creek, with Auggie. Quiet, drizzly, and actually started feeling a little cool. No fish in the creek, we might be a tad early in this location. But Auggie was happy! Drizzle turned into rain, which went pretty much all night... hoping this helps minimize the smoke on the peninsula!

Best dinner on the road, Cindy made salmon patties from the canned salmon she bought on the Riverboat Discovery (back in Fairbanks) that were terrific! Some store bought aioli, and salad! Happy campers!Read more