Portage Pass trail to Portage lake
Trailhead: The trail to Portage pass and on to the lake is close to the town
of Whittier, 75 miles from Anchorage. Coming from Anchorage via Portage the trailhead comes shortly after
you exit the Anton Anderson Memorial tunnel (one way and shared by cars and trains, so entertaining in
its own right) - take the first right across the railroad track onto a dirt road and then a
second right past a cinder block building to reach the signed trailhead.
Distance: About 4 miles roundtrip to the lake. The trail to the pass is moderately
steep but well maintained, whereas the trail down to the lake is steeper and shows no sign
of having seen a trail crew in many a year.
This is a short hike to a magnificent close-up view of the Portage glacier, made somewhat
adventurous by the deteriorating condition (as of summer 2008) of what passes for the
trail. Starting from the trailhead a good quality trail climbs briskly to Portage pass, which
offers a good view of the namesake glacier and lake. The pass makes a good destination for
a short and easy day hike. If you have even the slightest spirit of adventure, however,
you'll want to reach the shore of the lake, which is a different matter altogether.
There is a trail, but it's heavily overgrown and in danger of succumbing to erosion
into a deep gully in numerous places. Good luck if you run into a bruin here!
On a wet day - and Whittier is a very wet place - expect
to get absolutely sodden. For all that I enjoyed this hike a lot, and having finally
reached the lake we had the view all to ourselves... until that is a tour boat
from down the lake showed up!
Eagle river valley trails
Trailhead: The trail starts at the Eagle Valley Nature Center, a short distance
north of Anchorage. There's a fee for parking.
The Eagle River Valley is quite attractive (though not as spectacular as the Knik Valley
in my opinion) and there are a variety of short loop hikes you can do in the vicinity
of the Nature Center. We saw a woodpecker here, and later in the season bears congregate
to fish along the river, so there's a good chance of seeing wildlife. You can hike
as far as you want along the valley but be warned - it's many miles of rather tedious
trudging through the
trees before you get to the best views. If you want to see the glaciers at the head
of the valley, you're probably better off starting at the other end of the old
Iditarod trail
and ascending to Crow Pass rather than starting at the Eagle Valley end.
Practicalities
It goes without saying that the main season for hiking in Alaska is summer, with
late summer (toward the end of August) probably being the optimum period as far as
weather, mosquitos and color goes. Summer 2008 was said to be unusually wet and
cool - so my experience may be atypical - but whenever you go I'd recommend going prepared for rain.
For hikes in Chugach State Park you can stay in Anchorage, which is close enough
to Whittier and Seward that driving there for day hikes is straightforward. It's
worth staying downtown in Anchorage, where there are a number of decent pubs and
restaurants (I'd second the ubiquitous recommendations of Humpy's Great Alaskan Alehouse).
Denali National Park is about 230 miles north of Anchorage. If you're at all interested in
climbing it's worth making a brief detour to Talkeetna, where the climbing rangers for
McKinley are based. The climbing visitors center there is in many ways more interesting than the
one at the park itself. Denali is not close to any large town - you can stay either at the
park entrance (where there are some large hotels and a few reasonable restaurants) or in
very small places such as Healy a few miles down the road.
References
Denali National Park - start here when booking shuttle bus trips
Alaska hike search - this website has a good list of hikes
throughout Alaska
Panoramic photos from Alaska, taken on the
same trip described here
55 Ways to the Wilderness in Southcentral
Alaska - we found this to be the most useful hiking guide
