Southcentral Community: Portage Glacier
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About 50 miles south of Anchorage, just before the junction to Whittier you will find the Alaska Railroad facility for day trips to Grandview and Spender Glacier, the Kenai Peninsula Visitor Information Center and what is left of the community of Portage. Once home to between 50 and 100 residents, all that is left is a stand of deteriorating buildings and a rusting truck. The 1964 Good Friday earthquake caused the land to drop between 6 and 12 feet along Turnagain Arm and high tides then flooded the area with salt water, the cause of the dead trees you see along the highway.
Just past that you will find Portage Glacier, one of Alaska’s most visited attractions. Access is via the 5.4 mile Whittier/Portage Glacier Access road. Follow the signs to Portage Lake and the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center. The center houses, among other things, a simulated ice cave you can walk through to reach the Glacier Exhibit room with its displays demonstrating the formation of crevasses, as well as glacial motion and the range of glaciers today. Elsewhere you can touch an iceberg, brought in fresh daily, take a close look at ice worms or take in the excellent movie ‘Voices From the Ice,’ shown every hour in a 200-seat theater. The center offers a great deal more including beautiful vistas from the surrounding observation decks.
The glacier has retreated over the years and is not in view of the Visitor Center anymore. For a closer look at Portage Glacier, one hour sightseeing boat cruises are available just down the road from the center. Also down the road is Portage Pass Trail, providing an incredible view of Portage Glacier.
Just before you turn onto the Whittier/Portage Glacier Access road, you will find the 140-acre Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Dedicated to the care of orphaned, injured and displaced Alaskan wildlife, the center works closely with state and federal agencies to provide year-round, wildlife emergency treatment and rescue. It also provides a permanent home for those animals that cannot be released back into the wild. The center includes 80 animals in 15 exhibits that include wood and plains bison, moose, elk, caribou, black bears, grizzlies, musk ox, Sitka black-tailed deer, lynx, coyotes, foxes and birds of prey.
Details
Two women look across the water to Portage Glacier
Location: A stretch of the Seward Highway about 50 miles south of Anchorage and the Whittier/Portage Glacier Access Road.
Access: By the Seward Highway and Whittier/Portage Glacier Access Road, about 50 miles south of Anchorage and 10 miles south of the Alyeska Highway/Girdwood junction.
Accommodations: Numerous accommodations in Girdwood/Alyeska and several campgrounds along the Whittier/Portage road.