Left Anchorage around 11:00 this morning and headed down the Seward Hiway that leads to (you guessed it...) Seward, Alaska, on Blying Sound on the Gulf of Alaska. The weather gave us a break today, with clouds but NO rain! The Seward Hiway hugs the cost of Cook Inlet for 20 miles or so and then goes up into the mountains to the town of Portage. The scenery along Cook's Inlet is pretty nice:
The picture above was taken from Beluga Point. Didn't see any Belugas, though.
This was taken a little further down the road, but I don't remember exactly where.
At Portage, AK there is a visitor's center and you can see Portage Glacier, Middle Glacier, Byron Glacier, and Explorer Glacier.
Here you can see Explorer Glacier (on the right) and Middle Glacier:
And this is Byron Glacier:
Getting to the town of Whittier is pretty unique. Access is through a 2 1/2 mile long railroad tunnel that's still in service. They have the whole thing orchestrated pretty well, though, but about halfway through the tunnel I suddenly saw lights in the distance. (No lie, the proverbial "Light at the end of the Tunnel.) There were 7 or 8 turnoffs in the tunnel, and I figured that if push came to shove, I could divert over to one of those. As it turned out, there WAS a train at the end of the tunnel...about 200 yards past the end of the tunnel as a matter of fact. It was a little nerve-wracking keeping the bike between the two rails of the track all through the tunnel, dripping water everywhere, all alone, lights up ahead...
Here's the tunnel from the Whittier side:
Double click to enlarge the picture, and the tunnel is the A-frame shaped structure in the side of the mountain.
Whittier is on Prince William Sound, off the Gulf of Alaska, and it was pretty picturesque:
The town is surrounded by mountains on three sides and Prince William Sound on the fourth side. There's also a big rail yard for the Alaska Railway and a Ferry Station for the Alaskan Ferry System.
Here's a picture of Prince William Sound and the Ferry sailing in to the dock at Whittier:
And here's a picture of the Ferry backing up to the dock:
After leaving Whittier, I headed south toward Seward, about 100 miles further down the road. Got about half way there (pretty much the point of no return on gas) and decided to head back to Anchorage and save Seward for another day. Tomorrow, I'll be in Anchorage seeing a few of the sights, and then on Friday, it's off to Tok, Alaska and the Alaska Hiway. Miles today: 201. Total: 5,622.
