Through the Mountains and Along the Coast from Kenai to Anchorage

Kenai River below Wilderness Lodge

(July 11) – We woke in our cozy room at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge and headed for the lodge to get a cup of tea and take the trail down to the river below. We had breakfast while waiting for the trail to open. It is closed until a staffer is sent down each morning to check for wildlife, hoping, we think, to frighten off any bear or moose that might be there. They would prefer not to have their guests encounter one of these dangerous animals. I’m sure they have learned through experience that no matter how often we’re told how to stay safely away from the wildlife, someone might not get the message.
The trail down is quite steep as the mountainside simply falls abruptly into the river. The Kenai River is a glacial stream, so its milky aqua waters move quickly along. There are no beaches, but the lodge has placed a few decks in the forest along the water’s edge where you can view and photograph the river.

Tern Lake

Back up to our rooms by shuttle, we cleaned up and packed the van and set off for Anchorage. Our first stop along the way was at Tern Lake where we saw waterfowl and got some nice pictures of arctic terns. They perch on tree branches at lake’s edge, then dive into the water like rockets to find their prey. There was also a common loon visible and some U.S. Forest Service rangers had a spotting scope trained on some goats high on the mountainside above.
The rangers, like most of the folks staffing everything here, are seasonal workers. They work in jobs associated with tourism during the summer months, then find other work the remainder of the year. Many of the staff at the Kenai Lodge are retired folks who spend their summers in Alaska, then return to homes in Alabama or Missouri or other places in the “Lower 48.” One of the young rangers said she finds work in a nearby town during the winter, waiting tables or clerking in stores. She loves Alaska and wants to stay here.
From Tern Lake we continued on the Sterling Highway eastward until intersecting the Seward Highway where we turned northward toward Anchorage, about 85 miles away. Winding through the mountains, the road reveals more of Alaska’s beautiful peaks and valleys, as if we haven’t already enjoyed so many.

Portage Glacier

We stopped in Portage Valley to see more glaciers. The Begich-Boggs Visitor Center there (named for two congressmen who died in a plane crash near here) provides great information, including a movie about glaciers. When the film ends, the screen goes up, curtains open and there’s a giant window looking out over the lake to Portage Glacier. Unlike Hubbard Glacier which we saw on the ship calving icebergs into the water, Portage has receded up the mountainside above the lake. Some smaller pieces of ice tumble down streams in the lake, but this is much less dramatic than our experience of Hubbard.
A fellow in the visitor center told us we could “go through the tunnel” to Whittier a few miles away for a great lunch. What he didn’t tell us is that the Anderson Tunnel is a one-way tunnel, changing direction every 15 minutes, so there can be a bit of a wait on both sides, coming and going. It’s actually a railroad tunnel that was turned into a dual-use tunnel, so cars can drive through on paving around the tracks and the trains still come through on their rails. If a train is scheduled to come through, the wait can be longer. The tunnel traffic is scheduled by computer and it’s really quite an ingenious scheme.
When our turn came, we drove through the 2.5 mile tunnel and came out in tiny Whittier on the shore of Prince William Sound. This strange little place has no housing except two buildings, one of which looks like a Soviet-era barracks, built of unpainted concrete in a very utilitarian manner. The other building, also several stories high, is at least painted. Many folks are here in summer when cruise ships come in, but very few live here in winter.

Whittier Marina

The few restaurants are small and clustered together with a couple of gift shops. We ate at the Orca Café and were lucky enough to have really well-prepared sandwiches. After taking some pictures, including photos of the reindeer in a pen next to our restaurant, we hurried a bit to make it back to get through the tunnel at the next opportunity.

Moose

When we got back to the highway, we turned again almost immediately to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a well-designed non-profit preserve for orphaned, abandoned and injured animals. We walked and drove through, taking pictures of moose, musk oxen, elk, deer, caribou and bison. Our last stop was at the black bear enclosure where two bears got up from their naps to pose for us atop some logs. They seemed almost to be making an appearance. These were our first bear sightings, not in the wild, but we’re grateful that they are being rehabilitated.

Brown Bear

As we drove on toward Anchorage, the road wound along Turnagain Arm, a branch off Cook Inlet. In low tides, as we saw, much of Turnagain is just mud flats. On certain days, the bore tide comes with high tide as a rolling wall of water as much as six feet high, spilling the sea all the way back along the Arm. We didn’t get to see that, but the views from the roadway were spectacular nonetheless.
We checked into the Historic Anchorage Hotel which is on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s been refurbished nicely and we found a warm welcome and spacious rooms in a convenient downtown location.
We met a woman who used to work for Cox to have dinner at a nearby restaurant she recommended. She now manages a TV station here in Anchorage and, after two years in Alaska, knows where the good food is to be found. We had a delicious meal at Ginger, billed as a “Pacific Rim” cuisine.
We enjoyed the evening and, as has been the case each night on this trip, went to bed well-fed and weary. We have had no problem going to bed while it’s still light outside, but have often been surprised by how late it’s gotten because it hasn’t gotten dark. Most nights we’ve been up until close to midnight.
Tomorrow we have a list of places our local friend suggested, in addition to a couple of ideas we’ve developed. It should be another busy day.