Our Journey : Portage

8/01/2024

July 24th, 2024 Travel to Seward

We woke to a beautiful bluebird day and headed south to Seward.

Wildflowers along the way:

The lush greenery - Oh My!:

Beautiful lakes and reflections:

And, of course, some construction:

Breathtaking colors:

And so much greenery heading into Seward:

We made out way to the city dump because we needed to dump out tanks and fill with water.

Afterwards, we made our way to Resurrection Campground South, where we had reservations, and set up.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 82 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Alaska: Portage Glacier Road; Seward Highway AK-3; Third Avenue; Ballaine Bvd; Jefferson St.

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We (I) mostly write about the good stuff! But today was not one of those days - SO I am going to be real here and tell you how our day REALLY WENT!

We got everything ready to go in Portage and our slide went in to about 6 inches from where it was supposed and then QUIT! It just stopped - we could not bring it in or out. So we are now in a dilemma. We have no cell service and do not know what we are going to do!

We do decided to leave and go to a parking area for the Alaskan Railroad (about 4 miles) where we know we have service. We are 40 miles from Anchorage and feel that there may be some places that will help us there.

We parked and make our calls. WELL! there are many folks that have problems and we will get a call back, if not today, maybe tomorrow. Oh No!

Andy says, we met a gentleman in Tok who was mobile, lets give him a call. We did and left a message.

So what to do...We decided to head to Seward with our forward slide sticking out 6 inches from our RV, - but it was not passed our mirrors...!

We arrived in Seward and the mobile tech we called, called us back. He was sick but gave us things to try and sent us a few videos. I have to do a shout out - THANK YOU NICK!

We watched the videos, went to the local hardware store for the tools, and can you believe it! Fixed the slide. Now we do have some issues and will be contacting NEXUS for an appointment to really FIX the issue.

OK.. so in the middle of this, we had an issue with our propane tank and our stove. Halfway thru our slide fix, the glass top of our stove EXPLODES and we have a FIRE in the RV. OMG!!

We get the fire out, stop the smoke detector that is Howling, clean the glass from the floor (cause I am worried about the cats) and continue with our slide fix.

Once the slide is fixed or at least we now know what we need to do, we clean up the glass and fire reside!

By then it is 6 PM! I am NOT making supper. They have a great American Legion in town which is where we went - We both needed a drink. And they had food available. What a great place.

Have to say, we both slept good that night..

I post this because... we all see posts where everything is unicorns and rainbows and mostly it is. BUT. there are times that it is not. And this is one of them...

On another side note... the RV repair shops in Anchorage do not have an opening until late August. God bless those folks who really need a repair quickly and say a prayer for them.

July 23, 2024 Just Hanging Out

There was a few things that I wanted to do in this area, however, it all depended on the weather. Since it was rainy, misty, and foggy, we did not do them. However, I am not disappointed since we did do them in 2007 and 2009. This time it just didn't work and that is ok!

Saying that, we checked out the area around us.

Williwaw Creek:

Who knew?

The runoff from Middle Glacier - how soothing:

Our site:

As we explored Portage Glacier Road, we found this hidden gem:

Portage Creek - Love the fireweed colors with the colors of the creek:

What a wonderful and peaceful time we have had here in Portage.

Tomorrow we are heading to Seward so stay tuned and enjoy today.

July 22, 2024 Portage Area and the Turnagain Arm Bore Tide

We woke to rain and clouds and fog. We now have this saying that if a town in Alaska needs rain, call the Hitzels. It will be nice when we arrive but then it will rain - LOL!

(But at the same time, I cannot complain - we have had some beautiful "bluebird" days.)

We decided to head to the Portage Glacier Visitor Center. Sadly you cannot see the glacier any more from the visitor center but it was still nice to visit.

We watched a great video and then toured the museum. Some of the things that I found interesting:

One thing I found out was that as the glacier retreats and the mosses and lichen appear, there is a bacteria in the soil that feeds the alders. They are the first trees to appear. They enrich the soil and the birds and wind drop other seeds that slowly take hold.

We did the boat tour in 2007. It was incredible. If the weather allows, we may do it again.

This area was hit hard by the earthquake of 1964. The land sank 8 feet - Can you imagine?

Yikees, the mosquitos! Yes, we are experiencing them BUT I will say that the Thermacell's work. If you can get one before you get here, do it!

What majestic creatures:

More interesting tidbits:

Check out the amount of snow - I cannot even imagine:

Our friend Smokey the Bear!:

He was advising us on fire safety. Sadly, there are many wildfires in Alaska, Canada and on the west coast of the US, caused by humans.

Outside the visitor center - the Portage Tunnel to Whittier:

Love the color of that water:

Interesting information on the Portage Glacier Highway:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_Glacier_Highway

Portage Lake - water from the Glacier:

This lake is over 600 feet deep - WOW!:

Beautiful and as you can see, it was very cloudy, foggy and rainy.

We made our way to Girdwood to check out the town. At the Alyeska Resort, they have a tram that goes to the top of the mountain with incredible views of Turnagain Arm. We did the tram in 2007 and if the weather gets better, we hope to do it again.

Girdwood is your typical tourist town so after our road trip, we stopped for pizza and headed back home.. we do want to see the bore tide today!

About one hour before the bore tide, we headed to the Turnagain Arm lookout site. Nice thing is that we had internet there which we did not have at the campground. (So we were able to get caught up with email, etc.)

Low tide:

"What's So Special About the Turnagain Arm Bore Tide?

Well, it’s huge—one of the biggest in the world, actually. Also, all other bore waves run up low-lying rivers in more southerly latitudes. The Turnagain Arm bore wave is the only one that occurs in the far north and the only one bordered by mountains, making it the most unique and most geologically dramatic bore tide in the world. It’s also amazingly accessible: you can see it from the Seward Highway along its entire 40- to 50-mile length. And it’s a wildlife-spotting opportunity: harbor seals often ride the tide into Turnagain Arm. Beluga whales may come in a half hour or so later once the water gets deeper."

We didn't see seals BUT we did see folks getting ready on their surf boards to catch the tide: