Portage Glacier, Alaska

 



Portage Glacier, located within Chugach National Forest southeast of Anchorage, is one of the most popular tourist attractions. However, the glacier has rapidly receded during the past century; the glacier face can hardly be seen from the highway or visitor center.

On a gorgeous summer day in July, I hiked 4 miles each way through a mountain pass to reach the current glacier face to view and photograph up close.

I camped in front of the glacier where a natural Fireweed garden was blooming in vivid pink, decorating the valley. The glacier and glacial lake were right in front of us under a perfect clear sky.

 

The glacier was actively calving and creating new icebergs with roaring thunder.

 

During the long sunset, ice bergs glistened in golden orange. In the northern latitude, sunset takes a long time, nearly one hour of the magic light - a photographer's dream. 

 

Here is the campfire in twilight.
 

At sunrise, the rose colored light glows on the mountain peaks above the glacier. The light slowly shifted down to the glacier. Glacier shined in the warm morning sun. Sunrise in nature is always a spiritual moment for me.

 

 

Kayak Camping Trip in Glacier Bay #3

After exploring McBride Glacier and the iceberg filled lagoon, four of us paddled hard to the south. Our kayak was gliding smooth in the calm fjord ocean under the beautiful blue sky.

Our second night was on the beach of Goose Cove with a view of Mt. Wright.

We were shocked to discover two good sized holes surrounded by bear prints...the holes were bear's day beds! Wherever we stayed, there were signs of bears in this remote Alaskan wilderness.

The bugs in Alaska were worse than bears. During the sunset, clouds of mosquitoes and flies attacked us... There is a joke that the "Alaskan state bird is a mosquito." (The true Alaskan state bird is the Ptarmigan.)

It was misty the next morning...heavy clouds covered up the entire bay and Mt. Wright as well as the mountains on the other side of the fjord hid under the gray clouds. The misty rain quietly fell all day while we were paddling. We were soaking wet.

The final night of camping was on a small island. It wasn't fun to set up a tent in the rain...this is part of the Southeast Alaskan experience.

It was raining hard the next morning too... We waited for the boat to pick us up in Sebree Island. The boat arrived on time. It was great to sit in the dry warm cabin and use a "real" bathroom. However, I already miss the wilderness experience I just had.