THIS HIKE WAS SUBMITTED BY PARKE CANNON

Photo by Parke Cannon

Difficulty

Connects 
With

Miles One 
Way

Miles from
Anchorage

General Vicinity

Season

Description

Pulling into Whittier I looked out the window at the trail wandering up Portage Pass and slowly watched it recede. The train stops at least a mile and a half from the trailhead. Of course I cringed at walking the distance on the bike path but it turned out to be a pleasant walk. I read somewhere that the trailhead started behind the fuel farm just to the North of the tunnel so I stayed on that side and even wandered into the farm. There was a trail there but it was unmarked and appeared only to go to the spectacular waterfall behind the farm. Thinking there was no way an important trail like this would not be marked I looked around some more. It turned out to be on the other side of the tunnel so I had to backtrack a quarter mile to the dirt road entrance to the trail head. There were maybe 10 cars at the trailhead and it was clearly marked.

The first part of the trail is mostly nondescript and steep. The trail is wide but lined by Alder and some Pine making the scenery not much to look at. I really did not like this part of the trail and wondered if what I heard was true. This goes on for about a mile and a half I believe. If you were to look back you could see the Princess Cruise Line docked at the Whittier port and loading passengers arriving from destinations all over Alaska. It was beautiful but not what I came here for.

Being old and carrying much weight I was passed by a couple groups of women. They were as old as I was and most appeared not to be true outdoors persons so I assumed they were from the cruise ship and out for a hike before the ship’s departure that night.

As I watched them move out of sight I also watched the terrain change into a mix of Alpine meadows nestled on top and between lenticular rifts gauged out of the Pass by the receding glacier long gone by. These rifts contained a myriad of fauna, some of which I never saw in Alaska before; most were familiar to Alpine meadows I have seen all over Alaska. The rifts also had small, I mean tiny, lakes nestled within them.

My first route took me to the top of the obvious lookout where Portage Glacier and Portage Lake came into view. Of course, it really was an awe inspiring sight. Just this one view was well worth the effort of climbing the mile and a half. I experimented with many different camera settings and got satisfactory results. Nothing spectacular loaded my camera though. The sun was too high and too bright. This made for harsh light. I made a decision then that at a later date I would come back to Whittier, walk the trail around 6pm, get the shot in cool light, and spend the night drinking with the locals. Not this time though, I had to leave out at 6:45pm on the train. Just made due with the massive amount of light available and left it at that. There were other things to explore so I went on.

On the East side of the main trail I saw heads bobbing from time to time and could make out many trails, some distinct, some faint. I could also see a massive display of waterfalls coming off the valley walls and the smaller glacier off from the Portage Glacier. Out of water and not wanting to drink from the small lakes, finished with the main view, and wanting to explore the many minute glacial valleys running perpendicular to each other I went in that direction.

This was very cool and gives one a real sense of exploration. There are a million different directions to make your way and walking off the trail is just as easy as walking the trail. Closing in on the area where the waterfalls appeared to be my thirst was getting strong. I lost my filtration bottle on my last trip into Williwaw lakes and had not bought another one. This meant I really had to be careful what I drank and how to find it. Two main waterfalls came off the mountain. One was glacial and the other was entirely snow melt. Of course I went toward the snowmelt.

It got more and more technical as I approached. A few times I actually had to do some rock climbing but nothing exceedingly dangerous. At last I saw what looked to be one last rift I would have to maneuver around and looked like less that an eighth of a mile from there. Then the bottom dropped out. I mean literally dropped out.

From my vantage point approaching the two waterfalls I was only looking at a very small part of it. Most of the rest of it was cascading down the mountain on a very steep incline. My side dropped straight down maybe 900 feet or so. As far as I could tell there was absolutely no way down for a Mountain Goat so it was out of the question for me. I looked off to the south in the direction of Portage Glacier. A small lake lay in the middle of a flat bluff that hung over the Portage Lake. It was fed by a snowmelt waterfall and was about a half mile away. My thirst said that was the way you are going and don’t argue about.

After about twenty minutes of searching the trails at the top of the pass I finally found the main trail down to the valley. I could see that this was not going to be fun even though the trail was well traveled. The Alder closed in on the trail tightly. So much so that standing above the trail, looking down on it, it disappeared into the thicket only to re-appear on the south side of the lake. I broke out the bear spray and the bug dope. Down I went. The brush was very thick like I thought and I sang a lot of songs that I only knew part of the words too. Most of the way the bear spray I had in my hands with the safety off. Luckily there was no signs whatsoever of any bear, or of any other animal except dogs for that matter. I found the feed into the lake, went upstream a few hundred feet and filled myself up. Now what? Go home? Go all the way down to the lake? Well neither one exactly.

I started to take the trail down to the beach. At one point it split off. One fork led to the lake’s drain and cascaded down a rocky but passable valley to Portage lake and the beach. It looked farther than I anticipated so I went back up to the split in the trail. Someone had laid out rock markers, obviously trying to tell people this was the easiest way to go. I went in and quickly turned back. The brush was so thick on the trail I may as well have been bushwhacking a new trail. Forget that. I made my way halfway down the lake drain to the beach and decided to turn back. It was a long way down and I only had 45 minutes to be back at the top of the pass for my descent back to Whittier to catch the train.

I twisted my ankle very bad stepping into a meadow pothole. There was no way for me to get down the mountain this way so I found one of the small glacial lakes and soaked my foot until the swelling went down. Tightening my boot to the point it started to cut off my circulation I was able to hurry down the pass in about twenty minutes before the swelling took over again. By this time I was on the road back to Whittier walking in extreme pain. When I got back to the town I drank my pain away and waited for the train home. All in all I would do this again even in the pain I endured going back, no sweat.

My judgment of trails being twofold, the trail itself, and the destination, this one was difficult to easily judge it that way. The first part of the trail was not enjoyable at all but the final destination at the top of the pass was outstanding. The problem was that the trails at the top wandering around the glacial rifts were very, very fun. So… I have to give credit to those fun trails and give that part a 4. If I were to judge just the first part of the trail it would be a 1. I give the destination a solid 5 out of five with no hesitation at all.

I am not sure why but there is very little information online about this hike which is strange since it is obviously well traveled. I saw at least 30 people on the trail. I even saw a seventy five year old woman three quarters of the way up as I went back down. If she can do it so can you.

Important Information

If you take the train be prepared to add 3 miles total on the hike to and from Whittier. Spend the night if you can and leave for the trail later in the day to get the best photographic material.

Take water with you if you do not know how to find safe water. There is not water available near the main viewing area. You will have to hike down into bear country to get to some or go back to Whittier. 

Bug dope is not necessary if you do not go farther down into the valley. If you do you will be sorry if you left it at home. 

Watch the well hidden potholes on top of the pass off the beaten path. They will swallow your foot whole and mess you up bad.

Etc.