Portage Pass Trail

 My friend Diane is back in Alaska this week doing a little traveling. I met up with her today to hike the Portage Pass Trail. Every time I have tried to hike this whole trail it's been bad weather or no place to park or not enough time. I've been to the top of the pass several times but never all the way down to the lake. We caught the 2:30 tunnel release and easily found parking in the beautiful new parking lot. It's a beautiful sunny day and even kind of hot by Alaska standards. I brought some extra water for Bella because the trail was much drier than I have seen it in the past. She was very happy when we reached the tiny pond right at the top of the official Portage Pass. From there we went up to the lookout where I always seem to finish my hike. The view of the glacier is incredible from there, but it's still a mile or so down to the lake. We had plenty of time, so we decided to hike the whole 5-mile trail this time. It is a nice gentle not terribly steep descent over a very rocky path to the beach along Portage Lake. I was so excited to finally get to see it! The fireweed was in full bloom which made it even more beautiful. Bella enjoyed running around and drinking to her heart's content in the lake. The glacier was in full view and so much closer than the view from the overlook. It's sad how much it has receded during the 40 years I've lived here. In the old days you could actually see the glacier from the Visitor's Center parking lot. There were also gigantic icebergs floating in the lake in those days. Now the glacier has receded above the lake, so it is rare to see any icebergs. I did see a couple of small ones today, but it's very rare for one to reach the Visitor's Center anymore. It was hard to finally leave and start our hike back, but we wanted to catch the 7 PM tunnel release to drive back through the train tunnel to Portage from Whittier. It was so hot, I was sweating profusely and the bugs were terrible all the way back. I must have 1000 mosquito bites. But it was all worth it to finally reach the lake after so many tries over the years.

Notice Bella's little face peeking into the left side of this photo