Whittier Alaska

Another new spot for us in Alaska, Whittier has a bit of an obstacle in store. The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, named for the chief engineer of the Alaska Railroad and former Mayor of Anchorage, runs 2.5 miles under Maynard Mountain and is the only way to access Whittier by car. The tunnel is a single lane, including an active rail line.

This impressive tunnel built originally only for the Alaska Railroad was completed April 23, 1943. It is the 2^nd longest highway tunnel in North America, and the longest combined highway/rail tunnel. To deal with its single lane, traffic is allowed out of Whittier on the hour, and into Whittier on the half hour, and is closed to vehicular traffic as a train approaches, with elaborate staging areas and signaling systems

In Whittier, nearly the only thing to do is cruise or fish. There are less than a handful of small gift shops, 3 restaurants and two hotels. The only dwellings we saw here was a high-rise condominium complex. The harbor is chock full of fishing vessels, and as we left Whittier to head back to Anchorage on Friday afternoon, the boats were pouring in for the weekend.

Back during the cold war era, Whittier was home to Camp Sullivan. With the rail line into Whittier, it was the first stop for troops entering Alaska to defend it against the Japanese in WWII. Camp Sullivan was abandoned in the late 1950’s as the perception of the need for cold war era facilities declined.

On the cruise we plied Prince William Sound in search of glaciers. We really didn’t have to go too far as the Whittier Glacier hangs right above the town itself. The view of Whittier with the glacier hanging overhead from the Sound is pretty cool.

Even in mid-August the glacier carved walls of the Sound are completely littered with waterfalls, and they are all rushing with water. Especially near the base of the glaciers, the falls were raging torrents.

We visited 6 glaciers in all, venturing within about 1,000 feet of both those that touch the water in Blackstone Bay. Blackstone Glacier was named by the famous surveyor Mendenhall for a miner who disappeared never to be seen again in 1896 carrying mail to Whittier. Beloit Glacier was named for the college in Wisconsin, as were most of the glaciers lining the Prince William Sound. The distinctive bright blue color of the glacial ice stood out even more than usual due to the slight overcast. We stood on the outer decks of the ship and listened as the glaciers periodically calved, the thunderous cracking sound bringing back memories of our visit to Harvard Glacier 20 years earlier.

On our way back to Whittier we were lucky enough to spot a dozen or so Sea Otters casually relaxing in the calm waters of the Sound. While we didn’t see any babies resting on tummies – the spring young are already off on their own – it was fun to watch these guys just chillin. It seems like they don’t have a care in the world!

We will begin our venture back to the lower 48 in a couple of days.

Talk to you soon!