Moose
Flats is the start of the Portage Valley and was our first stop, it’s also the
start of the Trail of Blue Ice, a hike that takes you through the valley.
Our next
stop was the Express Glacier, to start with we couldn’t find it, I know, I
know, how could you possibly miss a glacier.
It’s actually a ‘hanging’ glacier, hanging half way up the mountain so
once we looked up there it was.
From there
we drove on to Portage lake and glacier, we’d read that the Visitor Centre was worth
a looking at, but it was closed when we visited.
When gold
was discovered in Turnagain Arm, the easy way to get there was from the Cook
Inlet, but in the winter the inlet was clogged with ice. So, gold seekers made their way from ships
in Prince William Sound. Between 1893
and 1903 hundreds made their way up Portage Pass a route used for centuries by
the Dena’ina Athabascans, the Alutiiq and later Russian fur traders.
Portage
glacier is on the far right of the photograph.
Ropes and
pulleys were used to haul their packs and sleds up the east side of the pass
before they crossed the glacier. In
1896 over 400 hundred people safely made the crossing, but in 1897 3 men lost
their way in a storm. Strong winds blew
their dogs and most of their gear over a cliff and one man fell into a crevasse
and disappeared into the glacier. What
a horrible way to die.
Portage
lake and glacier from a different angle.
The route
across Portage glacier was used to haul mail and freight from Prince William
Sound until 1903 when improvements to the trail to Seward provided an easier
route.
Chunks of
ice regularly fall from the glacier and this one was floating around on our
first visit. It was actually quite
blue, but that doesn’t show very well in the photograph.
Ice
anyone?
We also took
the short two mile round trip hike, out to Byron glacier. Just before you get to the actual glacier
there is a small wall with a sign that basically says unless you know what
you’re doing on a glacier then you should stay behind the wall.
Water
running from an opening in the glacier forms a small stream littered with
rocks, I dabbled my fingers in the water and it was sooooo cold it took my
breath away.
As you can
see there is absolutely nothing but your own common sense to stop you walking
out onto the glacier as far as you like.
Beyond the
wall it just looked like rocks, so we carried on. But, just a few feet beyond the wall, we realised
that while what we were standing on was rock a little further along it looked
decidedly iffy. As we know zilch about
glaciers and really not fancying the idea of disappearing into the depths of
the glacier never to be seen again, or maybe discovered in a few thousand years,
we didn’t go any further.
It is
really rather beautiful though.
Have fun, we are!
