Whittier

Day 44

8/3/26. Monday

Weather change for the next couple of days. Wet and windy… mostly windy. This morning temp is 55’F

One Way Tunnel. Headed 12 miles to Whittier. Basically a long one way toll tunnel to get there. Toll is $13.  No fee on the return. The cue is divided into 6 lanes controlled by traffic lights. Busses first, commercial, car vehicles and last RV campers. 

In front of us is a NOLS group of young adults going on a sea kayaking trip. They are out of their van and running about all excited about the personal endeavor of wilderness and solitude they are about to experience. Oh to be young again!

This one way tunnel is 2.5 miles long! You want to have all your faculties to drive perfectly straight for so long and try not to drive on the actual railroad track… it feels weird. The Alaska passenger train actually used this tunnel as well.

Leftover WWII Army base. An interesting little town. About 200 people. Whittier was built by US Army during WWII as a port and petroleum delivery center. Most of the 200 residents of Whittier live in the 14 story Begich Towers. What used to be military residence is now private condominiums. Not luxury by any means. (The photo has all the statistics on this town.)

Inside the tower is the US Post Office. I needed one stamp so I entered the building. Big solid heavy institutional doors. All concrete smooth floors…very stark , dark and cold. Lots of concrete. I can’t imagine living in that building for very long. No warm or homey feelings anywhere as far as I could see.

There is a school right behind the housing building. Its playground is covered. Does that tell you much about the weather here?

People who live here are either in the fishing business, tourism or city services. There were a lot of boats in the harbor and parking lot. Due to windy weather it didn’t look like many were out fishing today. Good day for boat maintenance. I’ve been told it’s a beautiful bay but we couldn’t tell due to rain and cloud cover.

Whittier is also cruise ship port as well services the Alaskan Marine Ferry system. One cruise ship was at port today. It’s the closest port to access Anchorage.

There’s another military building called the Buckner building. It was built for army to house the entire town and include a whole city in one gigantic building. It was not used very long after construction. It was mothballed in 6 years!!  1954-1960. Read the sign on the picture it will tell you everything about the building.

Horsetail Falls on Whittier Creek. It was a beautiful long falls in a glacier blue whitewater creek.

After Whittier we headed toward Anchorage and Turnagain Arm and following Hwy 1 back to Palmer AK for the night. We stayed in Palmer on Day 25 and were camping at the same campground by the red barn. We liked the setting and the nice hot showers. 

All showered and settled at the campground. We made a salmon dinner in our ammo box-type grill and it has been raining steady all evening. 

Denali National Park.. One of the 3 things we had preplanned on this trip is a campground reservation for 3 nights in Denali Park with our Anchorage friends Jana and Lance. Tomorrow is the day!

Trip Planning. We spent some time this evening plotting out the remainder of our trip headed back to the USA after Denali. It won’t be quite as laissez faire as it has been up to now. We’re going to have to pack in a few long drive days to get where we’re going. So now we have at least a guideline!