September 1st: Paddle to Portage Glacier.Take 2

Glaciers are one of the many awe-inspiring natural features I have found in Alaska since I have moved here.  These gigantic rivers of ice suspended on the side of mountains slowly creep downhill, relentlessly eroding their way through the mountains and digging their characteristic U-shaped valleys.

To reach Portage glacier, I was going to paddle the length of Portage Lake,  which was created behind the terminal moraine of the glacier as it began receding. And receding it did!  In fact, in 1886, the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center was built to offer a point of view on the glacier.  Today, the glacier cannot be seen from the building any more.

On my first attempt to see the glacier, it was an unusual 80-degree day in Anchorage!!  The perfect weather to paddle on some frigid water!  I loaded my gear and boat and set off for the 50-mile drive.  As I approached the turn-off to Portage Lake, I noticed the valley was completely filled with dark cloud.  I made the left turn on Portage road and within 5 minutes, the temperature had dropped from 80 to 50!  It was also foggy and very windy.  At the visitor center, a ranger discouraged me to put-on because of 19-knot winds that were coming from the glacier and pushing large icebergs into the lake.  Also some sea-kayakers, who tried to put-on despite the wind, ended up pushed in the mouth of Portage Creek.  That was enough to convince me I had to scratch that plan... I would be back!

About a month later, I returned to Portage hoping to make it to the glacier.  Once again it was very windy but nothing like what I had seen a few weeks earlier.  It was also sunny and crisp.  So I decided to put on.

The paddle out was challenging as a side wind created irregular waves that were sometimes up to 3 or 4 feet and pushing me into the shore.  I would have preferred a headwind to this but I was going to make do. 

The glacier was almost immediately in view but I had a hard time realizing the size of what I was looking at until I saw a cruise ship approaching it.  These cruise-ships taking tourists close to the glacier are not small.  This particular boat was a double-decker and the glacier in the background made it look like a tiny water bug.

 

Can you see the double-deck cruise ship in the circle

I kept struggling against the wind and the waves until I reached a little beach across the lake from the glacier.  I had been advised to not even try to approach the glacier as the calving process could be very dangerous for a kayak.  Witnessing the glacier calving was very impressive.  As I was taking in the beauty of what was in front of my eyes, I heard what sounded like a lightening strike without immediately realizing what it was.  Only when it happened again and I saw what looked like a small piece of ice detaching from the glacier did I realize the glacier was calving.  From the loud resounding sound the breaking blocks made as they parted from the bulk of the ice, they were probably much larger than they seem from the safety of my beach.  I stayed there for a while, mesmerized by this evolving scene.

Up to that point, I had been very observant of the words of caution I had received from friends and from the park ranger and I had stayed well clear of the glacier.   I was also told not to approach icebergs as they can abruptly overturn and capsize a boat or, in a worst case scenario, crush it and with it its paddler.  From my little beach, I could see two small icebergs. Their deep blue color and graceful shape made them so attractive, I could not resist but approach them.  I figured they were not that large and well... they looked like they had no desire to flip over.  Obviously they just wanted to float around, chillin'.  So I carefully paddled up to them and took pictures from every possible angle.

The paddle back to the put-in was much easier than the paddle out as the side wind had turned into more of a head wind.  I made it back to my car in an hour with my hand and face frozen from the constant splashing of 33 degree water and smiling from having seen seen this marvelous sight.

On the way back to Anchorage, I was rewarded by another sight that I have now seen many times but of which I cannot get enough:  beluga whales were swimming up Turnagain.  Even though the whales only slightly poke the surface of the water and are barely visible, a little piece of white skin emerging from the waves here and there or the occasional blow creating a spray are always a special treat.  

Can you see a beluga? :)

One more time I was returning to the city with my eyes and mind full of what makes Alaska so special: natural beauty.