Showing posts with label Whitier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whitier. Show all posts

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Adventure - Sightseeing on the 26 Glacier Cruise

Blackstone Glacier

Stats

Difficulty: Easy                                                                                               Time:  5+ hours

Summary


If you want a day packed with glaciers, wildlife, and flat seas, Phillips Cruises 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier on the M/V Klondike Express is right up your alley.  The cruise includes the 26 glaciers including a nice close-up view of 2 of them; a good chance (but no guarantee) of seals, sea lions, otters, dolphins, and whales; and a kittiwake nesting area.

Opinion

This trip is good for tourists or locals, photographers, sightseers, kids and adults.  Over the course of the five-hour, we took over 3,000 pictures!  We were actually beginning to worry about maxing out our 64 GB camera memory cards.  The company does a good job of 

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Hiking - Portage Glacier Trail (all the way to the beach)


Stats

Distance:  4.7 miles                  Difficulty: Strenuous                                Time:  5 hrs

Summary

We chose to try the Portage Glacier Trail on 10 Jul 2013.  The hike goes up a nearly continuous inclined for a 750 ft elevation change, then back down (more gently) the full 750 ft to reach the portage glacier lake.  We found the hike on the National Park Service map (NPS Portage Glacier Trail).  This page is useful, but someone dated, see The Hike section of this post for updated information.

Opinion

This is a fabulous hike!  But we wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is not at least reasonably fit.  The highlights of the hike include