Elizabeth and I arose and after breakfast, we walked to the station on our shortest route yet. Inside there was a brief safety meeting before we opened the train whose consist was SD70MAC 4234, baggage 102 (ex. Alaska Railroad 6306, nee Union Pacific 6306), Gold Star 652, Gold Star 653, coach 205 (built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in 1989), dome 523 (ex. Amtrak 9483, exx. Amtrak 9404, exxx. Burlington 4623, nee Northern Pacific 556), coach 204 (nee Union Pacific 5424) and GP40-2 3013.
Sarah Jennings ready for the last day of train trips of the convention.
The first passengers ready to board.
The rear of the train on a very early morning.
Chris Parker in front of one of the Gold Star coaches.
The front of our train.
Elizabeth at the door of our coach looking at the Denali Star on the other track. We departed Anchorage on time.
A freighter in Kinik Inlet.
The Alaskan Range.
Rounding a curve.
The Alaskan Range along Turnagain Inlet, which is forty-five miles long and forms part of the northern boundary of Kenai Peninsula and reaches on the east to within twelve miles of Portage Bay, a western branch of Prince William Sound. Turnagain is characterized by remarkably large tides of up to 40 feet which are the largest tides in the country.
Running along Turnagain Inlet.
A meet with the Alaska Railroad Holland America cruise train at Rainbow.
Dall sheep up on the cliff.
Views along the Turnagain Inlet.
The train came to the siding at Brookman.
Looking across the Turnagain Inlet.
The Alaska Range still in view.
Views at Brookman, MP 81.7 and the start of Avalanche Alley, a nine-mile area of winter danger.
View from the siding.
The Princess Cruise Train went by us, after which we returned to the mainline.
The Byron Glacier which descends from the same ice field that feeds both Portage Glacier on the lake and Blackstone Glacier in Prince William Sound. It is two miles in length and 2,011 feet high.
Crossing 20 Mile River.
The train and the glacier.
We stopped at Portage to pick up a family who would be riding with us.
We left Portage and continued towards Whittier.
A small glacier on a mountain.
The track we will come back on from Spencer.
The lake at Portage.
My new mileage will be on this track when we round the wye.
The yard at Portage.
Byron Glacier.
Two mountains to the northwest of Portage.
Byron Glacier.
Shakespeare Glacier, a small retreating glacier that sits at the east end of Portage Lake, is two miles in length and 2,198 feet high and was named for William Shakespeare in 1915. We then entred Portage Tunnel which is 4,905 feet long.
The light at the end of the Portage Tunnel.
Exiting the tunnel.
Glaciers abound above Bear Valley.
It started raining as we entered Bear Valley and unloaded for a photo runby.
Portage Glacier, one of the most visited glaciers in Alaska, completely covered its lake and reached into the valley in the 1800's. With a terminus well past the current location of the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center, the glacier is legendary for its use by Alaska Natives and Gold Rush pioneers to "portage" between Prince William Sound and Turnagain Arm. After steadily retreating over the 20th Century and exposing a chilly, 600-foot-deep lake between sheer mountain walls, Portage finally slipped from view in the 1990's. Its face is now behind the left-side mountain, about three miles from the lakeside parking. Scientists say it appears to be currently stable and has not retreated much since 1999. Still, Portage remains a very active glacier, with its face regularly shattering and dropping great hunks of ice into the lake like a giant conveyer belt.
The train at Bear Valley as viewed on the way to one of two photo lines.
Portage Glacier.
The group walking to the photo line. Once everyone was ready, the train started reverse towards to the Portage Tunnel.
The reverse move into the tunnel.
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