Adventurer in Alaska 

Just 114.3 miles to go today one way.

Elevated loading platforms used for cruise line passenger rail cars.






My ticket to ride

Cook Inlet near station.

MP 103.5 Rabbit Creek.  The railroad bridges Rabbit Creek while passing through Potter Marsh, created when railroad grade construction dammed several creeks. Today, Potter Marsh is part of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge and is a favorite location to spot arctic tern, Canada geese, trumpeter swans and many other species of birds. You can also watch for moose which typically graze through out the area. By the way, the average moose eats about 50 pounds of fresh branches and twigs daily. To the west we can now clearly see the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet. We will be traveling alongside the water until about Portage.





MP 100.6  Potter.  The historic Potter section house (named for nearby Potter Creek) and Potter Marsh Wildlife Viewing Area mark the junction of Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm.
Viewing spot for the bore tide, a huge wall of water rushing into or out of the arm during tide changes. Turnagain arm is one of only about 60 bodies of water worldwide to exhibit a tidal bore. The bore may be more than six feet high and travel at 15 miles an hour on high spring tides. Turnagain Arm sees the largest tidal range in the Unites States, with a mean of 30 feet, and the fourth highest in the world.

GPS:  61' 03.106, -149 47.813      Click to see map.        Click Back button on your browser to return to this page.

MP 95.5  Beluga Point.  Beluga Point is named after the Beluga whales that are often seen in Turnagain Arm near here. Beluga whales are unique in that they are the only all-white whales. Additionally, due to the food sources here, the Cook Inlet Beluga whale is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated stock.
The engineer stopped the train here so we could spend some time looking for the whales. He has seen some activity in the water. All the engineers were great about pointing out and giving us warning about whats up ahead. Soon we were spotting the white spots in the distance. The whale show for less than a flash and there is a lot of water out there. It was fun to spot them for a quick second.
    Soon we were moving again and then near MP 93 we could see the Dall Sheep on the cliffs above the railroad and highway. You had to look quick to find and see them. I had flashback to cartoons of sheep on mountain trails and ledges and how similar the pictures looked.

MP 74.5  Girdwood. Girdwood is the site of Alaska's finest ski resort, with the related condominiums, chalets, hotel and restaurants, all located at the base of Mount Alyeska.
Originally called Glacier City for the icy behemoths which rim the surrounding mountains, and was founded as a gold mining town a the turn of the century with several gold claims being staked on Crow Creek and the Virgin and California Creek. Tragedy struck on Good Friday in 1964, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2 dropped the coastal  edges along the Turnagain 8 to 10 feet. Consequently, the town site of Girdwood moved 2 1/2 miles up the valley to the present location.


MP 64.2  Portage.  Portage got its name by being on the portage route from the Gulf of Alaska to Cook Inlet. Today you will see a few collapsed buildings and lots of dead trees. Devastated by the 1964 earthquake, the old town of Portage is all but gone. Dead trees stand in silent testimony to the power  of the quake ( the second largest recorded in the world) which flooded the town and dropped the surrounding land 10 to 12 feet.
    At one time, Portage was a motor vehicle loading area for the Alaska Railroad that carried passengers and vehicles to Whittier for connections to the Alaska Marine Highway. This procedure ended when the Whittier tunnel was rebuilt for both rail and highway traffic.

MP 63.0    Portage River.  This bridge is made up of five I-beam spans. Technically we now exit Anchorage, which is the the size of Delaware. Also the geography here is in stark contrast to what we saw up in northern Alaska heartland around and near the Fairbanks area. Now we are in an area of ice-fields, glaciers, fjords and mountains.

MP 54.1    Placer River.    The railroad crosses the Placer River using a 200 foot through truss bridge with three wood spans. At the south end of the bridge, we go from flat track to a grade of better than 2.2%, then 3.0% south of Tunnel at milepost 51.0. Southbound the locomotives scream as they haul us up the hills.

MP 52.7    Tunnel 52.7    This is the first of five tunnels over the next mile, all of which help the railroad to tunnel through the eastern slope of Spencer Mountain.  You must keep your arm, legs and head inside of the car as there is very little clearance between the car and the walls of these tunnels.









MP    48.2    Bartlett Glacier.    Named in 1907 for Frank Bartlett, Alaska Central Railroad civil engineer, the glacier is visible just 800 feet away from the tracks. Deadman's Glacier rises above. Over the next several miles, the train climbs and curves. The railroad makes a hard right while heading southbound, creating a horseshoe curve.






MP 33.8    Johnson.    Johnson is situated at the north end of Upper Trail Lake. We will run along the eastern shore of the lake to Moose Pass where we will be having our photo run by. Heading south we are making a turn from westbound to southbound as we circle around Lark Mountain, to the south. Lark Mountain is named for the horned lark, the only lark found in Alaska. The hillside is a favorite location for birders to see the lark.



MP 29.3    Moose Pass.    This small settlement located about where Upper Trail Lake Flows into Middle Trail Lake was once a railroad section station. The community was first named in 1912 as a station on the Alaska Railroad. The name is reportedly derived from a mail carrier's team of dogs that in 1903 had considerable trouble gaining the right-of-way from a moose. A post office was established in 1928. The railroad crosses Trail Lake on a timber trestle made of 19 spans.

    It is a little past noon when we stop at Moose Pass and exit our cars for our photo run by.




    We had a few light showers at this location but that didn't dampen anyone's spirits.






    After re-boarding our train it is an announced that in Fairbanks on Tuesday, next day after we left, they had 2 inches of snow.

MP 12.0    Divide.    Divide is a siding to the west, once know as Summit Station. This is a small "Continental Divide" at the top of grades more than 2% in each direction. This is the first crossing of the Kenai Mountains at approximately 700 feet in elevation. All waters from here to MP 312 flow into Cook Inlet. Directly to the west is Mount Ascension at 5,710 feet in elevation. To the east is Paradise Peak at 6,050 feet. To the southwest is Resurrection Peaks, topping out at 4,712 feet.

MP 3.2    Resurrection River.    The Resurrection River travels through a wide flood plain in this area. The Harding Icefield to the west is the source for this river. Due to the heavy silt in the river, not many salmon are present. Resurrection River flows into Resurrection Bay at Seward.






MP 2.3    Seward Wye.    To the east is the Seward Yard, a small locomotive and car shop, and the line to the coal and inter modal docks. Shortly our train will back over this Wye.