Prince William Sound
Including Train Trip to Whittier

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The first day after we arrived, we took a marvelous train trip from Anchorage to Whittier, where we boarded the Klondike Express to take a full day's boat trip on Prince William Sound.  Most of the way to Whittier, the train followed the shoreline of Turnagain Arm.  We traveled by large areas which were devastated by the major earthquake on Good Friday in 1964.  This was the most powerful tremor ever felt in North America, measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale.  

Turnagain Arm was named by British Captain James Cook in 1778 as he searched for the Northwest Passage, and he is also the namesake for the Cook Inlet.  On the way to Whittier we passed by the Chugach Mountains and the Chugach National Forest, the charming town of Girdwood, and the Portage Glacier.   We also rode through the one way car/train tunnel, which is purported to be "at 2.5 miles in length, the longest highway tunnel in North America."  Whittier is a small town which serves as a portal to the Prince William Sound and the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system.  As the Frommer's guide says: (other than seeking to get out on the water) "There's little other reason to go to Whittier, unless you're on a quest to find the oddest towns in America."  These pictures only begin to show the quaintness of this little gem!

This little ice cream parlor is typical of the businesses we saw at small towns all over Alaska.  In the short summer season, most places fill anything they can with colorful flowers.  We loved these little flower-filled boots.  The gift shop shows the typical antlers which adorn homes and small businesses all over the state.  The resident reindeer, Elizabeth, and her current offspring, Moki, are used to being photographed and seem to enjoy the attention.

Whittier was a strategic military location during World War II and was kept secret from the enemy.  Today most of its 180 or so residents live in this 14-story concrete building; with the grocery store on the first floor, the medical clinic on the third, and a tunnel leading to the school.  Fishing, boating, kayaking and Prince William Sound ferries and cruises draw tourists and locals to this out of the way village.

The Klondike Express was the boat we took on our cruise of Prince William Sound.  Operated by Phillips' Cruises and Tours out of Anchorage and billed as "26-Glaciers In A Day," we would suggest it to anyone.  The waters of Prince William Sound are so perfectly still and calm that they guarantee no sea-sickness.

Shortly after leaving the dock, we passed a picturesque set of waterfalls which were the home to thousands of Black-Legged Kittiwakes (true "seagulls" than never come ashore).  Many nests full of chicks were easily seen.  As we cruised farther down the sound, dozens of glaciers were hanging in the mountain valleys and plunging into the sea.

We spent most of our time in the "Harvard Arm" area of Prince William Sound, where all of the glaciers are named after colleges in the Eastern United States...women's colleges on the left and men's colleges on the right.

The boat stopped for quite a while at the largest of the glaciers, Harvard Glacier.  Passengers are listening and watching for the "calving" of the glacier, wherein large blocks of ice fall off the face of the glacier and make icebergs in the water.  The sound is so loud (like a gunshot) that natives gave it the name "white thunder."

It is hard to imagine that the "full" Turnagain Arm and the "empty" Turnagain Arm are the same place!  This part of the Upper Cook Inlet near Anchorage has the second greatest tide range in North America at 38.9 feet.  Dangerous "bore tides" can bring waves of over 6' and can move at speeds of up to 10 knots.  Signs everywhere warn about staying off the mud flats due to the fact that the mud acts as quicksand and can trap unsuspecting adventurers.  This sunset occurred well after 11PM; oh, how we loved the long days!