Snow Caves and Iceburgs

2011-08-14

Portage Lake

I left Homer to start making my way north but planned to stop in Clam Gulch along the way.  My new friends from Anchorage mentioned there would be music & camping at the Dead Fish festival.

I found the festival grounds - an aging, dingy bar on the side of the highway.  Inside it was dark, smoky and cobbled together.  There was no sign of a festival setting up but it was only late afternoon.

After a few drinks, Jen, her beat-boxing cousin and friends from Anchorage arrived.  Despite the fact that only one band showed up to play the "festival", a good time was had by all. That night I slept in my tent in a field near the bar.  It was good to be away from the traffic but waking up on the ground with a hangover was a little rough.


That morning I walked back to the bar and had a cup of coffee before setting off.  When I went to settle the tab, the waitress took my bill, put it in the register, closed the door and walked off.  I guess she wanted a 200% tip?  I don't quite get it.  If it hadn't been for Jen and her friends from Anchorage I'd have found this dingy bar an odd and slightly hostile place to hang out.

Intent on seeing some more Alaskan nature and pressured by my ferry reservations, I set off again - this time toward Whittier, Alaska.  I planned to take the ferry to get Betsy and I to Valdez.  This way I could see Portage Glacier rather than back-tracking through Anchorage.

I arrived at Portage Lake late in the evening.  Showing up on Saturday night and looking for a place to camp is not a great plan in this area.  Boondocking options are limited and the organized campgrounds seem to be popular on the weekends.

I found a pull-off that didn't specifically prohibit overnight parking.  I was away from the highway and nobody bothered me.  I even had an RV for a neighbor most of the night.

Iceburg on Portage Lake
Canon F1 on Legacy Pro 100 (Fuji Acros)

This morning I moved down the road and paid for a night at one of the government campgrounds nearby.  From there it was easy walking distance to reach Portage Lake, which I did in the cold flat rain.  At certain times there is a boat that you can take to ride right up to see the glacier.  I preferred to walk, however, so I moved from the lake to the trail towards Byron Glacier.

It was an easy walk, sloping slowly upwards.   I walked past streams of spawning salmon, some mottled gray and others bright pink, along fields of fireweed and raspberries, eventually coming out onto a field of glacial debris.

Layers of snow receding back up the mountain.
Olympus Stylus Epic on Fuji Acros 100

Off in the distance I could see great big mounds of snow, large boulders and a dark blue glacier high up on the mountain.  The snowfields were accessible so I headed there with a weather-proof Olympus 35mm in my pocket.

Upon reaching the biggest of the snow mounds, I found a cave formed by the runoff from the glacier.

A few others were exploring further inside.  I chose to focus on the exterior.  The trickling water was a constant reminder that this cave was being dismantled.

Back at camp I built a campfire and cooked a sweet potato with some carrots which ate along with the raspberries I found along the trail.

Snow cave near Byron Glacier.
Olympus Stylus Epic on Fuji Acros 100