Visiting the Portage Glacier
About the Portage Glacier
The beautiful Portage Glacier is one of Alaska’s most accessible glaciers and is only about 50 miles from downtown Anchorage. Located inside the Chugach National Forest, the Portage Glacier is visible by taking a boat tour or one of two hiking paths.
A good place to start your Portage Glacier visit is at the Begich Boggs Visitor Center. Here you can book a boat tour that will take you across Portage Lake, which will give you a great view of the glacier. The boat tours only run from late May through early September.
Unfortunately, the glacier is no longer visible from the Begich Boggs Visitor Center. If the tours aren’t running, the only way to get to the glacier is by taking one of the two hiking paths. The first hiking path is the Byron Glacier Trail which is only 1.4 miles of paved path. The path is generally flat and eventually ends with views of the Byron Glacier. A longer hike is the Portage Pass Trail which is located in Whittier. To get to this trail, visitors have to go through the Whittier Tunnel. The Portage Pass trail is 5 miles round trip and much more difficult than the Byron Glacier Trail.
During my visit, the Begich Boggs Visitor Center was closed for the season. I decided to skip the Byron Glacier Trail and go directly to Whittier to hike the Portage Pass trail.
Visiting the Portage Glacier - Table of Contents
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Getting to the Portage Pass Trail
The Portage Pass Trail is located in Whittier. To get to Whittier from the Seward Highway (AK1), visitors have to turn onto Portage Glacier Road. About eight miles down the road is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which is sometimes referred to as the Whittier Tunnel. This tunnel has only a single lane and takes around fifteen minutes to complete the 2.5-mile drive.
To travel through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, visitors will have to pay a toll. As of October 2021, the toll for a regular automobile was $13. The toll goes up to $22 or $38 (depending on size) for motorhomes and vehicles pulling a trailer. All tolls cover the cost of a roundtrip visit.
When you arrive at the tunnel, be prepared to wait. Since the tunnel is only one lane, it operates on a schedule. Typically, it will be no longer than a 30-minute wait. While you wait, there are bathrooms that are available for use.
The speed limit in the tunnel is 25 MPH, and drivers are expected to keep an appropriate distance between them and other vehicles.
Once you get through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, you will want to quickly turn right at the sign that says “forest access.” From the entrance, it is about one mile on a rough road to the beginning of the Portage Pass Trail. There are no official parking spots, so find an appropriate area to pull off the gravel road, ensuring that you will not be blocking other visitors.
Below time warp of my drive from Anchorage to Whittier. The video is shot at 30x the actual speed. To see only the part featuring the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, skip to the last minute of the video.
Hiking the Portage Pass Trail
Below is my experience solo hiking the Portage Pass Trail. During my visit, the weather did not cooperate. With temperatures in the mid 30’s, a wintery mix and rain made my hike much more difficult.
The Portage Pass Trail - Hiking to the Summit
The most strenuous part of the climb is the initial climb which has a change in altitude of around 800 feet. As I began my hike, I stopped multiple times for water and a brief rest. My journey was made more difficult by the snow, slush, and ice that covered the path. Since I was solo hiking, it was important to be careful as I had no one to help me if I slipped and injured myself.
As I neared the summit, I turned around to take in the beautiful view of Whittier, Alaska. My photo doesn’t do the view justice because it was difficult to keep the rain/snow off my GoPro lens.
It took around thirty minutes to reach the summit, which is at 800 feet. When I arrived at the summit, there was one concern. A large area of water was blocking the path.
In order to get around the water, I had to climb up onto the rocks. While it wasn’t overly difficult, I wanted to make sure that I did not fall into the water as it would have made a very cold rest of the hike.
The Portage Pass Trail - The First View Points
Once I reached the summit, there was one more difficult part of the hike, which involved climbing down a few steep rocks. After that, the trail flattened out, and the hike became much easier. It wasn’t long before the Portage Glacier came into view.
For the rest of the journey, I was looking at the Portage Glacier, which began to get closer and closer.
Eventually, I reached a viewing point with a bench. For the first time, I took out my camera and took some non-GoPro photographs. Below are some of those photographs, including one of a nearby waterfall.
At this point, I was about three-quarters of the way to Portage Lake. I decided to continue hiking all the way to the lakeshore.
The Portage Pass Trail - Hiking to the Portage Lake Viewpoint
The walk from the first viewpoint to the shore of Portage Lake was fairly easy. The biggest issue was that I was walking in a small stream of water. If I had not had waterproof boots, it would have made the hike much less enjoyable. When I arrived at the shoreline of Portage Lake, the freezing rain amazingly stopped. I was able to take out my actual camera and take the photos below.
The Portage Pass Trail - Retracing My Steps
The days are short in October, and I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to retrace my steps. After spending about twenty minutes on the shore of Portage Lake, I began retracing my steps. There were a few times where it was difficult to find the path, so I highly recommend following your footprints so you don’t get lost. The return hike was fairly routine and took about ninety minutes. For anyone curious, the total time of my hike was just over four hours.
The Portage Pass Trail - A Video of My Solo Hike
During my late October hike of the Portage Pass Trail, the weather was a wintery mix. I kept my camera in its waterproof backpack and relied mostly on my GoPro Hero 9. Below is a video of my hike that was shot with my GoPro.
Portage Glacier Tours and Packages
If you rent a car, it is easy to get to the Portage Pass Trail. For those who don’t want to rent a car or prefer to be led around by a local guide, I have listed two tours below that include viewing the Portage Glacier. Please note that as an affiliate of Viator, I will receive a small commission if you book using one of my links. This commission is at no additional cost to you.