June 26 - Anchorage to Whittier and Seward

The skies were a bit gloomy this morning when we packed up but we had no indication of what was to come... we grabbed some breakfast and happened upon some great wifi so we took a little extra time and posted some blog posts that were overdue. By the time we got that done, the sky had opened up and it was raining stair-rods. Sigh....

SO - on with all the gear! It reminds me of being a kid in Edmonton for one winter (the coldest in 25 years or something like that if I remember it correctly) and it would take Mom 45 minutes to get us kids all suited up in our snowsuits and mitts on strings, layers upon layers, scarves and boots. She'd pin our bus passes on the fronts of our snowsuits and we'd wobble off out into -60 to catch the bus to school... Gearing up for cold and wet motorcycle riding is pretty much the same production. 

Shortly after leaving Anchorage, the road heads into the Chugach National Park which is gorgeous. An arm of the Cook Inlet hooks southeast of Anchorage and the highway follows it to Portage. It was too bad that the clouds were so thick and low, obstructing our view of what we can only imagine must be a stunning coastal ride. 

We decided to do a dogleg down to Whittier. We had heard about the Whittier tunnel and didn't want to miss out. The tunnel is 2.5 miles long and is an old train tunnel. In fact, the tracks are still intact. They've just built up the center and sides and the tracks are in ruts. As a result, it's a bit of a trick riding through on bikes. I was OK (on my motorbike) because I could stay in the center lane but my husband had a bit of a go of it on his trike, pulling our small tent trailer. He had to do some wrangling to finally find a path for all of his wheels to be on solid footing! 

The tunnel is straight as an arrow and there are lights all the way through it with bare rockface walls. It runs through the base of a towering mountain and, I have to admit, it was a little daunting to drive into the small hole of an entrance with the massive mountain towering over you. In the photo, the small hole in the entrance can accommodate a semi truck. The is the only land route to Whittier. 

Once out the other side, the town of Whittier is just a couple miles away. There are a few businesses there but it's kind of an eerie town. There is an enormous army barracks that is an abandoned concrete shell. On the high side of town is a huge apartment complex. The gal at the coffee shop told us pretty much everyone in Whittier lives in that one building. It also houses various government offices, the police, a barber, the bank and a few other businesses. At the waterfront, there is an assortment of marine related businesses and a couple of coffee shops, a tiny art gallery and the ferry terminal. 

By the time we had coffee, it was REALLY raining hard so we decided to make a move and head for Seward. Back through the tunnel and up out of the valley, the rain eased off. We took the spur to Seward and came through Moose Pass - a cute little roadside town with a few little cafes, coffee shops, gift shops, a gold panning place etc. Down into Seward, the rain was replaced by a bone chilling misty drizzle that just seems to permeate everything. In the harbour, a large cruiseship sat in port. All along the harbour waterfront are tour companies, restaurants, cafes and other shops including a really awesome bakery. We added our contribution to the public art piece here... 

Further down, the City of Seward has reserved a couple miles of waterfront for camping. Honestly - without a word of exaggeration, there must have been over 1000 RVs there. They had overflow camping in the baseball diamond and in a more industrial area. We were in a tenting campsite and I think we were lucky to snag a spot. The site was OK but there was no water and the nearest potable water station was a long walk away. The closest bathroom was half a kilometer away so the City put a few Port-A-Potties in our general area. They were disgusting - dirty and in desperate need of emptying. Gross. We decided to make do - it was too far to backtrack and it was only for one night. We went to Safeway, washed up there while we bought some dinner and then hunkered in for the night. It was just starting to rain again when we went to bed...