The first part of our land travels in Alaska start in Cooper Landing – the edge of Kenai Fjord National Park.
We docked in the port of Whittier however our dropoff options from the cruise for the next part of our tour made it easiest to head to Anchorage airport to collect our car as that is where we will eventually be flying out. So that meant a little backtracking to get to our first stop.
However our night of my last post we had the amazing experience of seeing the Northern Lights! We had gone to bed with the ship tossing through rough seas and I had managed to doze off but Adrienne had seen on a Facebook group she followed that there were active Aurora sightings in parts of Alaska.
She looked outside and could see a green glow in the sky & excitedly woke me. We braved the cold & rough seas on our verandah and snapped away and even though it wasn’t vivid to the naked eye the camera was able to pick it up !
The rough seas continued through the morning of our last day of cruising and we took in a couple of activities during the day as well as preparing things for our disembarkation.
In the later part of the day we reached College Fjord off Prince William Sound . Many of the glaciers are named after colleges – Harvard, Yale etc – hence the name. In some ways it was a better day than in Glacier Bay as the weather was much better.
We reached Whittier just after midnight and our disembarkation time was 6.40am and we then had to wait for our bus transfer which left at 8.45am. We were categorised as “self managing” to disembark as we were not using a Holland America transfer option. The ship had arrived in Whittier just after midnight. Our bags had to be outside our cabin by 11 pm the night before and we had been assigned “Wave 2” to leave the ship.
So we were up and having breakfast in the buffet before 6 and the weather in Whittier was rainy. We left at our alotted time however we had a wait until 8am before our transfer arrived, and then still to 8.45 before we could leave. Our bus driver offered us the greeting “Welcome to Whittier where the weather is usually shittier” !
Whittier is a very unique town. It has one apartment building – the Begich Towers Condominium – which actually accommodates 95% of the whole population of 270. And it has just one way in and out – through a one-way tunnel which accomodates the train line and the road. The traffic queues at the assigned time – 9am for us heading to Anchorage – and files through the 2km tunnel.
The tunnel was originally built in WWI as Whittier was pinpointed as a good harbour to establish a base after the Japanese had established bases on islands off Alaska in part of the Aleutian Islands. The army stayed until about the 1960’s – given it’s proximity to Russia during the Cold War – and eventually the tunnel was upgraded to its current formation in 2000. This helped expand the cruise ship arrivals at the port.
Through the tunnel we were on our way to Anchorage – about an hour or so away. The road follows the Turnagain Inlet which is a deep tidal inlet. It has one of those “surf tides” where the outgoing and incoming tides create waves. There was a guy surfing along the waves as we drove past.
The area was hit by the 3rd largest earthquake in history (largest in the US) – measuring 9.2 magnitude – on Good Friday, March 27, 1964. Whilst it had a relatively low mortality rate, there was significant damage through the whole area. We drove through an area where the trees had essentially been pickled by the sea water and had all died. It was now a haven for bald eagles and we saw a couple in the top of the trees as we drove past.
The inlet is also a haven for Beluga whales which feed in the area. These dont “breach” like the humpbacks but we did manage to see one with its white back pass by.
We arrived at the airport about 10.30 and made our way to the rental car collection and were soon off on the land part of our tour. We collected our Honda Pilot SUV and setoff in light rain.
We were actually back tracking some way to head to our stop for the next 2 nights – Cooper Landing – out near Kenai Fjords National Park and Seward.
As we usually do, we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few bits and pieces along the way. We were both very tired – probably a combination of an early start and what is really very full days on the cruise – so despite a couple of scenic pullout stops, we pushed through directly to Cooper Landing.
We are staying at Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, actually run by Princess Cruise Lines. It is a very nice spot above the Kenai River, a number of “wood log cabin” type buildings around a large main lodge. The cabins are comfortable and reasonably spacious.
We arrived a bit early to check in so had a late lunch and a couple of drinks before heading to our cabin. After settling in, we found the laundry to do a bit of washing and then had dinner in the restaurant. After sharing calamari for starters, Adrienne had chicken for main and I had Alaskan Halibut.
Back to the room and we pretty much crashed into bed for an early night.
Day 2 Kenai Fjords NP and Seward.
After a pretty good nights sleep, we had breakfast in the lodge before heading off for the day. There was some rain overnight however it had “cleared” to overcast when we setoff.
One thing which is pretty clear so far with the driving – there is really a lot of “one way in and out” with the road system so there may be a lot of back tracking. However, the scenery is just amazing and with the weather constantly changing it can look totally different from earlier in the day.
First stop today was Kenai Fjords National Park and specifically the area around what is called Exit Glacier. The national park encompasses an area including the Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the US, which has a number of glaciers – nearly 40 – coming off it. Exit Glacier has a pretty easy walk to a lookout toward the base of the glacier and the most easily accessible. By this time it had become quite sunny.
It was interesting as we drove in as there were signs on the side of the road (and then along the trail) showing a year on a sign which is basically the point where the base of the glacier had been at that time.
We did the walk up to the glacier lookout and then back to a point along the river looking back to the glacier. The river bed is very wide and whilst it still flows quite vigorously it would be an amazing sight if the flow stretched the full width of the visible river bed.
From the national park we drove out to Seward. The summertime is when all the roadworks are done so you can drive very far without the road being dug up. Luckily it was Labour Day Monday so no actual stoppages although there was a large section of unsealed road where works were being completed.
Seward is another cruise port. The only ship in port was Radiance of the Seas. Adrienne had seen on one of the groups she follows that the only reason it was there is that it had mechanical issues and the current cruise had been cancelled, basically leaving passengers stranded. A number were just spending their cruise on board without actually going anywhere !
It is also the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad, which runs between Seward and Fairbanks and was also an important port during World War II.
We stopped at the main Kenai Fjords National Park visitor centre which was in Seward and then did a walk along the sea front.
There are a few statues commemorating the pioniers of the original Iditarod Trail, what became the iconic Iditarod sled dog race. The trail – from Seward to Nome, a distance of approx 1,000 miles – linked numerous historical settlements. The discovery of gold in the 1900’s brought thousands to the route but by 1920 it had waned significantly. Then in one of the final great feats of dog sleds, an outbreak of diptheria in Nome in 1925 saw twenty drivers and dog teams carry life saving serum the 1,000 miles in 127 hours.
We stopped at a supermarket to pick up some provisions and then retraced much of our morning drive back to Cooper Landing. At the resort we did the walk down to the river and along a loop back up to the main lodge. It had become a bit overcast but it was fine so we sat on the verandah overlooking the river. The sun then appeared and we ended up having an early dinner of tasty burgers on the verandah before heading back to our room and having a quiet drink on our own verandah enjoying the sun.
It has been a nice spot to stay and the weather has been very good to us.