Whittier Alaska

Whittier took me by surprise. In fact, it was not on our itinerary at all due to earlier advice that there was “nothing there” from other travelers. With the choice being Whittier or extra days sitting in the big city of Anchorage, we took the drive through the tunnel into Whittier (a $22 toll to do so) which is the longest highway tunnel in North America. The 2.5 mile tunnel is a single lane tunnel in which both directions must share, alternating back and forth in 30-minute increments. To take it a step further, both directions of traffic must also share the tunnel with trains going to and from Whittier. A unique feature surely worth experiencing on its own.

Exiting the other side of the tunnel was like entering a whole new Alaska. The weather was different. The landscape was different. In fact, Alaska had changed entirely in the 10 minutes it took to navigate under the mountain and through the tunnel. At first the town of Whittier was hiding behind the 950+ foot long Grand Princess cruise ship, the largest in the Princess Cruise fleet until 2013, and its 2000+ tourists.

The side effect of having this many people in town was that the cellular data was quickly overloaded and useless. Whittier’s population of just 200 grows ten-fold when this ship pulls into port and the infrastructure is just not there for that many people. Nevertheless, the ship itself was a sight to be seen and it was scheduled to leave before nightfall so no big harm was being caused.

At our free camping location, near the local airstrip, Kerri expertly navigated the Airstream to make it a three-some of Airstreams on the beach. We hung out with the @Mailimish family who preemptively stalked us by arriving the day before then pleading innocence. We also met Kate and Ellen of @Birchandpine who only just arrived in Alaska the previous night.

For some time the Grand Princess gave all the signals of leaving, but failed to actually do so, making it impossible to get my work done. Kerri and I both got an itch to get our feet wet and since there was time to kill, we set out for our first paddle even though it was very late in the evening. The paddle was short, but the scenery of the shoreline opposite the town of Whittier was over the top. It is no wonder that the cruise ships come here.

Paddling one glassy teal-colored waters surrounded by waterfalls, glaciers, and bald eagles, I could not help but think of the “nothing there” comment that nearly kept us away from Whittier. Already, only a few hours into the stay, I was falling for this place… hard.

The next day it rained, and rained, and rained. Instead of struggling against the weather, we both settled in for an extra work-day which would allow us to be a little lazier on better-weather days in the future.  This plan paid off as the following morning (now day 3) was full of surprises. First was the morning view out the panoramic windows of the Airstream…

… which I enjoyed with my morning coffee while rushing Kerri out of bed so we could fulfill our day-1 wish of kayaking into town for breakfast.

Whittier is roughly one mile away as the crow flies – or paddles if you will – so the length of the trip was no problem. The larger concern was the etiquette of docking our kayaks in the marina upon arrival. Neither of us had any experience with marinas, and with no radio to call into the Harbor Master, we did not know what the proper etiquette was. We just winged it while staying respectful that this area is used by locals for their livelihood.

It was a joy paddling through all the parked boats. Most were fishing, or utility boats of one sort, with some recreational boats sprinkled in there for flavor. We found the boat ramp, and instead of tying up in a space that may prevent a boat from coming into his dock, we lifted the kayaks out of the water and placed them out of the way on dry land. A short walk later and we arrived at our destination for breakfast… and guess who preemptively stalked us again? Yep, the Malimish family (and Kate & Ellen) were there waiting for us to arrive.After breakfast Kerri and I had planned to continue our paddle further down the shoreline to Cove Creek where the salmon were running upstream only to be blocked by a small waterfall.

It is here that they spawn and die, and finally become food for the many birds (and bears) in need of such sustenance. It isn’t easy, or rewarding, being a salmon.

[youtube_sc url=”https://youtu.be/9zFrMYT69wM”]

I then went on to imitate the local wildlife and caught my own damn fish with my ‘bear’ hands. The fish were promptly released to abide my state law that prohibits and fish being kept unless “hooked in the mouth”.

The successful paddle (and fish viewing) ended with a return back to camp to work for the day. We vowed to make another paddle into town after work for dinner, and did just that. Another smooth entry into port lead to a fine meal at a local restaurant but just as we were walking back to our kayaks, the rain began to fall.

At first I thought it may be a quick shower, but as we paddled out of the harbor the rain quickened its pace. We were both soaked within minutes but still had nearly a mile of open water paddling to do before arriving back to camp. We arrived soaked to the bone of course, but the entire experience was fun and exciting.

Sorry for the deluge of posts. A bunch happened today. We kayaked to town for donuts this morning and had so much fun, we decided to kayak back in for dinner. But as soon as we got back in and started paddling back home, an unexpected deluge hit. Luckily, we got to paddle a small portion of the way under the cover of the cruise ship port decking. It was another mile of full soakage on the open water to get home. Not exactly fun, but memorable!

A photo posted by Kerri 🌲🌵🌊🇺🇸 (@asolojourner) on Aug 11, 2015 at 12:01am PDT

Our final day in Whittier was filled with chores. Laundry (thanks to all the wet clothing), refueling, and packing filled the day before a late afternoon departure on our way into Anchorage for a few days of prep work for the drive back through Canada and into Washington in a few weeks.

Before leaving Whittier, Kerri and I both agreed that it tops the lists of all places we have gone in Alaska to date with Hope being a close 2nd. We were both very happy to have come to Whittier and would do so again if we had more time. We failed to explore a few areas on our itinerary and wished we had more time to finish them all.

A few more images of the days in Whittier.