(June 14-24, 2018 – Palmer/Wasilla Elks Lodge, Anchorage and Portage)
From Healy, Alaska, we headed down the Parks Highway to the Anchorage area for a three-night stay at the Palmer/Wasilla Elks Lodge. The drive took us through Denali State Park and past Talkeetna, areas with stunning mountain vistas.
Road conditions along the Parks Highway were good, with a few areas of summer road construction and escort vehicles. We ran into several rain showers along the way – one while going through a construction area. Our rig and vehicles ended up very dirty from that.
Scenic Palmer Elks Lodge
Travel Itinerary 2018 – Alaska Part II
We arrived at the Palmer Elks lodge in the early afternoon and were pleasantly surprised at how scenic the place was. The lodge is right on the shore of Finger Lake, and has stunning views of the lake and distant mountains. The lodge features a boat dock, boat ramp and a deck overlooking the lake.
Upon arrival at the lodge, we were the only rig in the small RV park area and had our pick of any of the 20 sites (30 amp electric-only hook ups). We selected a site with a fine lake view.
The first evening at the Elks lodge was sunny and spectacular. We hoped to get our kayaks out for a paddle around the lake during our stay. Unfortunately, a storm moved into the area and we had high winds and occasional heavy rain for the rest of our stay.
Running errands around Palmer and Anchorage
We did very little sight-seeing while in the Anchorage area, running a series of errands, instead. We picked up our mail shipment in Palmer and located an RV parts store, nearby. A bushing on the foot pedal flush mechanism on our RV toilet had become worn and was leaking – nasty. I picked up a replacement toilet and installed it during our stay. We ran several more errands, including grocery shopping and supply runs to Costco, Wal-Mart and Fred Myers.
We also dropped our Toyota Tundra off for its scheduled service appointment in Anchorage. The truck was due for regular maintenance – oil and filter change, tire rotation, and inspection. We had the service department check out a vibration in the front alignment or steering assembly. Bad news – there was an issue with the rack & pinion steering assembly, as well as a worn drive shaft carrier bearing.
The dealership ordered the required parts, with anticipated deliver in about a week. By then we would either be in Portage or Kenai, requiring a long drive to drop the truck off for the repairs. Not much we could do about it, though – we needed this repair done.
Portage Valley Cabins and RV Park
Leaving the Palmer Elks lodge we headed down the Seward Highway to Portage for a seven-night stay at Portage Valley Cabins and RV Park. The drive to Portage was amazing, as the highway hugs the shore of the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet. Spectacular glacier-carved mountains rise on both sides of the inlet – craggy peaks clad in forests at lower elevations and mantled with snow fields, higher up.
The Portage Valley campground is in an area of stunning natural beauty. The park has spectacular views of forested mountains, glacial valleys and snow fields. Reflections of mountain vistas are cast in the still waters of a small lake next to the campground. A fast flowing stream, milky with glacial sediment, flows past the campground.
The campground RV sites are very basic – 30 amp electric and water, only. The park has showers, portable toilets and an RV dump station. A central shelter with fire pit provides a nice gathering place for guests. Tucked back in the mountains, the RV park is in a dead zone for communications – with luck, a cell phone may have 1X service. The park has WiFi, with variable quality service.
The area around Portage is rain forest and receives a lot of precipitation during the year. Weather was quite variable during our stay. We had many days with overcast skies and occasional showers, interspersed with partly cloudy or sunny conditions.
We also had nearly 24-hours of howling winds and driving rain, just after arriving at the park. The winds are really funneled down the glacial valleys when a storm pushes through the Portage Pass!
Around Portage
During our stay at Portage we took scenic drives along the Turnagain inlet and elsewhere around the area, including stops at Portage Lake, Whittier, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC).
Whittier was especially interesting because it lies at the head of a fiord and the only road into town is through a 2.5 mile train tunnel. Vehicles using this one-lane tunnel pay a toll. Traffic dispatch alternates trains and batches of vehicles entering or leaving Whittier. The day we visited Whittier was overcast, foggy and rainy. Due to the overcast, we could not see much of the fiord or surrounding mountains, but still enjoyed sight-seeing around town, as well as lunch at a café along the marina boardwalk.
Another day we took a boat tour to the Portage Glacier. The day was overcast and drizzling, but the scenery was still spectacular. We saw many waterfalls along the way, as well as a few floating patches of ice. The face of the glacier was impressive and the ice had a deep blue coloration, most vivid when seen on a cloudy day. It was humbling to think of how far the ice has retreated in this warming climate. In 1910, the glacier filled all the area where Portage Lake is now.
The AWCC was fun to visit, too. The center has many native Alaskan animals in various pens and paddock enclosures. We especially enjoyed seeing black and brown bears, musk oxen, woodlands bison, elk, moose, caribou and wolves. Scenery around the center was amazing, too.
355 Wyatt's Windy Rd, Girdwood, AK 99587
Wasilla, AK 99654
245.1 Parks Hwy, Denali National Park and Preserve, AK 99755
We had a great time during our stay in Portage and would love to return another time. That’s all for now. Safe travels and enjoy the journey!
Hi Jerry! My dad was stationed in Whittier in 1956-57. Pretty sure he lived in the Buckner Barracks. His pictures were same what similar to yours only the building was off white. he said there was a tunnel from the barracks to the dock. He unloaded ships. Some of the boxes were labeled r-a-d-a-r. The young boy from Nebraska had no idea what that was! They had many drills where the whole company where in the hills about the town. They had no idea if the Russians were really invading or if it was a drill. He talked a lot about how it rained there, and then in the winter about the snow. They spent many hours shoveling snow off rooftops so the buildings wouldn’t collapse. He had several pictures of buildings that had collapsed. Do they still have gates at the entrances to the train tunnel?
(See other reply…)
RE: Drills – Must have really been interesting being on the frontier near Russia during height of the Cold War – never being sure if it would turn hot!
RE: Train tunnel – I didn’t look really close, but seemed like there could be gates to be lowered – at the very least there were arms to be lowered on the traffic lanes…
Hi Jerry!! My dad was stationed in Whittier in 1956-57. Pretty sure he lived in the Beckner Barracks. His pictures are very similar to yours. In his pictures it is off-white almost cream colored. i believe there was a tunnel from the barracks to the pier. He unloaded ships. His claim to fame was unloading the first passenger rail car in Alaska. That was the talk of the territory! Talk about the Army giving you a career, huh???!!! A cowboy from the Sandhills of NE unloading cargo ships. He talked a lot about his days in Alaska. About the rain and snow. After big snows they would have to push snow off the rooftops so the buildings wouldn’t collapse. He had pictures of buildings that had collapsed. He told about drills where the whole company would be in hills above the town. They never knew if Russia was really invading or if it was a drill. He said it was really hard to sleep in the summer as it never got dark just twilight. But the winters were brutal, it never got light just rained/snowed. It never really got brutally cold in the winter just lots of moisture.
Good to hear from you, Laurie! Great story about your dad. Way cool! I would have loved to do more of a photo shoot in the Buckner Building, but would have needed permission to enter. Just one of those awesome lost and abandoned urban exploration places. Not much chance for night photography in summer, but lots of great details for color or b/w art photography. I can just imagine how grim the winter could be with the damp cold, darkness and storm after storm.
Anyway, great you have the stories & thanks for sharing. BTW, say “Hi!” to Jim.
Correction–it was the first sleeper rail car that Dad unloaded.
Cool!