Two if by land; one if by sea
By car or by ferry, visitors can experience Alaska's beauty on the state's three National Scenic Byways.
By STANTON H. PATTY
Published February 29, 2004
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[Photos: AP]
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| Vehicles drive south on Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm near Girdwood, Alaska, about 40 miles south of Anchorage. |
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| Ben Gorelick, a guide and instructor, ice climbs on Matanuska Glacier off Glenn Highway, near Anchorage in July 2003. The road-accessible glacier is a popular spot for summer ice climbers. |
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ANCHORAGE - It begins about 10 minutes south of Anchorage with an overture of mile-high mountains and a glacier-blue fiord.
This scene soars as the highway hugs snow-crested mountains and as motorists pause to watch beluga whales roll through a surging tide in search of salmon. Then the highway climbs almost a thousand feet, to green alpine meadows, before gliding downward to the North Pacific Ocean.
This is Alaska's Seward Highway, 127 miles from Anchorage to the port of Seward. And it is designated by federal agencies as an All-American Road and as a National Scenic Byway.
To qualify, the road must provide what the Transportation Department describes as an "exceptional traveling experience . . . a destination unto itself . . . the best of the best."
That places the Seward Highway in the same category as the Big Sur Highway along the California coast and the Oregon Coast's Pacific Coast Scenic Byway.
Alaska has three National Scenic Byways:
* The doubly honored Seward Highway.
* The 8,834-mile-long Alaska Marine Highway ferry system.
* And 135 miles of Glenn Highway, which connects Anchorage with Alaska's interior at Glennallen and Tok.
The Alaska Marine Highway is the only U.S. water route to win the national award. Because there are so few roads in the nation's largest state, many residents and visitors use Alaska Marine Highway System ferries for travel, bringing their cars and RVs with them.
The ferries' southernmost points are Bellingham, Wash., and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. They travel north and west to Prince William Sound and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Along the way, the nine-ferry fleet serves more than 30 ports, mostly communities without any surface-highway links to the rest of Alaska.
Here's a look at the specially designated roads.
Seward Highway
Geography: The two mountain ranges frame most of the highway, the Chugach (pronounced CHOO-gatch) and Kenai (KEY-nye) mountains. The fiord that parallels the highway is Turnagain Arm, a branch of the North Pacific's Cook Inlet.
Capt. James Cook, the British explorer, was forced to "turn again" in 1778, when he sailed into the body of water only to find it was not the Northwest Passage but a dead-end fiord. Seward (pop. 3,010), at one end of the highway, is a major port for Alaska's fleet of summertime cruise ships.
Highlights: Mile 9.2 from Anchorage: Potter Marsh, a nesting area for trumpeter swans, arctic terns, Canada geese and other birds.
Mile 16.6: Beluga Point, an observation spot where motorists can watch beluga whales in Turnagain Arm.
Mile 48.1: Turnoff to Portage Glacier and the port of Whittier. There's an excellent Forest Service visitor center on the way to Portage Glacier, but travelers must board a tour boat there to view the fast-retreating glacier. A toll road to the Prince William Sound port of Whittier branches from the Portage Glacier access road. The road to Whittier includes a 2.5-mile-long tunnel shared, at separate times, by vehicles and Alaska Railroad trains.
Mile 58.5: Turnagain Pass, emerald green in summer, snowscapes in winter, a favorite recreation area for cross-country skiers and snowmobilers.
Mile 79.3: Summit Lake, photogenic vistas, bright wildflowers and a year-round restaurant and lodge.
Seward: fresh halibut and salmon on restaurant menus, and the Alaska SeaLife Center, featuring puffins, sea lions, harbor seals and other marine life. Watch for signs along the highway for numerous hiking trails and campgrounds.
Driving conditions: The Seward Highway is open year-round, but there are occasional avalanche warnings in winter.
Planning ahead. There is only one fuel stop between Anchorage and Seward, at the Mile 37 junction with the Alyeska Highway to Girdwood and Alyeska Resort. Don't count on cell phones functioning along most of the Seward Highway because of the mountains.
Glenn Highway
Geography: Glenn Highway combines with the lesser-known Tok Cutoff to connect Anchorage with both Richardson Highway (Valdez to Fairbanks) and the famed Alaska Highway.
Glenn Highway meets Richardson Highway at Glennallen (pop. 554) in Alaska's interior. From Glennallen, motorists drive north 14 miles to Gakona Junction, there to begin the Tok Cutoff, which leads to the Alaska Highway at the crossroads community of Tok (pop. 1,393). Total distance between Anchorage and Tok is 328 miles.
Highlights: It is the 135 miles of Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Eureka Summit that have been designated a National Scenic Byway. The Glenn loops through river canyons with views of two mountain ranges and giant Matanuska Glacier.
One of the best glacier views is from Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site, a scenic overlook about 100 miles easterly from Anchorage.
Also worth a stop is Palmer (pop. 4,500), commercial center of the rich Matanuska Valley agricultural area. Farm families there grow jumbo cabbages and other vegetables under the long-daylight season of the midnight sun.
Driving conditions: Glenn Highway and Tok Cutoff are paved all the way and are open year-round. Highway construction can cause delays in several sections of Glenn Highway during summer.
Planning ahead: Fill fuel tanks at Glennallen or Gakona Junction before driving the lonely Tok Cutoff. Buy picnic supplies and sport-fishing licenses at Glennallen.
Alaska Marine Highway
Geography: Mainline ferries meander through Alaska's acclaimed Inside Passage, the sheltered waters of British Columbia and Southeastern Alaska on the way to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Sitka, Haines and Skagway.
Other Marine Highway vessels commute between the Prince William Sound communities of Whittier, Valdez and Cordova. And in summer, there are monthly runs westward from Homer and Kodiak to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians.
Another summertime special: monthly ferry runs from Juneau across the Gulf of Alaska to Seward. From Seward, visitors can drive the All-American Seward Highway to Anchorage or can ride the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage, Denali National Park (Mount McKinley) and Fairbanks.
Highlights: Ketchikan: sport fishing, sea kayaking and Indian totems.
Wrangell: Ancient petroglyphs, totems and a glimpse of small-town Alaska.
Petersburg: Alaska's "Little Norway," with Scandinavian heritage and a picturesque commercial-fishing fleet.
Juneau: scenic state capital, with Mendenhall Glacier near the Juneau airport.
Sitka: totems and St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, a reminder of the time when Sitka was the capital of Russian America.
Skagway: gold-rush history and the White Pass & Yukon Route narrow-gauge railroad.
Haines: mountain scenery and a road connection to the Alaska Highway and Canada's Yukon Territory.
Whittier: day cruises to glacier-rimmed College Fiord plus highway and railroad connections to Anchorage.
Valdez: access to Richardson Highway that leads north to Fairbanks, the Alaska Highway and a junction with the Glenn Highway.
Cordova: the lightly visited Copper River Delta, a flyway stopover point for trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes and other birds, then close encounters with 400-foot-high Childs Glacier as it tosses slabs of ice into Copper River.
Seward: gateway to Kenai Fiords National Park, with whales, sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters and other wildlife.
Homer: bountiful sport fishing for halibut on the tip of the Kenai Peninsula.
Kodiak: an island in the storm-tossed Gulf of Alaska with a Russian heritage.
Planning ahead: Passengers are able to leave the ferries at any port, then board other ferries to continue their journeys. Read ahead in visitor-information publications to choose shore activities ranging from rain-forest hikes to fishing charters. Cabins aboard the Marine Highway vessels sell out quickly each season. Economy-minded passengers sleep in airline-style reclining chairs in the ferry lounges or spread sleeping bags in heated, top-deck solariums.
Fares: Walk-on passengers - those without vehicles - find bargains along the ferry routes. The walk-on fare is only $27 for the four-hour trip between Juneau and Haines, $296 for the full mainline trip through Southeastern Alaska from Bellingham to Skagway.
Add $635 for a standard vehicle on the Bellingham-Skagway route.
- Stanton H. Patty, born and reared in Alaska, is the retired assistant travel editor of the Seattle Times.
If you go:
Alaska Travel Industry Association: Call toll-free 1-800-862-5275; www.travelalaska.com
Alaska Marine Highway: Call toll-free 1-800-642-0066; www.ferryalaska.com
The Milepost excellent guide to northern highways, with annual editions: Call toll-free 1-800-726-4707; www.themilepost.com
America's Byways: www.byways.org
[Last modified February 27, 2004, 10:48:05]
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Two if by land; one if by sea
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