A hike to Portage Pass 7-26-12

Despite how much I LOVE hiking, I haven't been doing a lot of it lately because of some ongoing back issues. However, a friend did convince me to join her and a few others to hike to Portage Pass from the Whittier side of the pass. "It's a very easy hike!" she said. Well, I can tell you it might have been easy for most, but there were some aspects of this hike that made it one I should not have done. Thankfully though, it was worth a little extra pain to see such beautiful views. I'm glad I was able to get outside and enjoy such beautiful weather!

To give you a sense of where we were hiking, here's a Google map. The yellow line near the center of the image (near Whittier Airport) is the trail we hiked. You might want to click on the image so it enlarges. I know the details are quite small.

A view of one of the many glaciers in the area as we hike up to the pass.

Looking back down the trail to Passage Canal... the gateway to Prince William Sound from Whittier.

A view of Portage Glacier

Great place for a drink! Pretty clear water, actually... you can see some of the rocks under the water.

The "full" view of Portage Glacier, with Portage Lake in front of it.

It's just so beautiful around here! And yes, that sure is snow left over from last winter. At the end of July.

Looking back toward the town of Whittier and Passage Canal again.

Coming back down the trail... looking east across Passage Canal.

On the drive home (about 10:30pm I believe). If you refer back to the map, we're now looking toward Portage Glacier from the west/northwest end of Portage Lake.

'Til next time...