Portage Glacier, Alaska.

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 1 Comment

Portage Glacier, Alaska.

On Monday we had a little break in the heavy rain and decided to take the mv Ptarmigan boat tour on Portage Lake to Portage Glacier. Normally I avoid these type of short tours geared towards visitors, but since there was a Chugach Ranger on board, I needed to shoot it.  I gotta say, I was very pleasantly surprised! 

The tour is run by Gray Lines of Alaska and it lasts about an hour.  It costs $29, but you can take the 4:30 tour for $14.50 if you ask for the special rate.  At $14.50, it is one of the better values around  It is hard to find information on the web, this is the the most informative.

The tour makes a nice loop around the lake, and the Ranger provides just the right amount of narration.  The highlight without a doubt is Portage Glacier.  There was a time that Portage Lake was full of huge, beautiful ice bergs thanks to Portage Glacier.  Now that the glacier is beginning to retreat out of the lake, big ice bergs are more of the exception these days.  That doesn’t take away from the glacier its self – it is still a beautiful sight.

This image is of the face which was mostly in the shade which I think helped accentuate the blues.  There was just enough sun to catch the tops of some of the seracs – these back-lite seracs glowed as if the were internally illuminated and added what I felt was an interesting element to the image.

So the next time you find yourself in the Portage area with a little extra time, consider adding a boat ride to your itinerary.

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  1. Pingback: Portage Pass Trail, Alaska. » Niebrugge Images - Photo Blog

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