After arriving in Seward, we decided to make a trip to the Spencer Glacier. The best access to this glacier is via the Alaska Railroad. There is a whistle stop along the route from both Whittier and Portage for the glacier. We decided on using Whittier as our station. By using Whittier, we were able to drive the Anderson Memorial Tunnel in both directions and ride the train through the tunnel both ways. The Anderson Memorial Tunnel is the longest highway tunnel and the longest combined highway and railroad tunnel in north America at 13,300 feet in length. It takes about 6-1/2 minutes at 25 MPH (speed limit) to travel through. A computer controls the traffic flows for both the railroad and private vehicles. The tunnel was built between 1941-1943 to help flow military supplies from the port of Whittier during WWII. There is a second tunnel just down track at Bear Valley which is 4,910 feet long. That’s a lot of tunneling in such a short distance!!
We arrived at the whistle stop and exited the train. Being railroad property, the stop was pretty nice with restrooms and a shelter for inclement weather. It was about a 1-1/4 mile hike to the glacier.
This is our view of the glacier at the shoreline. It would be an additional 1-3/4 mile hike to the face of the glacier, but we opted out. There were massive, blue tinted icebergs floating about. The glacier terminated at the Placer River (foreground).
There are more icebergs than we have seen at other glaciers. They also had more of the blue tint than we have seen before. We watched a couple of children shed their shoes and go knee deep to get some nearby floating ice. It was too slippery for me.
Cathy and I in front of the Spencer glacier. We almost took a swim, but the weather turned windy! Darn!!
We stopped for a minute on the return hike to smell the roses (wild roses, that is) and spotted these two mushrooms. They almost looked like gold balls.
On the return to the train, we took a detour to get a shot of one of the original wooden bridges, downstream from the glacier over the Placer River
Travelling with the Schinglers 