As We Travel: Turnagain Arm

Just a little way down the Seward Highway from Anchorage is Turnagain Arm, a wide channel that runs 40 miles from Cook Inlet almost to Portage Bay. It is surrounded by steep mountains and forms the northern boundary of the Kenai Peninsula.

We didn't have reservations for the July 4th weekend so we took a chance on getting a spot at the Bird Creek Campground 30 miles south of Anchorage. We were successful and spent July 4-6 "dry camping" in the Bird Creek overflow lot. The overflow lot has the advantage of being above the highway with great views of the arm.

We were greeted by a pair of eagles when we entered the campground. Hello!

The area also has a bike path, the 11 mile Bird to Gird(wood) trail, which is paved and runs alongside the Seward Highway.

See, we did ride our road bikes while in Alaska.

We cruised down to Bird Point where an overlook provided spectacular views.

Turnagain Arm is subject to extreme tides which can reach 6 feet and travel up to 6 mph. We saw pictures of people surfing on the bore tide. The day we saw the bore it was small, about a foot, but impressive nonetheless.

We drove to Girdwood and the Alyeska Ski Area to hike on the Winner Trail. The hike is 5 miles round trip partially on a boardwalk through the boreal forest. It follows Winner Creek and is home to lots of wildlife. Due to the number of people on the trail we didn't see any animals but did find wet moose hoof prints on the boardwalk.

This pic was taken on a heavily reinforced bridge that is used during the winter by sno-cats transporting skiers for out of bounds "cat skiing".

I took a ride across the creek on a "hand tram" which traveled about 200' across and 100' above the water.

As we hiked back to our car from the trailhead I was taken with the beautiful scenery and day.

After a long hike we rewarded ourselves with ice cream at a stand conveniently located at the bottom of the road.

A bit further down Turnagain Arm is a turnoff for Portage Lake/Glacier and the Byron Glacier. The Portage Glacier isn't visible from the visitors center but the lake is full of it's ice.