Earthquakes & Glaciers - Anchorage

With Carol & Ptarmigan Captain

The largest earthquake in North American history, and one that was felt around the world, occurred near Anchorage on Good Friday 1964, and this was our next stop.

We had breakfast beside Denali – Mt McKinley peak was still shrouded in mist as we headed south, so we never did see it. Pity, but that’s the risk of a road trip.

All that’s left of Portage town

With a population of 300, 000, Anchorage is by far Alaska’s largest city, although the people are as friendly as Alaskans. The earthquake caused massive damage, permanently lifting land more than 30 feet in places, and killing at least 139 people.  Twelve died in California from the resulting tsunami. We’d booked a boat trip across Portage Lake to take us to the Glacier. To get to the lake we passed through what had been the town of Portage. Here the land had dropped during the earthquake, causing the town to sink below the high tide mark. As a result, Portage was abandoned; little remains today.

Fresh blue hole in Portage Glacier

Portage Glacier inches its way down into the lake – in the summer, bergs calve from the toe and float out into the lake where they gradually melt. And, you can see where the most recent bergs have calved because the glacier is a deep blue colour there; glacial ice may be up to 100 years old and over the years the ice compacts forcing out air bubbles and absorbing the red spectrum. Our vessel, the Ptarmigan, took us right up to the glacier – we could almost reach out and touch it, it seemed.

Anchorage’s most well known resident, these days anyway, is Sarah Palin, who famously said she could see Russia from her backyard. More than a stretch, and there were plenty of posters poking fun bearing her image. 

Iditarod Route

I trod carefully around the topic of Mrs P though, she is something of a hero here – she fought for an extra-large PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend) during her term as governor. This is the annual sum, largely from oil revenues, paid to every resident of Alaska, including children.

Talking of Russia, the westernmost city of any size in Alaska is Nome, the end of the annual Iditarod, the world’s most famous dog-sled race. The race follows a thousand mile (1,600km) course, west from Anchorage, over a collection of native trails in use for many hundreds of years. The trail was immortalized by the 1925 winter trek when 20 dog teams brought diphtheria serum to quell an outbreak in Nome.

Everything is wild and fresh in Alaska. That’s what Sacks Café in Anchorage promises – fish farming is illegal in the State. Several people we’d met recommended this café and we ate there - the food was all we’d hoped for…

Portage Glacier from the Lake

Next week we head for Chicken!