Glaciers, a Ski Resort Recon Mission and Another Laundromat

Portage/Girdwood, AK has all three my friends and oh yeh, Wi-Fi at the laundromat to boot. Exactly the four ingredients we were looking for to make the day (Wednesday July 6th) a complete success.
Just 40 miles south of the Anchorage airport lies Alyeska Ski Resort a place I've been wanting to check out since seeing it on a Warren Miller movie some years back.


Granted this is not ski season but I'm doing some recon for perhaps a return visit to AK for a couple of weeks in the wintertime. It'd be great I think - take in a few days at Alyeska, maybe do some heli skiing, do some snow machining (don't dare call it a snowmobile up here), a bit of ice fishing, catch a segment of the Iditarod, hit some great restaurants and breweries around Anchorage - who's ready to join me? RT airfare on Alaska Air from SD is about $400, about the same to fly to the resorts in Colorado, Utah or BC (maybe even less).

The ski resort looked just fine and the little town of Girdwood is your classic laid back, hippy, artsy, ski bum type of an affair - overall a pretty nice town and one that I could easily see myself having a good time in while skiing for a few days. The resort/lodge is first rate and lift tickets are, get this, $65 a day - a far cry from the $110 we pay at Mammoth Mountain in CA and even more at some of the CO resorts like Aspen, Vail, etc.

We needed to get laundry done as we will be out in the boonies the next week or so at Denali so we hauled our smelly ass clothes with us in hopes of finding a laundromat along the way.
Girdwood delivers!

Check out the fine Girdwood Laundromall (combining my two favorite destinations, a laundromat and a mall, into one name) voted America's #1 laundromat and world renown (sic), who knew?


Chatted with the owner Danny for quite awhile, nice man probably in his 70's who also co-owns the weed shop next door. Moved out here from Philly in 1979, bought the land and built this center in 2000 and hasn't looked back. Spends his winters on the Big Island and is loving life.

He explained the bureacratic maze he and his attorney partner have gone thru to get the cannabis store licensed, approved, operators/owners certifications, the labyrinth of taxing structure from local municipal, county and State - sounded like a very complicated and expensive procedure. He's not sure if it was worth it, but he's hopeful business will grow. I kinda think it will Danny, hang in there. Also, owning a laundromat and a weed shop, both heavy cash only businesses with discreet/anonymous customers, I'm guessing your tax woes won't be so bad - if you get my drift gentle readers.

Also talked with his buddy and customer Rick who moved to Girdwood in 1960 as a young teenager right when Alyeska opened. Competitive skiier all his life, combat medic in Vietnam and now enjoying retirement in his hometown. Both nice men who gave us some great tips on sights for us to see along the way. Thanks Danny and Rick, nice to meet you guys and we enjoyed the talk.

Yes, it's settled, I've now made my mind up - I'm coming back here during the winter.

Laundry all fresh and clean and stories with two nice locals completed we made a short drive from Girdwood to view the eye candy that is the Porter Glacier.

Porter is a rapidly receding glacier so it is constantly calving off huge chunks of ice into the glacial lake around it. Interesting, as we have seen several glaciers up here that are advancing, like the Worthington Glacier I reported on back in Valdez, AK. It is all very dependent upon the glaciers orientation towards the sun - south facing glaciers are generally receding, north facing are mostly advancing - and also dependent on the amount of snow received in an average year with the glaciers nearer the coast getting more snow which is wetter and more dense. This glaciology stuff is starting to really pique my interest, fascinating subject.

While driving around the area we came upon a most excellent boondock spot in the Chugach National Forest located next to a glacial lake with mountains/glaciers surrounding it. Think we'll head there tomorrow and set up for the night.

Campsite is located at the trailhead to the 5 mile Trail of Blue Ice which is supposed to be a knockout, must do trail - think I'll traverse it on my bike. The trail ends at the magnificent Begich Boggs Nature Center focusing on glaciers and run by the US Forest Service. Named in honor of Louisiana Congressman Hale Boggs and AK Congressman Nick Begich who were killed in an airplane accident in 1972. Now at the time Congressman Boggs was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, kind of a big deal guy to go missing. Every air, sea and land force was mobilized to find the missing flight from Juneau to Anchorage for 90 days but as far as I know the wreckage and remains were never found. You can imagine the effort expended to find the person who was fourth, maybe third(?) in line to the Presidency.

OK so post update dear followers.....
Everything we wanted to happen today did happen, except for the boondock spot. I had a gut feeling it was going to be taken before we arrived and sure enough we roll in and there are 3 tents, a trailer AND an RV parked in our scoped out boondock spot. But all things happen for a reason, sorry to get Zen like on you all, but I have to chalk it up to something. If we had secured the boondock spot we would have missed the 10:30 AM Portage Glacier sailing which turned out to be, weatherwise, the best time of this season to view the glacier (according to the Park Service ranger on board).

The lighting was breathtaking and ever changing - as the boat slowly moved next to the glacier the colors and shadows changed every second to give it a kaleidoscope effect. And a kaleidoscope is a good reference point - you remember as a kid looking thru your first kaleidoscope? You looked thru, hey that was cool looking and then you turned the dial and said - wow, that was way cooler than the last thing I saw! Well, as the boat SLOWLY meandered by the glacier I was thinking of my first experience with a kaleidoscope and I will never forget the ever changing blue and white majesty of Porter Galcier on a fine July morning, I had no idea the color white has so many different shades and looks. It was the most visually jaw dropping experience of my life, no doubt.


I did ride the Trail of Blue Ice and it was magnificent. I dragged my Giant mountain bike some 4000 miles just for this trail - totally worth it!

The Avenue of the Giants in CA redwood country was an epic ride but this one is right up there. I mean, hell, riding your bike thru a glacial valley surrounded by blue ice is pretty tough to beat.  By the way, I have a gnarly midnight ride planned for Denali next week, pics and report to follow.

Posted up at Williwaw Campground tonite with a huge hanging glacier gracing our view.  I swear I could look at this sight every night for the rest of my life and die with a huge ass smile on my face. That's no bullshit either.

Here's the shot of Midnight Alpenglow taken above our campsite at Williwaw....


Off to Anchorage tomorrow Friday the 8th to meet up with my sister Sue, hooray!

Post script - I'm posting this from the Centennial Campground in Anchorage Saturday morning July 9th. We leave later on for Denali.
Sue arrived safe and sound last night, we enjoyed a lovely dinner in downtown Anchorage, hit the Fred Meyer for a week of groceries and sat around camp BS'ing and catching up - it is SO good to see her, we're gonna have a ball.
Incidentally, yesterday was the nicest day we've seen yet in AK. It was so clear you could see Mt. Denali 150 miles away from downtown Anchorage which is a pretty rare event. I talked to one guy who said he spent 10 days in Denali NP and never saw the mountain...and our dear old Sclo sees it w/in the first 10 minutes of arriving. Great way to start her trip for sure...good omen of good things to come methinks! Pics to follow...
We'll be out of cell contact until Thursday so you guys take care and we'll catch up after Denali.