Portage Pass Trail – Alaska

We enjoyed the short Portage Pass Trail day hike out of Whittier.

Hiking author Dean Littlepage:

… A half-day or overnight hike to Portage Pass, Portage Lake, and an overlook of Portage Glacier.

Portage Pass is a beautiful spot in its own right, and this hike is also the easiest way to get a good view of the face of Portage Glacier since it melted back out of sight of the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center, in 1993.

A moderate hike to an outstanding destination, this trip offers a reward-to-effort ratio that’s right up there with the best Southcentral Alaska has to offer.

Portage Pass is a gap gouged out of the earth long ago by a lobe of Portage Glacier and opened up for hikers by the glacier’s retreat of the last century.

The trail has history too; in the 1890s, when the Alaska Gold Rush brought in the first big influx of non-Natives, steamships docked at the foot of Portage Pass, where Whittier is now, and dropped off prospectors headed for gold strikes near Hope and Sunrise on Turnagain Arm. They hauled their supplies up the steep east face of the glacier with ropes and pulleys, hiked a beaten path across the ice through Portage Pass, and rambled down to Turnagain Arm and the diggings.

Special features: A glacial landscape, alpine scenery, and historic interest.

Portage Pass Trail | Alaska Hikes

Recommended for the Portage Trail is Hiking Alaska, 2nd: A Guide to Alaska’s Greatest Hiking Adventures