SEWARD – The Start of the Old Iditarod Trail

 

 

We arrived in Seward on July 5th a Beautiful sunny day. It was a couple of days after the “Mount Marathon Race.”  We knew it would be packed for this annual event and parade so without reservations we didn’t even try.  It would have been fun to see it though.

So that you know, it’s a 3-mile race from town to the turnaround spot on Mount Marathon at 2974 feet above sea level and back to town. Racers typically reach the turnaround rock in 33-40 minutes at a pace of 2mph. Then at a speed of about 12mph on the downhill slide, they make it to the finish line in 10 – 15 min. Many of which arrive injured or bleeding and covered in mud. There are about 350 men and 350 women accepted into this race as well as 200 juniors, all starting at different times by category.

The race evolved from a bet in a saloon, so we are told, to run to the top and back in one hour. According to many, the race started roughly around 1909. It began in 1915 as an organized event.  It’s believed to be the second oldest footrace in America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of our windows had a bay view. 

 

SEWARD, named for William S. Seward.  He had been a member of President Lincoln’s cabinet and had the foresight to purchase Alaska from Russia. After Lincoln died and the Civil War ended, the U.S. finally did finish the transaction. For pennies on the acre.   Thank you, Mr. Seward!!

 

Soon after we arrived, the rain began. We had perhaps a total of 3 days out of the ten we were here that the sun was shining for the day. I had plenty to do on the computer though, as I had promised to make a video/slideshow for the Boomerville 2018 group.  Now as it poured for several days, it was a good time to start that project.

I looked out the window this afternoon and in pouring rain, there was a young bald eagle and her sister feasting on a seagull..Yum

The Marathon campground where we are staying is convenient to town and the city sanitary dump is just across the street, so it was easy to take care of that issue.  $20.00 a night for a first come first served spot along Resurrection Bay seemed very fair to us. On the afternoon we arrived, we were fortunate to score the last RV spot. Good LTE Internet for AT&T as well as phone service and Fair signal for Verizon here, Verizon phone service was next to nothing in Seward town.

Mark went on a Chartered fishing trip with Captian Steve, Fish House Charters. “Harvestor” was the name of the boat. He caught a 65-pound Halibut (second largest on this trip) plus a 30-pound Halibut. The weather was turning Uglier, so they came in early that day. Gale force winds predicted for the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a six pack boat which is what he likes and the rest of the crew had flown in from Honolulu to fish for Halibut. A great bunch of fishermen and wahines.

 

 

This Giant weighed in at 285 was caught on a different boat.   Every one says Halibut over 100 pounds is not the best catch for eating so we were happy with the 65 pounder.  This one was so Ugly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seward was the start of the Old Iditarod trail. It used to be called the “Seward to Nome Trail” and was first mapped out in 1908 by a 4-person crew. Later the trail led from Anchorage to Nome reviving dog mushing in Alaska and around the world. In 1978, the Iditarod was designated as a National Historic Trail.

Mark enjoyed a few days fishing from the bank on the East side of Resurrection Bay. 

 

One of the best features of being on the waterfront was watching the many cruise ships come in and a couple of days later back out of the dock, spin around and head to the next destination.  We observed this several times while we were here. In torrential rain and fog and also sunny days.  More than once I was walking on the beach about 11 PM or midnight and saw them quietly leave port.

 

After several days of rain, we woke up to sunny skies and decided to make the trip to Whittier. It is a busy port and has an unusual tunnel that everyone says you need to experience. On the way, we stopped at Byron Glacier and the Visitor Center at Begich Boggs.

 

 

 

Now to travel through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel.  When we came to the toll booth, I handed Mark a $5.00 just guessing what the toll might be. The agent asked for $13.00, and I gasped.  I had no idea what we were about to experience.  We asked the agent what do we get for $13.00, and she said: “a drive through the Whittier tunnel, it’s special.”  OK, so we waited about 25 minutes for the tunnel to open to our direction.

 

The three-mile tunnel was built in 1943 as a railroad tunnel to connect inland Bear Valley with the small port city of Whittier.  The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel was constructed beneath Maynard Mountain and is now not only the longest highway tunnel in North America, but also one of the only ones to service both rail cars and automobiles, and is almost certainly the only one to use jet engines to keep the air fresh.   It is quite tight, and although we only drove the Jeep through it, we thought it might be a challenge to drive a 43′ RV and stay off the rail lines and the sides of rock tunnel.

The passage was constructed by the military during World War II to act as Alaska’s main supply route for goods arriving in the protected deep-water port in Whittier. When the military abandoned Whittier in the 1960’s, the tunnel was made a part of the Alaska highway system and given a massive overhaul. The traditional trestle tracks were replaced with a solid concrete pad that brought the rails flush with the ground so that now cars could use the long tunnel as well, making it one of the only dual-use tunnels in the country. To maintain air quality in the underground tunnel, actual jet engines were placed at each end of the tunnel which forces fresh air through a series of vents along the road.

 

 

Anton Anderson by the way, (1892-1960) was the chief engineer of the Alaska Railroad and was also Mayor of Anchorage from 1956 -1958.

We arrived in Whittier still in sunshine, a port town with quaint shacks and eateries as well as a very cool looking hotel.  You could also see the remnants of buildings from WWII that have been abandoned up on the hill above town. It’s too bad they can’t be made useful and not just a canvas for graffiti. About 200 people live in Whittier.

 

 

I was very impressed with the architecture of the Inn at Whittier.  I wish we would have known there were accommodations like this; we likely would have spent the night here.  Spectacular views of Prince William Sound and surrounding mountains from their lobby makes you want to grab a book and sit in one of their comfortable chairs and lose yourself here.  Even Lily would have been welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t know what Whittier might be like, but it was quite a pleasant surprise.

 

 

In Seward, we enjoyed lunch the next day at the Gold Rush, bought a carving and some fabric in downtown. I also visited the Alaska SeaLife Center.  One last dash up to the Exit Glacier and it was time to leave.

 

We were looking at a forecast of many days of rain.

We said our temporary goodbyes to Jeff and Kathie, we will be seeing them again in a few days in Soldotna.

 

 

We decided to head down to Soldotna for a night to stock up on supplies before heading any further south on the Kenai Peninsula. There are several of the RV to Alaska group heading in the same direction.  We will catch up with some of them I’m sure in Homer (the end of the road)

 Next camping spot, Ninilchik after a brief stop in Soldotna