Whittier, AK

We decided to drive to Whittier, Alaska today.  Whittier is a very small community completely isolated from the rest of Alaska.  The village was founded by the US Army during World War 2 and was a top secret refueling base for submarines.  The military dug a tunnel over two miles long under a mountain to access this deep water harbor.  The tunnel is a single lane and is the longest tunnel in North America.

There is a special procedure for traveling the tunnel.  There are staging areas at both end.  Vehicles are lined up in lanes according to type.  Every 15 minutes the tunnel opens for travel one way or the other.  There is a system of red and green lights that signal when you can proceed into the tunnel.  Other lights regulate the spacing of vehicles so we aren't too close together inside the tunnel.  You pay a toll to use the tunnel depending on the size of your vehicle.  The round trip toll for us was $20.00.

Whittier is beautiful.  It has a boat harbor with many sport fishing boats docked there.  There are also two tour boats that operate out of the harbor as well as a ferry that goes to Valdez.  There are a few shops and restaurants along a boardwalk on the waterfront.  That is about it.  The entire year around population of the village is 150.  That swells to about 300 when the various venders come for the summer.  Everyone lives in one large building that resembles a condo down home though not nearly as elegant. 

There is a very large abandoned building where troops were housed after the war.  At the time of its construction in 1950, it was the largest building in Alaska.  

The mountains that surround the harbor are snow capped with glaciers on many of them.  We are camped next to a glacier runoff stream.  Large streams of water cascade down the face of the mountains around us.  Below the snow everything is green and lush.  I haven't seen a more beautiful place.  

We met a man today who moved here from South Carolina a couple of years ago.  He loves it here.  He lives on the eighth floor of the condo with a view of the harbor.  He says he can sit there for hours and just take in the scene, winter or summer.  He never tires of it.  

He said there is no crime here because no one can get away afterward.  You have to go through the tunnel.  He said the only crime he knows of happened last winter when a guy got into an argument with his wife and hit her.  He went down to the lobby and waited for the police.  He knew he couldn’t run anywhere to avoid being arrested.  I’m thinking this might be a good place for a prison.

Though it is beautiful here, I would start to feel very isolated in time.  Snow piles as high as the roof tops in winter so moving around much is difficult.  The tunnel has shorter operating hours in the winter also.  It isn’t a place you can just decide to leave when you want too.  

A funky gift shop.

We got to visit with many people from many places today.  All have their own Alaska adventures to share.  One couple had a horror story about crossing into Canada and going through customs.  The customs agents thought they looked suspicious for some reason.  They ushered them from their motor home and did a complete search.  They tore the thing up and even broke some things.  When they were done and had found nothing they let them continue with no apologies or explanations.  They said it has given their trip a bad start.

Another told of someone driving a motor home on the Alaska Highway who lost his tow vehicle and didn’t know it.  The thing broke the tow bar on a frost heavy and ran down over an embankment.  They chased the guy for several miles trying to get him to stop so they could let him know what happened.  They never did get him to stop.  He was going too fast for them.

Tomorrow, we will drive down to Seward just to see what is there.  You never run out of awesome scenery so if there is nothing else there we know it will be beautiful.  It has been a very warm sunny day.  We hope this weather continues but we know it won’t last.  This is Alaska.