Girdwood/Portage Tour
Tour Includes: Narrated Tour, Transfers, Admission Fees to Big Game Alaska, Crow Creek Mine, and the Movie “Voice of the Ice”, Driver Gratuity and Logistics Staff Coordination. There is a 20 Person Minimum Requirement to Operate This Tour.
Departure From Alyeska: Departs at 1:00pm and Returns at 5:00pm.
Spend your afternoon enjoying the Girdwood and Portage Valleys. You’ll visit Portage where the 1964 earthquake caused the land to drop between 6 and 12 feet along the Turnagain Arm. High tides flooded the area, forcing the estimated 50 to 100 residents of Portage to move. Rustic old buildings and Ghost Forests are visible signs of remains by the invading saltwater.
You will explore Big Game Alaska; Alaska’s only drive-through wildlife viewing exhibit. This will be your opportunity to capture a glimpse of reindeer, buffalo, elk, musk ox, moose, eagles, or a Sitka blacktail deer.
You will then travel down Portage Glacier Road into Portage Valley. Glaciers from an earlier period carved the steep mountain slopes in this magnificent valley. Explorer Glacier can be seen high on the mountain. A stop will be made at the Begich Boggs Visitor Center to see the glaciology exhibits and enjoy a 20-minute film, “Voices of the Ice”. You will also have the opportunity to take pictures of glacial ice that has calved into Portage Lake.
Afterwards, you’ll visit Crow Creek Mine, now a National Historic Site. The first claims at Crow Creek were staked in 1897. Mining operations started thereafter, and the original buildings of 1898, which make up the camp, still stand today. This will be your opportunity to try your hand at gold panning!