Portage Glacier (Winter)

Dogs Leashed

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Hike across frozen Portage Lake to its namesake glacier in the spectacular Chugach Mountains.

The visitor center is closed during the winter months.

Beginning at the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center head out onto the frozen Portage Lake. There are usually a few paths beaten into the snow to ease effort hiking across the frozen lake. Traction or snowshoes are recommended depending on conditions.

Head southeast across the lake for approximately two miles before rounding southwest into the large arm carved by the retreating glacier. Walk another mile to the face of Portage Glacier.

Please keep in mind that this is an active glacier, more so in the spring, that can release house-sized chunks of ice with little warning. Return the way you came.

Portage Glacier extended across what is now the lake in the early 1900's. The Visitor Center was named in memory of Congressmen Nick Begich of Alaska and Congressmen Hale Boggs of Louisiana. Both men were killed in a 1972 plane crash en route from Anchorage to Juneau.