Alaska Railroad’s
Coastal Classic passenger train departs downtown Anchorage every morning,
during the summer, for the 114.3 mile run to the deep water port of Seward
Alaska. Along its journey the train winds its way at a leisurely rate along salt
and freshwater coastlines and scales a vast mountain range giving its passengers
a front row seat to some of the most spectacular scenery in Alaska.
From downtown Anchorage
the Coastal Classic follows the upper Cook Inlet coastline southeast along
Turnagain Arm and after a brief stop in the community of Girdwood the route
continues on through the Kenai Mountains to emerge at the port of Seward Alaska.
We splurged and upgraded to the “Gold Star” seats to get to ride in the dome cars, great views of the passing scenery, and our own bartender. Well worth the additional expense we thought and trains are such a civilized way to travel!
Turnagain Arm, a fjord at the end of Cook Inlet known for its strong tidal forces, looked relatively calm during high tide. On the other side of the water the mountains of the Kenai Peninsula, summits shining under opening skies, beckoned us onward.
The dining area below
had linen tablecloths and fresh cut flowers, a nice touch, overall the food was
good and the service was excellent.
On our return we made a
whistle stop in the town of Girdwood to visit some friends and take in the
spectacular mountain scenery of their community. We greatly enjoyed our stay
there and wished we could have stayed longer!
As we
traveled deeper into the Kenai Mountains we passed other trains coming from
Seward and from an intersecting rail line that comes from the port town of
Whittier Alaska.
As the train climbed
towards the 1,063 foot summit pass the surrounding forest transitioned to
coastal temperate rainforest and the skies became a little cloudier. In this
photo the Trail Glacier cascades down between high mountains.
When we finally arrived back
at sea level at the Seward Station and after collecting our backpacks we hiked
the last several miles into town and our hotel. In the coming days we were
looking forward to hiking the extensive trail system at Caines Head State Recreation
Area and exploring the magical waterways of Kenai Fjords National Park.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and
narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.
Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by
vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” -Mark Twain