Walking the Whittier Tunnel
Lou says....
One thing Val and I enjoy is to do off-beat things that most tourists either don't have time for or aren't interested in doing. In issue nine I briefly mentioned the Whittier train-car tunnel and when we were there in the fall we learned that Whittier sponsors an annual walk through the tunnel. We immediately added this to the list of things we wanted to do and in June returned to join more than a thousand other people to walk the two and a half mile long tunnel.
Everyone was required to wear hard hats and I am assuming that was to protect against falling debris of which we encountered none. Inside the tunnel it took about two hours to walk its two and a half mile length. During our walk we learned there are eight safe rooms to be used as a refuge in case of emergencies. The rooms were equipped with blankets and emergency supplies.
The single lane tunnel, used only by trains since 1943, was paved in 2000 allowing it to be used by either train or auto traffic. Since it is only one lane the traffic direction switches every half hour. This is the longest combined rail and highway tunnel and second longest tunnel in North America.
Once through the tunnel a bus took us the rest of the way to Whittier where towns folk were putting on a celebration with music, food and other activities. When we were ready to leave another bus took us back to the Portage visitor center where we started.
Portage is another interesting place to visit where the main attactraction is a boat tour of Portage Lake and Portage Glacier.
While we were at Portage we stayed at the Williwaw National Forest Campground. Although the campground had no electric or water all of the sites were paved and the view of the mountains was absolutely spectacular.
One thing Val and I enjoy is to do off-beat things that most tourists either don't have time for or aren't interested in doing. In issue nine I briefly mentioned the Whittier train-car tunnel and when we were there in the fall we learned that Whittier sponsors an annual walk through the tunnel. We immediately added this to the list of things we wanted to do and in June returned to join more than a thousand other people to walk the two and a half mile long tunnel.
Everyone was required to wear hard hats and I am assuming that was to protect against falling debris of which we encountered none. Inside the tunnel it took about two hours to walk its two and a half mile length. During our walk we learned there are eight safe rooms to be used as a refuge in case of emergencies. The rooms were equipped with blankets and emergency supplies.
The single lane tunnel, used only by trains since 1943, was paved in 2000 allowing it to be used by either train or auto traffic. Since it is only one lane the traffic direction switches every half hour. This is the longest combined rail and highway tunnel and second longest tunnel in North America.
Once through the tunnel a bus took us the rest of the way to Whittier where towns folk were putting on a celebration with music, food and other activities. When we were ready to leave another bus took us back to the Portage visitor center where we started.
Portage is another interesting place to visit where the main attactraction is a boat tour of Portage Lake and Portage Glacier.
While we were at Portage we stayed at the Williwaw National Forest Campground. Although the campground had no electric or water all of the sites were paved and the view of the mountains was absolutely spectacular.
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Walking the Whittier Car/Train tunnel, a once a year event.
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