Contributed by Dick Palmatier
A waterfall is a memorable thing. Niagra Falls is spectacular and is, of course, world renown. Victoria Falls, in Africa, is even more so. But, some other falls I have seen here in Alaska are just as memorable. Many are off the beaten track.
In Portage, if you walk the railroad bed and turn off at the right spot, you’ll come upon a falls, dropping two-hundred yards off the mountain. It’s not visible unless you look for it.
There’s a trail up Montana Creek that, if you follow it far enough you’ll come upon a place where the creek cascades down from the mountain. It’s probably a one-hundred foot drop with a large, deep water hole below. Beautiful!
More accessible is Bridal Veil Falls on the way to Valdez. It the most noticeable of all the falls alongside the highway through the canyon.
There’s a chute, or minor falls, along the Gulkana River and one on the Talachulitna. If you ever see them or ride down them in a raft, you’ll never forget them.
“I think that I shall never recall a poem as lovely as a waterfall.”
– With apologies to Joyce Kilmer.
