Driving the Seward Highway Along Turnagain Arm: Beluga Point, Bore Tide & Alyeska Tram (Girdwood)

Starting at the southern edge of Anchorage, the Seward Highway (Alaska Route 1, an All-American Road) is carved into a rock ledge between the 1,000-metre cliffs of the Chugach Mountains and the waters of Turnagain Arm, named by Captain James Cook's navigator William Bligh in 1778 when the inlet forced the British ships to 'turn again'. Allow a half-day to drive the 64 kilometres (40 miles) to Girdwood, stopping at these paved turnouts (counted by Milepost north from Seward):

1. The 4 Best Turnouts Along Turnagain Arm (Milepost 117 to Milepost 90)

1. Milepost 117, Potter Marsh Boardwalk (15 Mins South): a flat 470-metre wooden boardwalk over a wetland with bald eagles, trumpeter swans, moose and spawning salmon.
2. Milepost 110.5, Beluga Point Lookout: a rocky promontory jutting into Turnagain Arm with viewing telescopes. From mid-July through September, pods of white endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales chase salmon past this point on the incoming tide.
3. Milepost 106.8, Windy Corner (Wild Dall Sheep): pull into the turnout and scan the dark rock cliffs 20 to 50 metres above the highway, where white Dall Sheep (Ovis dalli) with curved golden horns stand on narrow ledges above the road.
4. Milepost 103 to 96.5, Bird Point & Turnagain Arm Bore Tide: roughly 2 to 3 hours after extreme low tide around a new or full moon, the incoming ocean arrives as a single 1-to-2-metre foaming wave wall, a bore tide, rolling up the inlet while local surfers and kayakers ride the wave.

2. Milepost 90 (40 Mins South): Girdwood, Alyeska Tram & Virgin Creek Falls

Turn left into Girdwood, Alaska's northernmost temperate rainforest town, and drive 3 miles to Alyeska Resort. Board the Alyeska Aerial Tram (check the official site for rates), which glides 700 vertical metres in 7 minutes up Mount Alyeska to a deck overlooking Turnagain Arm and seven hanging glaciers, with dining at the Bore Tide Deli and Seven Glaciers. Before continuing south to Portage Glacier, walk 15 minutes at the end of Timberline Drive to Virgin Creek Falls, and try mushroom soup and sourdough bread at The Bake Shop or Double Musky Inn.