Portage Lake
Glacial lake at Portage Valley; visitor center, boats, and Portage Glacier context.
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Portage Valley lies within Chugach National Forest; day-use, trails, and water access follow U.S. Forest Service and partner operator rules.
Portage Lake is a Southcentral landmark: cold, glacial water backed by peaks that make quick weather changes obvious from the shoreline. The valley pulls Anchorage-area traffic for a short drive into big-mountain scenery, and the lake itself is the foreground for Portage Glacier viewing—often by boat when operators run tours.
Use this page to orient, then follow Chugach NF and Alaska DOT information for road status, winter closures, and hazard reporting. Ice, wind, and cold rain can turn a casual stop into an equipment problem fast.
Practical notes
Seasonal boat tours and trailhead conditions change year to year. Verify hours, fees, and whether the visitor center is open before you plan around it. Treat any ice or shore travel as conditional on current advisories.
Sources
- U.S. Forest Service — Chugach National Forest — recreation · accessed · View source
- U.S. Geological Survey — GNIS — Portage Lake · accessed · View source
Summaries are compiled from public sources; verify fees, closures, and regulations with the managing agency. ALASKA.FYI does not provide legal advice.
60.7531, -148.8367 · WGS84
GNIS dataset · Wikidata pass
Map
truetopo.com Preview uses Leaflet with OpenTopoMap (OpenStreetMap-derived contours). Partner land/topo depth: TrueTopo via the link above.
60.7531, -148.8367 · WGS84 · zoom 12
Official map products
The U.S. Geological Survey publishes US Topo and historic quadrangles as downloadable PDF (often georeferenced GeoPDF). The Alaska Department of Natural Resources maintains a Map Library with free PDFs by topic and region. Use these primary sources for print-ready government topos—not the preview above.
Near this feature (WGS84): 60.7531, -148.8367 — paste into USGS topoView location search to find overlapping quads.
- USGS topoView ngmdb.usgs.gov Browse current and historical USGS topographic maps; download PDF, GeoPDF, GeoTIFF, and more by quadrangle.
- The National Map — Downloader apps.nationalmap.gov Search and download US Topo and other National Map products by area.
- USGS — Find & download topographic maps usgs.gov Official how-to (topoView, Map Locator, OnDemand Topos, etc.).
- Alaska DNR — Map Library dnr.alaska.gov State maps and publications; many titles are free PDF downloads (preview JPG/GIF, full PDF via Acrobat).
Nearest towns (by centroid)
Great-circle distance from this feature’s coordinates — not drive time.
- Region
- Southcentral
- Elevation
- 120 ft
- Latitude
- 60.7531
- Longitude
- -148.8367
GNIS ID 1414130 · Names and coordinates from USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), public domain. Sample records for development. Production builds should validate against USGS and applicable licenses.