Turnagain Pass is a low, wide opening in the Kenai Mountains, only about 1,000 feet above the sea, but it feels like the top of the world, since the peaks on either side hold snow most of the year. The Seward Highway crosses it between Girdwood and the Kenai Peninsula, running through open subalpine meadows, willow thickets and stands of mountain hemlock, and the air has a clean, cold, mossy smell. In winter the pass is a great white bowl, thick with snow, where skiers and snowmobilers gather, and in summer it is green and quiet.
The name has a lovely origin. When Captain James Cook sailed up this inlet in 1778, searching for a Northwest Passage, he followed one arm of the water until it ended in mudflats, and then had to turn again, and so gave the waterway the name Turnagain Arm. The pass takes its name from the arm. Cook's party had not found the passage they hoped for, but they gave the district a name that has lasted. The tides in the inlet are huge, and the arm remains one of the great sights of Alaska.
The ride over the pass is good, a smooth highway climbing in easy bends through wide valleys with big views. In summer, wildflowers cover the meadows, and moose browse in the willows, and in September the tundra turns red and gold. Traffic can be heavy, with tour buses, trucks and RVs, and the road is also a corridor for wildlife, so watch for moose, especially at dawn and dusk, when they step onto the road without warning. Weather can change swiftly, with fog, rain and wind, and snow can arrive early, so carry warm layers.
There are no services at the pass. A large turnout offers parking, toilets and trailheads, and in winter it is crowded with vehicles and snowmobile trailers, but nothing is sold. Girdwood, seventeen kilometres to the north, has fuel and food, and Seward and Cooper Landing on the Kenai side have more, so fill the tank before you climb. Mobile coverage can be patchy.
Stop at the turnout if the sky is clear, and look at the snowfields. The pass is quiet in a way that few places on a main highway ever are.