About the KMTA GeoTrail:
Welcome to a geocaching trail exploring Alaska’s only National Heritage Area. In 2009, Congress designated the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm (KMTA) region of Southcentral Alaska as a National Heritage Area (NHA). This designation formally recognizes the history of an area that has deeply shaped the legacy of Alaska and the nation. It is the history of the Alutiiq, Sugpiaq, and Dena’ina people—the original stewards and inhabitants of the Kenai Peninsula. It’s that of the Iditarod National Historic Trail, Alaska Railroad, Gold Rush, Seward Highway, and local industries that give KMTA its character. KMTA’s geographic footprint bridges Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound via mountains, glacial valleys, and productive rivers. Throughout this landscape are communities and stories that connect us to our past and future. It includes the small and vibrant communities of Bird, Indian, Girdwood, Whittier, Hope, Cooper Landing, Moose Pass, and Seward, and all the wilderness between them. As Alaska’s only National Heritage Area, KMTA aims to enhance, preserve, and share the region’s natural and cultural resources— in essence its heritage. Above all else, KMTA strives to foster pride of place and an enduring stewardship ethic for this special place. As you travel through the Heritage Area to complete this GeoTrail, we encourage to keep that stewardship ethic front of mind as you learn about and enjoy the richness of the region.
As you search for the geocaches making up this GeoTrail, you’ll be asked to complete a passport that qualifies you to purchase the KMTA GeoTrail Geocoin. For more information on the Passport and GeoTrail, please visit KMTA-GeoTrail.GCAK.org
KMTA field guide link: https://kmtacorridor.org/field-trip-guide/
The unique code word for this cache is found on the front of the logbook and/or on the inside of the container lid.
**Cell coverage warning: this location may have limited cell phone coverage (at least for data). It would be wise to download the cache information before arriving at GZ.**
KMTA GeoTrail #18: The Old Primrose Bridge and the 1964 Earthquake!
Primrose - the Effects of the 1964 Earthquake, and life here in the early 1960s
This cache may not be accessible in wintertime due to snow berms and deep snow. It is not rated as 'winter accessible!'
When you turn west onto Primrose Road, you'll be on pavement for a few hundred yards. Slow down as the pavement ends. You must park on the right side in a wide spot on the shoulder (off the road!) just a few yards after getting onto the gravel roadway, next to two steel posts protecting a buried utility box. Carefully ease your vehicle to the north side of the road as far as possible - but don't go over the bluff! Dismount from your vehicle, and proceed to the telephone pole in front of you marked with the number T-190. WARNING - DO NOT PROCEED DIRECTLY TO THE CACHE FROM THE PARKING LOCATION! About 12 paces to the northwest of this pole, just before you reach where there's a large spruce tree growing off the right side of the road, you will descend northward down the bluff on a gentle grade for about 10 feet towards where the cache is hidden. After you have carefully eased your way down the bluff, observe the visual clues on-site that hint to a story not yet told...
- A Concrete Bridge Abutment
- Pilings out in water below (some are intact; some are not)
- Telephone cords dangling down the abutment
- Trees between abutment and slough below which appear younger than adjacent trees.
There’s more, but these are the main ones to help tell the story...
Welcome to a key local community location that was wiped out in the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. This bridge was from the original Seward Highway! The paved portion that your vehicle first traveled on was the original pre-'64 Earthquake roadbed of the Seward Highway. The road turned sharply right here at this abutment, then bore straight across on a 1/2 mile long wooden-piled bridge across the Snow River. It stood the test of time and lived through many jokulhlaups (flooding caused by the release of glacier-dammed lakes upstream in the Snow River headwaters) and raging floods. But it couldn’t withstand the enormous power of the 1964 earthquake! This bridge, like others in the area, failed and dropped down, forcing the pilings actually through the roadbed. In order to restore traffic flow at the time, the Army Corps of Engineers built a gravel pad to serve as a temporary roadway for traffic. Later, the bridge and the approaches you doubtless drove over the Snow River on today were constructed to replace this fallen original bridge.
View north of Kenai Lake from the Primrose Campground Boat Launch, on down the gravel road a bit northwest of this cache location. This road is often a bit potholed, so exercise care in driving on to the state campground at Primrose, along the southern tip of Kenai Lake. There is plenty of space for large vehicles and trailers to be turned around here, or to spend time for a picnic.
And now for the rest of the story about what you're seeing here (as conveyed by Tom Gillespie - a life-long Seward resident). Did you notice the dangling telephone cords across the abutment? (Please don't disturb this historic artifact!) They factor into the story as well. Tom Gillespie was friends with John Deck whose family was one of those who lived in the Primrose area. Now John’s father was one of about 300 longshoremen that worked to load and unload ships in the Seward harbor (remember, prior to the earthquake, Seward truly was the gateway to Alaska, being the major port for the transport of materials into the state.) None of the families here in Primrose had phones in their homes but there was a community phone — right under the bridge abutment. Every day John’s father needed to go down to the bridge and make a call to see if any boats were in that day needing his work. In today's time of high speed internet and cell phones, it’s important to remember that it wasn’t so long ago that telephone communication here was not widespread or simple! This telephone cord dangling down the old abutment serves as a reminder of how the little community of Primrose (found just a wee bit further down this road to the northwest) communicated with the rest of the world back in 1964, on the cusp of the earthquake that destroyed the bridge once standing here. It seems small today, but it's a reminder of a much larger back story to life on the Last Frontier at Primrose in the early 1960s.
You're encouraged to drive on to Primrose Campground for the absolutely terrific view of Kenai Lake from its southern tip (and to find the next cache in the KMTA GeoTrail!). Feel free to share photos of what you discovered during your visit to this historic location (but keep the cache out of sight, of course!)
This cache is maintained by local Alaskan geocacher NorthWes.
Please contact him with any questions or maintenance requests.
