Portage creek is within an hour's drive of Anchorage and provides a scenic wilderness paddle between Portage Lake and Turnagain Arm. The 7-mile section of glacial river offers some impressive and beautiful mountain scenery. The river is a class II run with lots of fast riffles, shallow gravel sandbars, sweepers, meandering channels, and very cold water. The run starts just on the other side of the bridge from the lake. Paddling the glacial lake is not advised as the weather can change very quickly resulting in windy weather and very rough water.