En Route to Valdez, Alaska

It might be worth your while to click on the photos to see them full size

This river racing out to the Gulf of Alaska

This is our RV in front of the Worthington Glacier

The glacier closer up

Bridal Veil Falls

Bald Eagle

Alaska Oil Pipeline

Valdez Harbor - where our RV park is located

Our RV Park with our back to the harbor

Drinks at the Tavern with the fishing boat owners

Glennallen to Valdez: At 11am we pulled out of our campsite by the creek, and made our way on the Richardson Hwy via Glennallen, to Valdez in the Gulf of Alaska, home to 40% of the world's glaciers! Valdez is surrounded by the tallest coastal mountains in North America. It was only about a 3 hour drive, but every turn in the road opened up such amazing scenery and we were gobsmacked by the views. Absolutely overwhelmed. The only wildlife to talk of was a salmon Murray caught when we stopped for lunch beside a river. As it is not salmon season yet, he tossed it back. We also saw a bald eagle perched on a dead tree. The road passed by the Bridal Falls waterfall and the Worthington Glacier, a glacier that has been steadily retreating for 150 years. We had to cross over Thompson Pass, the snowiest area in Alaska: it has the record for over 1000" of snow in a single season.

In 1964, a 9.2 earthquake and subsequent local waves destroyed the original town of Valdez, and it was re-located to its current position. It is the most northern ice-free port in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the terminal depot for the Alaska Pipeline that begins 800 miles of pipeline away in Prudhoe Bay within the Arctic Circle. When we drove into the new Valdez, we were overawed by the 360 degree mountain surrounds. Even though we are actually on the harbour, every which way you look, all you see are mountains. Our RV park is right on the harbour, but the town is only small (population under 5,000) and so we are within walking distance of the whole town.

After dinner, Murray got chatting to a chap on the docks, and we were invited to join their group in the tavern across from our RV park. It turned out they were 5 commercial fishing boat owners, 2 were brothers and another pair had known them since they were in their teens, plus there were a few ring ins. Apart from one chap, they were all younger than us and happy to chat about their lifestyle. They actually raise their kids on their boats! They summer here for the salmon run (we are a few weeks early it seems), then they head to Washington State where they fish for octopus. What an interesting evening.