Posts Tagged With: Worthington Glacier AK

Driving to Valdez

Copper Center, AK. Wednesday August 21

The combination of wild fires by Denali and over in Siberia are making the skies hazy. The picture of Mt. Drum that finished yesterday’s blog could not be repeated today, you can not see the mountain. This was true all 100 miles south to Valdez, our destination for the day. Our original plan was to simply drive the Richardson Highway south to observe the glaciers and waterfalls that are just north of Valdez. But Valdez is only a short distance more and who wouldn’t want to visit Valdez??

Trans Alaska Pipeline terminus

Valdez has been called the Switzerland of America since it is ringed by mountains. It has the northernmost ice-free harbor in America. It is the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. It was founded as one of many towns to outfit gold miners heading to the northern gold fields. Its population is about 4,000. On Good Friday 1964 the town was destroyed by the largest recorded earthquake to hit North America. On Good Friday 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound.

Driving the RIchardson Highway to Valdez

The Richardson Highway south from Copper Center was very lightly traveled. We had been warned that culverts were being installed and to expect travel delays. Delays there were. Two long areas where one had to wait for a pilot car which led you through the construction zone at 12-20 mph. Each zone, each way, probably added 20 minutes to our day’s drive time. I earned my Coca-Cola reward when we got back to the Copper Princess Wilderness Lodge.

Waterfalls along the Richardson Highway north of Valdez

The scenery was blah for the first 50 miles or so, then the last 50 miles are in the middle of mountains on both sides, with numerous glaciers. Waterfalls were to be a highlight, two of them named similar to Yosemite, Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetail Falls. They did not truly resemble Yosemite’s falls. These two were pleasant but not overwhelming. All across America waterfalls superior to these exist; if you come to Valdez, don’t get your hopes too high.

We ate in downtown Valdez, pleasant sitting outside on a windless day in the 60s with hazy, smoky skies. We were able to people watch. The oil tankers load at the terminus of the pipeline, an area off-limits to civilians and beyond our view.

Town site of old Valdez destroyed in 1964 earthquake

We drove to the old town site of Valdez. The earthquake caused a tsunami and underwater earth slide. The town was destroyed as well as damage to several neighboring areas. In Valdez, 31 people died, mainly children. The town was so destroyed and the earth so messed up that the Army Corps of Engineers declared the area unsuitable for reconstruction. A new town site about four miles away was selected and is where Valdez is now located.

the gull “waterpark”

In Valdez we visited the salmon hatchery. Salmon have been overfished and streams blocked so the fish hatchery acts as an artificial spawning grounds. Fish have been raised here, released, then return to the hatchery where the eggs are artificially fertilized and raised. More salmon return than are needed to raise the next crop; one can observe dead salmon outside the hatchery decomposing and returning to nature. Supposedly bears come here to feast-we did not see any.

We did see some sort of gulls, lots of them. While most are just sitting around, a sizable group presented the appearance of birds at a water park. Water coming out of the hatchery and stream create a strong current. Gulls land at the head of the current and ride the current down to the sound where they then fly back to the head of the current and ride it down again. Amazing.

Worthington Glacier

On our way back to Copper Center we stopped at Worthington Glacier and hiked up a bit to get a better picture. The glacier has retreated but we also watched the water melt into a lake at its foot before tackling the construction zone.

A pleasant day, not overwhelming but pleasant. A lot of driving in order to see as much of Alaska as possible. Tomorrow it is up to Fairbanks. Current fire conditions have travel possible but slow south of Denali and road closed on a portion of the Kenai Penninsula-directly where we will be driving.

Salmon fighting to get back to the hatchery to spawn.

Ed and Chris. Copper Center August 22. 3:30 AM