Valdez

The trip down the Glenn Highway and Richardson Highway to Valdez has some of the most beautiful scenery we have seen in Alaska.  There are many turnouts and parking areas along the highway where you can stop and take in the scene.

This area has the most vivid greens I have ever seen.  We also passed by several glaciers.  The largest was Katanuska Glacier.  It averages over two miles wide and is four miles wide at its terminus.  The melt water is the source of the mighty Katanuska River.

The other large glacier is on the Richardson Highway about thirty miles from Valdez.  It is the Worthington Glacier.  There is a state recreation site at the base of the glacier.  There is parking and paved trails to a viewing area at the base of the glacier.  It is a spectacular site.

Katanuska Glacier

Worthington Glacier

Glenn Highway and Richardson Highway reintroduced us to frost heaves and gravel breaks.  Though not as bad as those on the Alaskan Highway, they became my refresher course in how to drive on these kind of roads.  A heave that looks bad may not be bad at all.  One that looks tame may catapult you out of the seat, breaking springs and other suspension hardware.  It is best to go slow at all times.  If someone behind me seems in a hurry, I pull off into a turnout and let them pass.  I am not going to destroy my equipment.  What is the rush.

Another beautiful lake.  I forget its name.

You learn a whole new vocabulary when visiting Alaska.  I will list some common terms below and their definition.
     Breakup:  Not when your spouse leaves you.  It is when melting snow raises the level of ice covered rivers causing the ice to break apart and flow downstream.
     Bush:  Anywhere without a road to get to it.
     Cheechako:  A newcomer.  Someone who hasn't spent a winter in Alaska.
     Outside:  Any place other than Alaska.  If you aren't from Alaska you are an Outsider.
     Sourdough:  Someone who has been in Alaska forever.
     Termination Dust:  The first light snow to fall on the mountain tops marking the end of summer.
     Frost Heave:  Areas where the pavement on the highway has sunk due to spring thaw resulting in a big dipsy doodle.
     Gravel Break:  Areas where frost heaves have been filled with gravel to level them out.
This is not a complete list by any means but you get the idea.

Just before you get to Valdez you cross over Thompson Pass.  It is known for its record snowfalls.  In the winter of 1952-53 it received 974.5 inches of snowfall.  That is 79 feet of snow!  When you enter the Richardson Highway from the Glenn Highway, there is a sign that advises you if the pass if open.  I imagine there are many days in the winter that Valdez is cutoff from the outside world due to snow.

The park ranger at Worthington Glacier showed us some photos of her home in Valdez taken during the winter.  Snow completely buries her house.  She keeps a snow shovel inside so she can keep the tunnel into the house open during snow storms.  She said if you don't dig out your windows, the snow freezes solid over them.  Then you have no light in the house the rest of the winter.  She showed us the photo of a two story house next to hers with snow up to the eaves.  The man built a lookout on top of the house so he could go up and see outside in the winter.  That is a bit extreme for me.  The ranger said she moved here 47 years ago from Cocoa Beach, Florida.  She thinks she is getting too old for the winters here and has been thinking of going back to Florida.  Boy is she in for a surprise if she hasn't been back to Florida in 47 years.

Can you see the fish in this photo?  There are at least one hundred.  Wish I had a polarized lens.

The ranger told us to be sure to visit the fish hatchery in Valdez.  They spawn pick salmon there and release them.  Each year the mature salmon return to the hatchery to deposit their eggs.  This provides a healthy catch each year for the commercial salmon fishermen.  Your can of pink salmon may have come from right here.

She said the bears come here to catch a salmon dinner.  Sure enough, one showed up.  He walked right past the people to the water.  Caught a salmon and walked right back past the people and back into the woods.  I didn't get that close as you can see from my photo.  Sometimes grizzlies would rather have a leg of man rather than a salmon.