Down to Valdez

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Ever wonder what a weir is? It's a man made waterfall. This one is the Bear Creek Weir in Palmer, AK. It's used by the fish hatchery to count the number and type of salmon going upstream. If you look closely you can see the salmon swimming below the weir.

The mountainous pictures are of Valdez - right where the oil comes from. It's a little town of 3,000 set beside these huge mountains and glaciers. The colorful fleet of power boats are primarily personal use. Hearty folk, they are, who calling it fun, boot and suit up to spend a day fishing in 2' seas and worse, freezing water and 59 degree, drizzling weather. A few of our group have tried their hand and are taking home over sixty pounds of salmon. For the healthcare people, this is the Providence Valdez Hospital. You probably can't see the waterfall on the mountain but they are all over. It might look small and rural but the wind sock suggests helicopter transport.

The sea lion is feasting among the spawning salmon at the Solomon Creek fish hatchery. Literally tens of thousands of dead fish here, having dutifully performed their reproductive chore. There are almost as many gulls. The other animal attracted to the free lunch are bears. We saw this fellow last eve on the side of the road. He ate to his heart's content until his partner signaled it was time to go. We could hear the mewing sound of their communication.

We are having our second day of filtered sunlight, ending at least 10 days of rain. Yahoo!

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Comments

[Margie E Brown]

Great photos. (some are inverted). What a wonderful excursion you are on. How many photos are you up to?????

[RSSiemer]

Photos/pics
Pictures at 150; thanks for comment on picture. I’ll try to straighten out in the future.