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Published: September 2nd 2010
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WORTHINGTON
THIS IS ONLY ONE ARM OF A HUGE GLACIER THE MAJORITY WHICH CAN NOT BE SEEN FROM THIS ANGLE ... YOU ARE ABOUT A HALF MILE AWAY FROM THE LEADING EDGE OF THE GLACIER SEPTEMBER 1 TUESDAY
MONDAY
… we drove from glennallen to valdez … it’s not that far by alaskan standards … perhaps a little over a hundred miles … the road is known as the richardson highway and was the main road on the all american route to the klondike … it is spectacular … about 10 miles out of glenallen we stopped at the st. elias-wrangel national park visitors center … st. elias-wrangel is 4 times larger than is yellowstone … it is by far the largest national park in the u.s. and it contains the largest contingent of glaciers in continental north america, and, if I remember correctly, 11 of the 15 tallest mountains in north america … it is essentially an all wilderness park with only two gravel roads … the visitor center was most interesting … we watched a fabulous video about the park … i bought a copy of the video for 17 dollars … we went on a short hike with an extremely knowledgeable ranger and learned a lot about the flora and fauna of the boreal forest …
… the next 100 miles were
MARILYN'S EAGLE
THIS PUPPY IS VERY LARGE ... WE DIDN'T GET THAT CLOSE TO IT AS THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN TELEPHOTO AND THEN CROPPED awe inspiring … mountainous with an abundance of glaciers … we stopped at the worthington glacier and marilyn and i hiked up to within a quarter of a mile of the terminus of the glacier … others were closer but prudence ruled and we stayed a safe distance away … the photos won’t do it justice … every glacier we have seen is unique … and what you see of this glacier seems small, but in actuality, the ice-field above it is monstrous …
… the pass the Richardson highway takes is low … only 2,600 feet above sea level …, however, it receives more 30 feet of snow each winter … the pass is above the tree line and the views from the top are beyond description …
… there is not a lot of traffic on the richardson highway, however, it is a wonderful road that is well maintained …
… valdez was started with the klondike gold rush of 1898 … it is also the terminus of the alaskan pipeline … valdez was made famous by the exon valdez oil spill which devistated thousands. yes, thouands of miles of coastal alaksa … if
OUR FIRST BEAR
THINK THIS IS A LARGE BLACK BEAR ... THE PICTURE IS TELEPHOTO BUT HE IS MORE INTERESTED IN EATING ROTTEN FISH THAN HE IS ABOUT US ... you go to google and look at the prince william sound area you will see the 50 miles as the eagle flies can contain hundreds of miles of coast line … fishermen from seward and homer were affected … and the consequences of the spill are still glaringly evident … locals we have talked to are still very angry and don’t want to talk about it …
TODAY, WEDNESDAY
… we must be very tired because marilyn slept more than 12 hours last night and only awaked because of loud noises in the campground …
… there are two local museums here in valdez that are connected somehow … the first is a historical gem … i bought 3 raffle tickets for my susie … there will be 3 winners … a quilt, a muff made out of an otter pelt, and a big teddy bear made from seal and otter pelts … we took a couple of hours reading about every exhibit and then drove over to the second museum and watched a 40 minute video presentation on the beginnings of valdez, the building of the richardson highway,
ALINER SUPPER
MARILYN EATING SUPPER IN HER "APARTMENT" IN THE ALINER ... SANDWICH, GRAPES,AND CHEESE ... plus the devastation from the 1964 earthquake … valdez lost 33 people from the resulting tsunami … this earthquake was a 9.2 … the second strongest earthquake ever recorded …
… we drove out to the valdez glacier … it is difficult to see the glacier because of the configuration of the mountains … on the way back to town we visited the city of valdez campground and there, within 50 feet of one of the camping trailers, marilyn spotted an immature bald eagle on the ground … we watched it for about 10 minutes and though it flexed it’s wings and stretched so that we could see that it didn’t have anything in it’s talons, it didn’t move …
… we went around the end of the bay and over to where the road is blocked off by the entrance to the holding tanks for the alaskan pipeline … lots of people were fishing, we didn’t, as our licenses have expired …
… we saw a huge black bear eating rotten salmon in a stream along side the road … there were thousands of dead fish in the area and others spawning and therefore in the process of dying … the rotting carcasses put neutrients back into the water to feed the small organisms on which the salmon fry feed …
… the bear knew that we were present but he was interested in eating … we both took great pictures of “our” bear …
… it was rainy day here in valdez … according to a sign valdez gets 360 inches of snow a winter and the snow sticks around until late may and/or early june … it was 40 degrees last night and will be 40 again tonight so once the temp drops 8 more degrees the snow will start falling …
… If i remember correctly we wrote about the “2 for the price of 1” booklet that is the best buy in Alaska … … we are booked for a 5 hour nature and glacier boat trip tomorrow at 11 … weather.com says we will have possible rain in the a.m. with partly cloudy skies in the p.m. …
… rain or shine alaska is truly magnificent …
shalom, shaloms …
-enjoyingeverymomentofthisfabulousadventurerichard
p.s. writing a blog is an exercise in writing a first draft … if we were to do as we might, that is, edit and re-edit the blog, it would never get published …
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