Blogs from Valdez, Alaska, United States, North America - page 5

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 ... read more

Here are the photos from yesterday. The wi-fi is better here!... read more

Geo: 61.1308, -146.348 Friday, 7/30/2010 –Drove to Valdez (pronounced VALDEEZE) by retracing the drive along the Tok cutoff and then took the Richardson Highway south of Glennallen. Stopped at the main Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center near Copper Center and hiked a short trail there while waiting for it to open at 9:00. Saw the park movie and talked a bit with a very nice and informative ranger there, then drove on to Copper Center where we purchased a couple of wraps at a place called “The Fisherman's Widow” for lunch later that day . Anne got a small one with veggie stuff (humus, veggies, etc.) and I got a Bacon Ranch Chicken wrap. Both were huge and delicious. I had gotten a large one and could only eat half for lunch. (Unfortunately, I left the other ... read more

We all got in the van (Moe, too) and headed south on Highway 4, Richardson Highway. The skies were pretty clear and we stopped at a couple of overlooks to get pictures of the top of Mt. Drum, which we couldn't see yesterday for the clouds. Later, the beautiful snow-covered Chugach Mountains came into view with their many glaciers. We stopped at Worthington Glacier SP to walk fairly close to a glacier. We really did get a kick out of seeing a glacier up close. The funny thing was, there were seagulls swimming in the cold waters of the glacial pond, between the sheets of ice. After crossing Thompson Pass, there was a pulloff with a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains and glaciers. It was awesome. We then drove through Keystone Canyon with ... read more

Valdez, approx. population 5,000, sits at the mouth of Prince William Sound and is home to the Alyeska Marine Terminal, where oil from Prudhoe Bay travels nearly 800 miles through the TransAlaska Oil Pipe Line and is loaded onto tankers—over a million barrels each day. The bay is surprisingly ice-free, but Valdez is billed as the snow capital of Alaska due to its record accumulations. The town, across the bay from the Marine Terminal, is surrounded by glacier-studded mountains which rise straight up from the water to about 7,000 feet. Waterfalls spill down the mountain sides, and clouds descend below the jagged peaks. While the town itself is rather ho-hum, the scenery surrounding it is quite lovely. The town of Valdez was actually moved from its original location after a massive 9.2 earthquake in 1964—the largest ... read more