Blogs from Valdez, Alaska, United States, North America - page 7

Thursday July 19, 2007 Another sunny day! We continued north on the Alaska Hwy and back into the USA. Eventually our route took us southwest and the 2 different roads we traveled were basically in the same condition as the Alaska Hwy. Traffic increased a little. Towns, villages and services are about 100-150 miles apart and there is nothing in between. The scenery was the same as yesterday, but when we headed SW, snowcapped mountains came into view and there were more lakes and rushing rivers. The day warmed up, probably into the high 70’s and we actually needed the ac in the truck cab. There are so many bugs, you really don’t want to open the windows. About 50 miles outside of Valdez the landscape changed dramatically. The road passed tall mountains and the ... read more

Valdez, AK pop. 4,454 We had heard that this was a scenic area and wanted to see for ourselves. It’s not on the way to anywhere else, but was worth the drive. The last 60 miles leading into Valdez were spectacular with glaciers, mountains, canyons and waterfalls. We camped at Glacier View Campground for $10/night dry camping. This campground was shared with black bears, including some cubs. We never actually saw them, but they were the talk of the park. Apparently one large bear would make the rounds every morning and circle each vehicle or camper. One truck got a good shaking by the bear trying to get something inside. One cooler was dragged off into the woods. Alaskans do seem to be much more relaxed about sharing their space with wildlife than us “outsiders.” ... read more

Another update from our intrepid travellers in Alaska. The three of them are all well and in great sprits in Valdez in the south of the state. When I recieved the email they had just finsihed a 6 hour wildlife and glacier cruise. "Was wonderful, wtih black and white dolphins, humpback whales, seals and sea otters all around. The Colombia glacier was great but is melting at half a kilometer per year and so has shrunk 10km in 20 years". They were packing to head off into the wilds for two nights of hiking and camping and had already seen bears, moose, fozxes, mink etc on the way to Valdez... no doubt we will hear how that went in a few days time. Cheers Jacqui. ... read more

Valdez sits in a narrow valley surrounded by rugged coastal mountains at the end of an arm of Prince William Sound. It was founded in the 1890’s and prospered as a landing spot and outfitter for gold prospectors heading to Fairbanks and the Klondike gold fields. Today it is a thriving port, commercial and sports fishing center, and the southern terminus of the Alaska Pipeline. It is a beautiful place, surrounded by snow-covered mountains with sheer cliffs dropping straight into the sea, but Valdez is best known for two catastrophic events. At 5:36PM on March 28, 1964 (Good Friday), a 9.2 earthquake, the second largest ever recorded anywhere, struck about 55 miles west of Valdez, AK. The quake resulted in Tsunamis that killed 16 people in Oregon and California and caused sloshing in swimming pools as ... read more