Footnote: I’ve had a few days to reflect on my day with the bears and I keep going over every encounter we had and what we saw. I won’t forget about that experience… ever. However, my photographs were not the best. I was nervous, I kept making changes for the everchanging lighting situations, and at one point I made a deadly change accidently. Many of the photos will never be able to be reproduced. It was “operator error” I didn’t even know I made the error until I was uploading the 873 images from my memory card. All I can say going forward is, if there is a next time, I’ll do a better job. I still have several good ones and the experience is at the top of my Alaska adventures.
On the way to Valdez from Homer, we decided to overnight at the Palmer Moose Lodge again so we could get stocked up on supplies and fuel in Palmer. It’s Beverly’s day off so we won’t be able to visit her at work at the Palmer Bar for another hamburger lunch We only have one night here.
We traveled down the Glenn Highway and made a stop to see the Matanuska Glacier and also Sheep Mountain. The colors on that mountain were beautiful and we spotted quite a few sheep. A very long ways away but I took a few pictures of them anyway.
Two couples stopped and talked with us while we were photographing the Sheep. Davis and Patti and one other couple I forgot their names. They had been on a cruise and rented a car to visit parts of Alaska. They were from Santa Rosa, CA. Davis took our picture (we rarely have photos of us) They seemed to be having fun on their excursion.
We spent the night at a rest area along the TAZLINA River on the Richardson Highway not far from Copper Center.
When we reached the Copper Center area we had views of the Wrangell Mountain range. Did you know that nine of the 16 tallest peaks in the United States are found in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
The drive to Valdez has been proclaimed as one of “America’s Most Scenic Roads” Breathtaking views of glaciers, waterfalls and the most magnificent tall mountains I have seen yet. One waterfall after another and so green Everywhere you might think you were in Ireland.
The Keystone Canyon is a narrow passageway where cascading waterfalls come straight down to the highway and begin farther up than you can see. No photos because it was raining too hard by now.
HELLO VALDEZ!
It was raining hard in Valdez also when we arrived, but rain is what we are used to now.
5 seconds of Valdez History – the land of the Chugach people, 1779 Captain Cook, 1790 Salvador Fidalgo, 1897 the Gold Seekers, 1964 the great 9.2 earthquake, The trans-Alaska pipeline 1977 terminates in Valdez, 1989 The largest Oil spill – The Exxon Valdez.
We parked the motorhome in the Elks Lodge parking lot. We could have spent the night there but their parking lot was flooded and quite muddy, so we took the jeep to find a spot. There are several pullouts along the road just outside of Valdez and a dry camp spot up by the glacier. Sue Carroll had mentioned that they stayed once out at Allison Point, so we checked that area out and there was one site left in the dry camp area. Even though we could not see very far from the camp spot, we knew when the weather lifted it would be beautiful.
Situated on a cliff about 60 feet above Prince William Sound we could hear the sea lions below taking a deep breath and blowing it out, the otters were splashing around and making squeaking sounds and the Pinks were running.
The city park charges $24 a night. There is a camp host on duty there, bathrooms but no sewer or water. Compared to the other options this worked best for us. For a magical view like this, it was perfect. We would have stayed out at the site of the Old townsite if we were parked with at least one other rig. Somehow it seemed lonely and a bit eerie out there alone.
Our first outing in town was a stop at the Halibut House. It had been recommended to us by a few friends. It’s a real local looking joint but the Halibut Fish and Chips was good and the servings are generous. But just know that a lunch like that is going to cost around $25.00.
The fog was quite thick the first day we arrived and as I stood on the edge where the dock once was at the Original town site, I looked out and saw a ship moored out there and then I started thinking about the other disaster that struck Valdez in 1989. The Exxon Valdez oil spill.
I remember seeing the terrible images on TV of the dead marine mammals and birds, fish. Now after spending a couple of hours in this museum it was all renewed. So very sad. Later in the day, we visited the Egan Museum to see the displays and information about the Early Bush Pilots and the tragedy of the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez.
My guide on the bear excursion said that even today you can turn over rocks along the Katmai coast and see residue from the oil spill. He also mentioned that it was the oil spill that brought attention to the Katmai area because the crews that worked on the spill along that coast noticed the abundance of wildlife, particularly bears. It later became a National Park and a place where visitors could come and view them.
The Hazelet museum was four blocks away and its main focus was on the 1964 earthquake and devastation due to the tsunami and the portion of the town disappearing into the bay. The town had sprung up in the 1800’s and continued to grow on the land adjacent to Prince William Sound. What they didn’t know was the land underneath was unstable. Water soaked might be a simple description. Although the earthquake caused major structural damage, it was the surge from the tsunami that further soaked the land and it simply slipped into the bay taking houses and businesses, the dock and sadly 36 lives with it.
The moments after the earthquake were actually captured on film by two of the crewmen. How they were able to continue filming during all this is amazing. The harbor began to empty, draining the bay. The ship Chena then slips into a chasm in the bay and almost completely disappears. The dock goes with it. A tsunami is created in the Gulf of Alaska and sends a 50-foot wave directly to Valdez. The ship is then pushed into the town then disappears and then somehow the ship recovered and was able to move out into the bay with the waves.
The Chena would routinely come into dock bringing much needed fresh fruit and vegetables, and other supplies. Kids would rush to the docks to get fruit and candy the crewman would throw out to them.
No one on the dock survived the tsunami. What buildings survived would never be safe to live in again. A plan was made to move the town to a safer area and rebuild which is where the town sits today.
The earthquake came on Good Friday late afternoon. Many of the survivors interviewed told how they felt during the violent shaking in the movie we watched. Perhaps a Bomb, The Russians had Bombed us, The end of the world, an Explosion at the dock… All kinds of thoughts went through their heads. Some of the survivors interviewed as adults, who were children at the time, are thankful they didn’t go to the dock that day, because they too would have perished.
We went several times to the site of the original Valdez townsite. You can just feel the heartbreak and emotion. But Valdez was not the only place that had devastation from this quake, Seward, Anchorage, Whittier, Kodiak and many more communities lost homes business and more than 139 people died as a result of that quake throughout Alaska. They say 300 million dollars in damage in 1964 dollars would be in the Billions today.
In the museum, they had a complete replica of the town layout
The streets are marked and a sign in front of each lot tells the business or family’s name who occupied that space.
On a better note, we really enjoyed our time in Valdez. The weather was not the best. Rain or very low fog was the norm. One day in the week-long forecast indicated a day of sun. So Mark booked a charter to fish for salmon and I planned a day of sightseeing with Lily and lunch at the Potato. (a great little restaurant across from the harbor)
There was a couple of resident black bears out on Dayville Road nearly every day and one day there was a small grizzly. There was always a “Bear-Jam” of people and vehicles along that road. We stopped and looked at them one day but after that, it was too much of a circus with crazy tourists with cell phones and iPads trying to get “way too close” to the bear. One woman walked right out to the black bear with her cell phone! It was too hard to watch. The poor bear wanted to fish and she was continually harassed by mobs of people.
Speaking of fish, the Pinks were in, they were thick. Jumping and swimming fin to fin; thousands of them. There are nearly that many seagulls in the water as well.
The Fish Hatchery at Salmon Gulch is where you will see the most. They release 230 million pink salmon each year and 2 million Coho. There is a self-guided tour along the fish ladder and you can view how the hatchery spawns the fish. It’s open every day 8 am – 7 pm from May to October.
The Prince William Sound is a premier fishing destination. You can expect to catch rockfish, salmon, lingcod and of course Halibut. Valdez is home to the oldest fish derbies in Alaska, awarding thousands of dollars in prize money each year. When Mark pulled in his first Salmon of the day the first thing the captain said was “Do you have a Derby ticket” (he didn’t) “Too Bad” the Capt said.. Mark continued to reel in 4 more nice ones. The freezer is now full in the basement and mostly full in the fridge freezer.
On the one sunny day, I captured a few local shots and he came back with 5 nice Silver salmons. Life is Good.
While visiting the site of the old town of Valdez again a Black bear appeared in one of the small creeks. She had two cubs that she kept hidden in the grass but every once in a while they would pop their heads out. She was fishing and it was easy since the creek was shallow and the pinks were plenty.
I stayed in the Jeep and used a long lens but several times she ran up the creek and looked at me.
Our one day with blue skies and sunshine was intoxicating.
We would have stayed longer if the weather was better, there was much more to do and see. The prediction is for 5 + days of rain starting tomorrow. We had one perfect weather day but still had a good time the other 5 days.
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