Monday, July 3, Coffee . . . and a Twinkie! That’s what Tom is having for breakfast this morning! I thought it sounded like a title to . . . . something . . . . my blog? This morning we continued along the Tok Cutoff, also called the Glenn Highway, and turned south onto Route 4, the Richardson Highway, for the 150 mile drive to Valdez. In terms of what we have traveled, 150 miles does not seem like much – but the road was rough and required slow (25mph) driving in some places, and there were beautiful pull-overs for pictures. Our drive took us alongside the western edge of Wrangell-St Elias National Park (created in 1980), and we stopped at the Copper River Visitor Center. It is the biggest National Park – 4X bigger than Yellowstone! Only two roads venture into the interior of the park – it is not the kind of park that you drive through! The 60-mile McCarthy Road and the 42-mile Nabesna Road provide access to hiking trails and very few people venture onto them. We did stop at a new Visitor Center and watched a movie about the park – it was so full of statistics that it was hard to comprehend the ruggedness and remoteness of the park. Four major mountain ranges meet in the park which include nine of the 16 highest peaks in the United States! As for “what to do” in the park – the suggestions were: Hike deep into the mountains, float the rivers, ski the glaciers, or fly over the landscape. We settled for the stop at the Visitor Center and the drive along the perimeter! Leaving the National Park we caught a peek of The Pipeline. It had paralleled our road all morning, but this is one of the few glimpses we had of it on the drive. Another stop-and-get-out site was for the Worthington Glacier, a comparatively young and small glacier that was placed conveniently beside the road. There was a 1/4 mile trail heading back to a viewing platform where we could see that some people leave the trail and scramble up on the lower rubble of the glacier field. Within 50 miles of Valdez, we had to make it through Thompson Pass. As we got closer, it was obvious that we would be going up and over the top. That would have been just fine, except we saw clouds filling in the lower mountain elevations. Soon, we were in deep fog, and that was a bit alarming . . . for about 5 miles. Then we broke through, and it was clear to Valdez! They put the welcome sign 22 miles outside of Valdez. That last 22 miles was a striking, emerald green drive, accented by falling water. We entered Valdez at about 2:00, and reported to our Bear Paw RV Park, which was directly across from the small boat harbor. It is just a gravel parking lot, has full hook-ups, and is right in the middle of downtown action. By coincidence or accident, or with deliberate thought, we were placed right next to another 2016 (27' International) Airstream. We are all settled in for the next 3 nights in Valdez. I'll leave you with this parting picture that might represent what you remember most about Valdez!
2 Comments
Mike
7/4/2017 06:03:24 am
You guys are chugging right along on the adventure. Photos are outstanding to say the least. You descriptions of the various stops are entertaining. Stay safe.
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Janr
7/10/2017 11:33:06 am
Valdez had such great museums. Hope you had a coffee at the important historical spot--sacred Grounds!! Any lupine?
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |