Alaska Highway

Well, I've seen bumper stickers that say"I traveled the Alaska Hwy and survived." It is true!! Not talking about animals, just the road construction, frost heaves, and gravel! Thank goodness the scenery is sooo beautiful. Jordan and I stayed at 2 pullouts along the road on our way to Haines. One had a walking trail the other was right on the Kluane Lake in the Yukon. It is the largest lake in the Yukon and we had to go around it. Seemed like a great place to stop because it had started to rain. It was until the wind started blowing. Jordan slept through it but the camper was shaking. I got up the next morning and cooked Tomato Gravy over toast.Yummy!

A grizzly bear.

Another glacier, but we want to know what these poles are that are along the road. Something to do with snow I think, but not sure.

After we left Haines Junction, Yukon we entered British Columbia and we saw a black bear and then 20 min. later we saw a grizzly.Many of the animals I've seen have been in BC, Canada.

Valdez Museums

Native Alaskan's rain gear

The town of Valdez has three museums. One started as a collection and then the lady sold things as gift from Alaska to tourists, but then donated her amazing collection of things for a museum. The second is a regular museum of the history of Valdez and surrounding area. The third is a scale model of "Old Valdez", and several movies about the earthquake that wiped out Valdez.

The earthquake on Good Friday 1964 totally ruined the town. Only the dock and harbor were wiped out that day, but the town sank more than 9 feet. The incoming tides were flooding much of the old town. It was decided that the whole town was built on the same soft glacier silt that the harbor had been on and they needed to move it. Three years later the entire town had been moved or rebuilt. What was left of the old town was burned to the ground.
After the earthquake of 64, Valdez had the awful Exxon Valdez oil spill. Many things have recovered in the last 20 years but there is still oil in the shore dirt and sand.
Jordan was interested in the oil pipeline that goes from Prudhoe Bay down to Valdez. That's 799 miles. It was a huge undertaking to complete this project.

Prince William Sound

When sea otters swim in a group it is called a raft. Reminds me of inter-tubes at Milam.

Jordan and I took another cruise to see whales. We got to see 5 or 6 humpback whales. We also saw several rafts of sea otters, seals, sea lions, ans puffins. The puffins were flying off a cliff, where their nests were. We got to see both kinds of puffins. They look so funny and cute when they fly. Their bright orange feet just seem to dangle behind them. It was a beautiful day and warm, about 57 or so. It was very cold at the glacier though. The temp was about 32 at the Columbia glacier. We saw tons of ice floes.

The puffins are too small to see here, but they are nesting on this cliff.

One of many ice bergs we sailed through!

The Kodiak had just arrived here and would be going out tomorrow.(For people like me, it is the boat from the TV show ,The Deadliest Catch.)

Eating out with Jordan

It was cool and had been drizzly this morning, so I wanted some soup. We found a Chinese restaurant. Jordan wanted fried spring rolls like he had with Tom and Karen. This is what he got. We ate most of it, but neither of us love it. It had raw cucumbers in it :( The soup was good and there was more that enough for two. I doubt if Jordan ate any of the bamboo or bokchou but it was good.

More Bears at Valdez

The gulls try to steal bits of fish, every now and then the bear would growl, jump, or swat at them.

We went out to the fish hatchery and waited for the bears. We didn't have to wait long. The mama with her 4 cubs came. The mom would catch a fish and they would all share it. One of the babies followed her everywhere, one had white around its neck. There were also many eagles here, both bald and golden. Tonight we also spotted several sea otters and sea lions.

Bears at Solmon Gulch

WOW!! We saw 9 -10 grizzly bears in less than an hour. It was amazing! Six of them were this year's babies. One was a young male and the other 2 were female. We had heard about the mom with 4 cubs from another camper in Palmer, so we went to have a look. We just missed them at 8:30, but were told they would probably be back. While we waited we saw the small male. He came across the road right above where we were parked. He got scared, ran back, then later tried again. We were giving up and leaving when we saw a bunch of people standing on cars taking pictures. She had gone a different way and was already down on the beach with babies. She would catch a pink salmon and share with babies. It was actually getting darker. We are in Valdez and it is rainy. I tried to post a video but it didn't work. We will try to get better pictures today!

Wrangell- St. Elias Natl. Park

Native Alaskan fish wheel to trap salmon. We've seen several of these in rivers!

This park is 4-5 times larger than Yellowstone. It is the largest Natl. park. It has a glacier larger than Rhode Island. It has over 13 million acres. Russians entered the area in the late 1700s, but people became active here more than 8,000 years ago. Many people both native and non native subsistence hunt and fish here, but now more are also using this area for recreation activities. I checked at head quarters to see about camping here, but the only place was at the other end of the park. Many of these acres are under the native Alaskans authority. You need permits to hunt and trek into the interior.

Worthington Glacier

Yes, that is snow behind Jordan. This has been one of the coldest Julys on record.

The little red dot is Jordan.

This glacier is right on the Richardson Hwy. I'm getting good at seeing these and recognizing them from a distance. It is one of the most accessible glaciers in Alaska. As we were heading out a group of 4 had on helmets and were carrying these things to strap on their shoes. They were covered with sharp cletes.We started walking to it. I didn't make it all the way up to it, but Jordan did! It started to sprinkle and he came back down.

Traveling the Richardson Hwy.

Our camp site

An active volcano

Bridal Falls (3 falls close together)

The scenery along this highway is also spectacular. The Wrangell Mt. range is to the left as you head down to Valdez. There are 3 huge mts(12, 14, and 16 thousand feet). We had to stop at Bridal Falls for pictures. We also stopped at Worthington Glacier. We decided we were tired of driving, so were looking for a park to camp. Of course we didn't see any so we found a large pull off that already had a family stopped at it. It was nice with a raging stream beside it. It started to drizzle, but we had water and propane so were fine.  I warmed up left over chicken spaghetti. We had to use the battery lantern to play cards (because of the trees and rain). Jordan says it still wasn't dark.

Traveling the Glenn Hwy

Jordan and I left the Mat-Su on Sat. morning. After I had hooked up and was raising the 5th wheel legs, wasn't paying attention and blew a fuse. Thought I knew how to fix it, but couldn't pull out that pesky little fuse. When we stopped for fuel I got a teenage boy to help and presto chango it worked. I always carry extra fuses and things. Of course we had to pass the Matanuska Glacier on the way. There are only a few roads in this huge state. It is the largest glacier and even though I had been to it several times, I didn't realize how long it was.Well we decided to keep going past Glennallen. It was early and didn't see a place we wanted to stay. 

Side view of Matanuska Glacier

Not gold or copper, but caused by volcanic action in the past.

Mt. Drum Elev. 12,010ft.(right before you turn to head down to Valdez)

Three moose crossed the road in front of us and a coyote was just standing along the road. I miss Hoa being able to take pictures as I drive. Jordan is in the back seat and we're doing good just to see the different things.We passed several braided rivers,water falls, rushing streams/rivers, and huge mountain ranges. As we entered the Wrangell-St.Elias Natl. Park the views were breath taking!

Hatcher's Pass

Makes you want to go white water rafting.

Hatcher's Pass Road  is about 60 miles long. It connects Palmer on the Glenallen Highway with Willow on the Parks Highway. Only a few miles are paved.  After we went to the mine we continued up Hatcher's Pass. It was straight up a dirt road. It advices no RVs. We weren't pulling the 5th wheel and it felt like we barely made it up. I know, I know I needed 4 wheel drive. Well, I had never used the M on my steering wheel, but I got out the book and we used it coming down. It was great! Hardly had to use the brakes.I couldn't get any pictures on the way up, no where to stop (no side rails or pull outs). Summit Lake is at the top and it is beautiful!! People were hiking, sitting, reading, even a wedding(I think) in traditional clothing. There are so many streams, rivers, waterfalls, and lakes in Alaska. Some of the rivers are yucky gray with glacier silt, but some are just breath taking!