Tom's Journal - July 26 - August 1
Valdez and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Alaska, the primitive wilderness! We went three whole days without Internet access. No email, no Internet weather, no Internet news! There are even some people in Alaska that go weeks or months without Internet access and some don't even have email accounts at all. Amazing. So now we have experienced the true Alaska; we must be sourdoughs (Alaskans that have been in Alaska long enough to truly adapt to the Alaskan way of life).
In Alaska, after church on Sunday, Dad, Mom, and the two kids pack up their lunch and head out on their ATV's (All Terrain Vehicles). Plopping down the road in the family four-wheel drive towing a trailer with four ATVs onboard; the family all decked out in their Sunday best. Not everyone in Alaska has an email account but EVERYONE has an ATV!
From Seward (1 on map), we headed north through Anchorage (2 on map) and stopped for the night at the Matanuska Glacier (3 on the map), then east to the edge of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and south to Valdez (4 on the map). We spent three nights in Valdez before heading back north to Chitina (5 on the map) at the edge of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park for our flight over to McCarthy and Kennecott in the park. We then headed north to Tok (6 on the map).
Day 49 (Sunday, July 26)
Grand View RV park at Matanuska Glacier
We continued the rest of our drive to Valdez. Although there were some high clouds that blocked our complete view of the Wrangell-St. Elias mountain ranges, we still had beautiful scenery and vistas. After driving through the not so pretty town of Glennallen, we stopped for lunch at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center, a great place for lunch. We looked around and watched the 25 minute introductory film on the park. The park and mountains are beautiful. After our visit to Valdez, we are returning to the park for a visit to McCarthy and Kennecott. Kennecott is an old copper mine town that is now a national historic site. Afterwards, maybe we will carve out an extra day and stop at the north end of the park.
The drive from the park visitor center south to Valdez was gorgeous. Once you climb over Thompson Pass, on the Richardson Highway, you descend down into a valley and drive along into Valdez. The drive is as pretty as the drive into the Yosemite or Kings Canyon valleys. Although our view was obscured some by the clouds it was still gorgeous.
 Bridal Falls |
 A glimpse at the canyon |
 The canyon |
 Horsetail Falls |
Day 50 (Monday, July 27)
We picked up the rain in Valdez again. We planned to take a sightseeing cruise while in Valdez but since the weather was rainy, we skipped the cruise.
We went by the Valdez visitor center and got some ideas of things to do in town. From there we headed over to ANOTHER gift shop! However, this shop had two good films for Tom to watch. The first was a 30 minute film on the building of the Alaska Pipeline. I enjoyed watching the film while Becky went off and looked around the gift shop.
The second film was on the Good Friday March 1964 Earthquake that hit Alaska. The film was 45 minutes and was made in the 60's with original footage. The beginning of the film had footage shot from the freighter Chitina that had just arrived at the dock in Valdez and was unloading. The impact of the 9.2 earthquake and the tsunami that followed was shocking. We saw the memorial park in Anchorage but we didn't understand how overwhelmingly devastating it was. Seward and Valdez were pretty much completely destroyed. Anchorage sustained significant damage and many smaller villages were completely wiped out. Amazingly, only 115 people were reported killed in the quake and its aftermath. Considering what a major quake like this would do in a major populated area is eye opening.
After the "gift shop" we took a short walk up a 75 foot high pile of dirt (a hill, the remains of construction of the civic center and is now a tourist attraction) near the harbor that had a great 360 degree view of Valdez and the bay. Although it was rainy and overcast, we still had a good view of the city of Valdez.
 Valdez |
 Valdez |
Day 51 (Tuesday, July 28)
A leisurely relaxing day. It rained hard overnight but gradually cleared up in the morning. I gave the truck a needed bath and cleaned parts of the trailer. With the mountains starting to appear through the clouds, at least I had a gorgeous view to do my chores by.
Mountain view from Valdez
In the afternoon, we drove out from town to two salmon spawning streams. It was amazing to see the mass of salmon in the streams and the beautiful mountains peering through the clouds. We were hoping to see bear at the streams fishing but no luck. I don't know what our fascination is with wanting to see bears but we are always on the lookout for them.
Valdez is also the terminus for the Alaska Pipeline. I tried to drive over and back the truck up to the spigot to fill up but due to security, you are no longer able to drive out to the terminal. We did have a good view of the terminal from across the inlet.
 A spawning salmon preparing a site with its tail |
 The Alaska Pipeline terminus in Valdez |
Day 52 (Wednesday, July 29)
Valdez was an okay place to rest and get caught up and we even had Internet access from the trailer. The town itself was interesting to briefly explore but there was not a lot of sightseeing. It is smaller than I anticipated and mainly a fishing town.
It took us five huors to drive 120 miles to Chitina due to the many sightseeing stops. The views were spectacular! The morning drizzle and clouds opened up to expose great views of the mountains. The canyon out of Valdez is beautiful, like Yosemite and Kings Canyon. We stopped for lunch and took a constitutional out to an overlook with a beautiful panorama view of the canyon we had driven through.
Beautiful valley view
 The canyon we drove through |
 Becky taking pictures of Fireweed |
Later, we stopped at Worthington Glacier State Recreation Site and had an interesting chat with the lady running the tiny store. The State Park system was going to close the site this year but she sat out at the post office with a petition and took it to the State legislator to get funding which they did. She moved to Alaska in 1965, the year after the earthquake. She showed us some pictures that were given to her of old Valdez in 1957 prior to the quake and tsunami completely wiping it out. She also worked on the Alaska Pipeline and had a few stories to tell.
One leg of the Worthington Glacier
We pulled into our rustic campsite in Chitina. We drove just past Chitina to the Copper River where several fish-wheels were setup by the locals for subsistence fishing. They can use the fish for their own subsistence but they can't sell them.
 Our rough campsite in Chitina near the airport |
 Fish wheels hard at work on the Copper River |
Day 53 (Thursday, July 30)
We flew into McCartney / Kennecott on a flight-seeing trip in the morning (instead of driving a rough 60 mile road). Unfortunately, there was a very large fire burning thousands of acres that covered the valley with smoke. This delayed the planes coming from McCarthy to pick us up by an hour and greatly limited our visibility on the flights. However, we did climb to 9,000 feet to clear the smoke and had great views of the mountain peaks.
 The Chitina Airport |
 Our ride to McCarthy/Kennecott |
 Becky and I had the back row seats |
 The town of Chitina from the air |
 Our view away from the smoke |
 The mountains are beautiful, at least those sticking above the smoke! |
Once in Kennecott, we had a great lunch at the lodge before taking a historical tour of the Kennecott old town and copper mine mill. The copper mines were up in the mountains and ore was hauled down to the mill in buckets on a suspended cable system (like a cable car). Our tour included the old town site and the 14 story ore processing mill. We walked up the hillside, put hardhats on, and start the tour at the top of the 14 story mill. We then proceeded to tour the inside of the mill floor by floor, all 14 floors with very narrow ladder-stairs between floors. The mill was built in the early 1900's and processed copper until the mid 1930's. The mill was not designed with safety measures and made for an interesting tour.
 The road from McCarthy to Kennecott |
 The lodge in Kennecott where we ate lunch |
 Terminal Moraine- 1-10 feet of silt on top of hundreds of feet of ice |
 The copper mill in Kennecott |
 Our tour starting at the top with hardhats |
 Before the railroad was built, all equipment came in on dog sleds This piece was brought in by a crack team of Chihuahuas |
After the historic tour, we took the shuttle van to McCarthy, a town that supported Kennecott in the day and is still an active town with about 150 people during the summer (less than 20 in winter).
We then boarded our flight-seeing plane for the return trip to Chitina. We had a few views of Kennecott and the glaciers but had to climb to about 10,000 feet to clear the smoke. Even at 10,000 feet, the smoke and clouds prevented good looks at the mountains. Still, all and all, it was a fun and tiring day of exploring but would have been better without the smoke.
 The Kennecott Glacier ... |
 and the Root Glacier collide to create the terminal moraine |
 This was our view of the mountains through the smoke |
 Roger tower, we are on final approach to Chitina |
 The town of Chitina |
 The rest of the town of Chitina |
Day 54 (Friday, July 31)
We drove to the north end of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. We planned to stay the night and take the 48 mile drive into the park on the Nabesna Road but with the haze and clouds blocking the view of the mountains and no good hiking spots, we reluctantly continued on to Tok.
It is with a quiet subdued heart that we entered Tok. While there are still a few weeks left of our tale to be discovered and told, Tok is the turning point of our Alaska journey. From here, the winds blow homeward as we reflect upon the sights and experiences of our time in Alaska. As we head south through Canada, we will still make two stops in Alaska's panhandle at Skagway and Hyder. We look forward with excitement when we return home to reconnecting with our community of family and friends and building our relationships but our Alaska adventure will continue to last in our memories.
God, please continue to bless our journey and adventure!
Day 55 (Saturday, August 1)
We spent the day doing laundry, cleaning, planning, and relaxing.