August 19, 2007 – Mountains, Glaciers, and Valdez

We continued our travels today towards Glenallen. Once there, we took the Richardson Highway south to Valdez. In Glenallen, we started to see the Wrangell Mountains:

These views were only with us a short time and we entered the Chugach Mountains.

We stopped at Worthington Glacier and took the small trail to the overlook:


There were people that hiked up to the glacier but it started to rain and we were not prepared so made the decision not to go up.

The road took us thru Keystone Canyon – isn’t this amazing:

And the waterfalls:

And then to Valdez. Valdez is in the Prince William Sound like Whittier. And like Whittier, Homer, and Seward, the mountains just rise up from the water and are filled with glaciers. And also like the others, the clouds are abundant and rainy.

We decided not to camp on the water but instead we are camped at Valdez Glacier Campground. We are sheltered by the trees so it is not as cold as near the water.

Once we set up, we decided to check out the town and the area. It truly is beautiful:

This is also where the pipeline ends and the oil is loaded on to the tankers:

In the 1964 Earthquake, the town was destroyed. So New Valdez is located about 4 miles away from Old Valdez.

A few pictures of where the old town was located:


It was really something to stand there and imagine having the ground shaking and then the tsunamis roll in…how scary!

As we left old town, we stopped by one of the creeks – the salmon are dying…or rather they are completing their life cycle.


And the rain stopped and we were able to have a wonderful campfire!!

Miles Traveled: 152
Routes Traveled:
Alaska: AK-1 (Glenn Highway); AK-4 (Richardson Highway)