June 6th, 2024 Part 2 - Travel to Valdez

We continued our journey south from Glennallen to Valdez and the scenery - OH MY!  This is another picture intensive blog.

This area was just amazing - pictures just do not do it justice:

We continued south:

Can you imagine having a cabin/home here - this is Willow Lake:

Active volcano - WOW!

So many rivers:

And the pipeline:

Heading to the pass:

Love the daffodils and this little guy:

And the waterfalls - OH MY!  We are so blessed to be here when all the snow is melting!:

We have seen many signs that say " Do not stop! Avalanche area."  Here is an area where there was an avalanche:

We made our way to Thompson Pass - Look at that snow:

The top of Thompson Pass - pictures do not do it justice: 

Going down - those poles are snow poles.  They mark the edge for snow plows.  This area can get up to over 900 inches of snow (75 feet) of snow per season.  

Those gates are for road closures:

Going into Keystone Canyon - can you count the waterfalls:

It is hard to see here but the river was "grayish" - what is known as glacial silt or glacial flour.  Meaning this water is coming from the glaciers:

I will ask you to remember this bridge in a future blog - yes, we did explore it!:

We made our way into Valdez:

We will be here for at least a week or more.  We checked in to the Chena RV Park.  What an great place!.  There are 10 sites and we were lucky to get a site for 8 nights.  The owners, Judy and ?(sorry, forgot his name), were full timers before they set up this park and it shows.  It is roomy and homey and I cannot say enough good about them.

Once we set up, Judy stopped by and gave us some frozen salmon from their catch.  How wonderful.  As we chatted with them, we found out that they winter in Parker Arizona.  

So if you read my blog and are going to Valdez, Alaska for a length of time (more than 2 days), this is the place to stay.

So since we were be here for a while, stay tuned and enjoy today!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 253 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Alaska: AK-1 (Tok Cutoff Highway/Taylor Highway); AK-1; (Richardson Highway); AK-4 (Richardson Highway)

May 4, 2009 – Part of the Richardson Highway

Today, we took a journey down the Richardson Highway to Paxson and then a few miles on the Denali Highway…  My, oh my, what wonders!!  The mountains you see in the following pictures is the Alaskan Range.  As we got closer and into the mountains, there is still a lot of snow and most of the lakes are frozen.   Some of the rivers are starting to flow but wait until you see how thick the ice is yet on these rivers. 

      

 

  

The pipeline follows this road all the way to Valdez.

 

Heat pipes:

Where the pipeline goes underground in thaw unstable ground, heat pipes are inserted into the ground to remove heat and prevent thaw.

The pipeline at the Denali Fault line:

The pipeline here was built so that it could withstand an 8.5 earthquake with ground displacement up to 22 feet horizontally and 5 feet vertically – WOW!

We saw LOTs of caribou.  At first we thought they were moose but, well, you decide – :-).  On our way down, we came across one couple and then a few miles further we came to another couple.  On the way home, we saw a whole herd.  Some of our pictures (and those who know me, know that for every one here, there is another 15 on my computer – :-)):

 

Isn’t this incredible!!!!  When we were here in 2007, we did not travel this part of the Richardson Highway – just not enough time….  So it was great to see it today.  We did check out a couple State Parks and Recreation Areas in case we decide to come back this way.

The weather here is still warm which is causing problems for those along the rivers (melting too fast).  We are seeing pictures of ice jams, flooding, etc. on the news.  Keep all those people in your prayers.

We also confirmed today that we will be moving to Creamer’s Field in Fairbanks on Friday (8th).  Our official start date is the 15th but this will give us time to get set up, time for training, and time to get to know the area – can’t wait.

Until tomorrow.