Backcountry

Valdez small boat harbor

Snow covered pass to Valdez

Moose trying to outrun us

Our last journey

 

Date: 5/28/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Glennallen AK

Travel Leg of journey: 15                        Day of journey: 21

Miles traveled today:            137                        Miles traveled since departure: 4897

Percentage of travel completed: 44.5%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: moose, elk, eagle, caribou [deceased]

Today was a short drive through beautiful mountainous backcountry. Come to think of it, all of Alaska is backcountry. Everything here is rustic, the towns, buildings, houses and most vehicles. Some of the houses of the less fortunate would be mansions in Appalachia. I take back what I said previously about no road kill up here. We came upon our first, 2 caribou freshly hit by a vehicle. The road kill advance cleanup crew had just started their task. An eagle and a raven were trying to get to work, but were fighting over the choice cuts. There seems to be quite a market for antlers here from what we see on the roadside signs and newspaper ads. Perhaps the golfer Vee-jay Singh has traveled here? Roadside “antler powder” businesses are occasionally passed. The RV park here is small and quiet and operated by local Indians [known as First Nations] and they are quite friendly. Temperatures here this week get into the upper 70’s in the day. This warm spell has been quite sudden. A week and a half ago it was snowing and temperatures were 19F. This has resulted in a massive snowmelt. The streams and rivers are full and raging, and this has caused major flooding in other parts of the state.

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Date: 5/29/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Glennallen AK

Travel Leg of journey: 16                        Day of journey: 22

Miles traveled today:            262                        Miles traveled since departure: 5159

Percentage of travel completed: 46.9%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: moose

Today was a side trip in our car down to the port of Valdez. We encountered more mountains today than ever. We were amazed at the majestic snow capped peaks with still larger peaks beyond looking over the shoulders of those in the foreground. We crossed a high pass with snow everywhere. There were numerous waterfalls, some spectacular due to the melting snow. Valdez is a small town surrounded by mountains that reach down almost to sea level. There was still so much snow around town that the RV parks had a difficult time housing RV’s due to the snow in the parks. The town was completely relocated in the late-60’s as a result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 1964. So there were few decrepit buildings here. And we were among the very few tourists. All of the boats that normally handle whale- and glacier-watchers and fishermen were still in the harbor. We visited 2 museums here and had lunch at the Fat Mermaid café. Although there are 7 glaciers around Valdez, it was difficult to see much of them from the roadways. We caught glimpses of the Alaskan pipeline, but were not able to get close to it. Tomorrow we are off to Denali National Park. We had to adjust our planned route as the Denali highway has been closed due to river flooding and rock slides. It pays up here to check the AK DOT road condition web site frequently.

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