Palmer, Valdez, Tok

Palmer, Valdez and Tok, Alaska

August 13, 2013

Day number 31 of our Alaskan Tour was another wonderful drive to another interesting city (I know that I tend to get repetitive, but it is hard to continue to come with new descriptors).  Leaving the Kenai Peninsula we drove back through Anchorage – stopped at one of their Fred Meyers for groceries and fuel. The roadside was covered with the majestic mountains that we have seeing almost everyday.  The peaks were separated with more waterfalls.  Google told me that Alaska has over 3 million lakes and 3,000+ rivers – I think we have seen 90% of these during our travels.  We have enjoyed these routes and continue to be amazed at the post card perfect landscapes that our travels take us through.

Glacier and Karen with the boys

roadside scenery

We arrived in Palmer mid-afternoon, a small interesting town.  In 1933 the FDR administration gave 203 families 40 acres of land each to clear and assisted them in building their homes and barns in Palmer. This was an attempt to help a few of the poor families and help the economy in Alaska. This valley is very fertile and they were optimistic that these families could become self-sufficient.  The plan was not a success, but many of the families stayed and many generations still reside in this area.  There are several barns that are still around that are referred to as colony barns.  There was one at the Musk Ox farm we visited. I bought 2 oz. of qiviut (qeevioot), that is the soft and very warm under fur of the oxen.  It is combed out from their hair every spring (not a job I am thinking I would wantJ).  Palmer is also home to the Alaska State Fair – drove by their fairgrounds they were busy getting set up for their events in the next couple of weeks.

Glacial Valley

Musk Ox

Miles for the day: 173   Total miles for the AK Adventure: 2527.2

Aug 14-16, 2013

Days 32, 33, & 34 of the A.A – Onto Valdez, Alaska.  Long drive to our night’s stop, BUT possibly the most beautiful of all. Hard to pick one over another, but the views here seemed better than before, each turn in the road brought us another picture perfect view.  The highway was a bit challenging for Mike today, miles and miles of frost heaves: undulating road surfaces, that one cannot always tell is going to rumble and tumble you. We could see the towed Prius taking flight a few times as we crossed the crazy road surface. There were also quite a few miles of construction that added time to an already long day.  All was ok though because we were quite mesmerized by the gorgeous Wrangell-St. Elias Mountain Range and her accompanying glaciers.  Alaska is home to over 100,000 of these frozen wonders. Unfortunately most all of them are receding.  The first jaw dropping view was of Matanuska Glacier and the Matanuska River --- how can one describe the incredible beauty?  I am almost at a loss for the right descriptive words, even the thesaurus fails me.  Mid-way on our travels today we stopped at the Wrangell St. Elias National Park – it is the largest national Park in the US, larger than 6 Yellowstone N.P. – BIG!  The vantage point in the park where we could see Blackburn, Sanford, Drum and Wrangell Peaks was incredible.  We took a nice hike with the Boys and enjoyed the forests around the interpretive center.  The 9 hours of driving were well worth the landscape we saw, waterfalls that came right out of the mountains were a wonderful surprise as we were tiring of our travels.

Bridalveil Falls

Glacier

Miles for the day: 260   Total miles for the AK Adventure: 2787.2

We took a Glacier and Wildlife Cruise on Prince Edward Sound, a great experience allowing us to see more of the amazing sights of our 49^th state. We floated past the huge Alyeska Pipeline and terminus of the oil project.  It is slowly declining in the ability to produce enough oil; there is genuine concern that it maybe become cost prohibitive in the next few years – that will definitely affect Alaska and her economy.  The bay was huge and very smooth, great day to cruise.  We watched a fishing boat transfer their catch to a tender that will take it to the processing plant, allowing them to stay out and fish longer.  Not quite the “Deadliest Catch” but interesting, nonetheless.  Mid-day we came upon Meares Glacier an amazing sight.  A tidewater glacier on the Unaiwik Inlet, one of the few glaciers that is actually advancing. BREATH TAKING!  This glacier is at least 6 miles long (from ice field to water’s edge), ½ mile across and 250’ tall. The captain kept the boat about ¼ of a mile away and allowed us time to watch her, listen to her creak and groan and see a bit of calving activity – happened so quickly it was often just a splash in the water that we saw.  The water surface was littered with icebergs, chucks of ice that have broken off of the mother ship.  The wildlife spotting was good on this trip we saw many birds: puffins, eagles, kittywakes (gulls), and cormorants.  We also saw a big group of Stellar Sea Lions, quite of few Dall Porpoises, sea otters and best of all a Humpback Whale -exciting!

fishing Prince William Sound

Mears Glacier

Hundreds of year Glacial Ice

Whale Tail

Bears were on our list of “want to see” The salmon were spawning in this area so there was a good chance that we might see some. We went out two different evenings to try and catch a glimpse; watching the gulls peck at the dying fish, swatting at mosquitoes, and putting up with the stinky rotting fish smell – we were finally rewarded.  We saw a medium black bear come out of the brush and take a nibble of a couple of the fish.  He obviously wasn’t very hungry, or they were not to his liking, cuz he really didn’t eat much, but we saw him fairly up close and personal.  EXCITING EXPERIENCE!

Black Bear feast

August 17, 2013

Day # 35 – Gray and gloomy weather today and Roads with an attitude today! Mike earned his PHD. – Pot Hole Driver today!  The roads were mostly paved, which is the case for most roads in Alaska, but the surfaces left a lot to be desired. We were doing the “Heavey Jeavey “today – this is where the permafrost warms and cools and really messes with the road levels.  There are often little florescent flags along the roadside to warn of the up coming bumps, but not always and it is quite an intense “rock and roll”. Watching the towed take all 4 wheels up and off the road was quite an interesting event.  Amazingly we got to camp and everything appeared to be in one piece, not sure what the long term effects are, but we seem to keep rolling. Mike had to duct tape one fender on the dolly where the welds had broken.  Our campsite was in Tok, AK – a return visit to this location.

Alaska roads, mostly good

Miles for the day: 258   Total miles for the AK Adventure: 3045.2