Mile 4396 – Valdez, AK

Thurssay, 30 June:  Arrived in Valdez today.  We plan to be here for a week or until our mail arrives.  Light rain and heavy low cloud cover as we neared Valdez.  The first two pictures are from the drive in and the next is the view from the RV Park.

Saturday, July 2:  We are enjoying Valdez.  We decided to take some more pictures because the sun came out. Traveled back  the way we came in stopped and took pictures of Horsetail Falls then the Bridal Veil Falls heading to Thompson Pass an eagle flew down on the road right in front of us grabed a squirrel I thought we would hit the eagle before he gained height flew away it only lasted a few seconds not enough time to take a picture.  Went through the pass and on to Worthington Glacier. What a beautiful place and cold.  The lady who works there has lived in Alaska for 47 years and said the Glacier had receded over the years and that it use to go all the way to the road.  People were climbing on the Glacier.  Not me!  On the way back there 4 eagles were flying over the road and heading for the mountains and later 3 more flying over the bay looking for fish.

Later after lunch went to the other side of the Bay there was tons of people fishing and one lone Grizzly Bear eating on the side of the road.  Just made our day .  The loading terminal for the Alaska pipeline is less than a mile away.

Sunday, July 3:  Got a fairly close picture of an Eagle resting.  I stood by the tree for at least 10 minutes waiting to get a good picture when he took off.  When he did take off it was in the opposite direction behind the limbs.  I managed to get a good shot of his butt throught the limbs.   Took a walk down by the boat harbor and found a very happy Halibut fisherman, 123 lbs.  Current leader in the ongoing Halibat tournament is a lady with a 337 lb. Halibut.

Tuesday, July 5:  We took an all day cruise (about 9 ½ hrs) from Valdez to Mears Glacier.  Enjoyed very much.  The glacier was really outstanding.  The boat pilot took us very close to the edge of the glacier (approximately ¼ mile).  The sound of the glacier cracking and sliding towards us was really outstanding.  Not to mention the occasional glacier calving (chunks of ice falling from the face of the glacier into the water).  At the point where the glacier meets the water its height is between 100 and 200 ft.  Of coarse it is much thicker as you move inland.  During the trip we saw a good many sea lions, harbor seals and hump back whales.  Past by the reef where the Exxon Valdez ran aground.  It now has a marker on it (not sure if it did back in `84).  According to our guide the Exxon Valdez was not the first ship to run aground on this reef.

On Wednesday we did exciting things such as washing the RV and clean up inside as we got ready to travel on Thursday.  However during the afternoon Doris did manage to get the following picture of and Eagle in flight.