NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAYS 30 & 31 - VALDEZ, GLACIER LAKE AND ALLISON POINT

Waking up in Valdez was a real treat with the view out of the front windshield. From what we gather, it's usually rainy or dreary or clouded. So we really hit it on two spectacular days in late May.

As I said in the last blog, the campground we were at was right on the edge of the water of the Bay for Valdez. This is part of Prince William Sound.

This large tank next to the campground we believe is one of the petroleum tanks for the incoming gasoline or diesel fuel. But we didn't smell anything...

The buildings for the campground are on the right. They house a large community area with a social space, five individual shower rooms each with their own bathroom. There was also a laundry area and some reading materials with a take it or leave it plan. I left a few things on the table of extra camping items. People could take whatever they could use.

Here's the link to the campground we were at. As I said in the last blog, they have a larger campground further in the middle of town that is more of just a gravel lot. The one that we chose was their "adults only" unit that was down along the edge of the water in a little secluded area. At $65 a night it was a little pricey for full hookups. But we preferred to spend a little more and just relax for a few days.

https://www.bearpawrvpark.com/

Lining the drive into the park are all of these beautiful wildflowers. I believe they are a form of wild roses? They smelled absolutely wonderful.

We took a walk down the road to a little place called Ruth Pond by their convention center.  We noticed these beautiful flowers in a planter that appear to have been there all winter. So obviously they are hardy enough to winter over, or maybe because it's such a rainforest area the temperatures don't get as drastically low? Valdez is the one ocean side port in Alaska that does not freeze over in the winter.

As the tide crept back in, our shoreline changed, and the waters were coming higher up to the rocks. You can see the line of the high tide in this picture below. 

I can't tell you how lovely it was to just look out the windows and see scenery like this anytime we glanced outside of the motorhome windows.

After our second night, it was time to move on. The cloudy skies had moved in in the rains had started again. 

We decided to start packing up and we were going to head out and check out two possibilities of places to camp just outside of Valdez. 

The first one was located out near the airport just before Glacier Lake. 

https://greely.armymwr.com/programs/valdez-campground

We drove on through. It was okay, and one loop did have electric sites. But there really weren't any beautiful scenic views or anything to enjoy. It would have been fine for camping if you were busy day-touring around the area. 

Then we drove further on up the road to a special place called Glacier Lake. 

The melting glacier waters create a milky greenish blue opaque look to the eye. It's from pulverized rock, suspended minerals and the glacial silt. So everything has this soft looking seafoamy greenish blue color.

This lake literally still has chunks of ice floating in it and pieces of icebergs from the glacier up around the corner.

I zoomed in the camera out to some of the hunks of glacier ice. The bright blue color is from being compressed and squeezed so tight during its movements many many many eons ago. It can absorb all colors except blue. So that is the color you see reflecting off of it. As pieces break off you can see the bright blue glacier color.

Local outfitters will rent you kayaks to come out here on the lake and paddle around amongst the iceberg. You can go up around the corner and paddle to the glacier. The water is somewhat dangerous because as tall as you see the mountains around you, that's how deep it goes underneath the water too. It's like floating around among the tops of mountains and underneath it goes down many hundreds, if not thousands of feet deep.

We watched three kayakers paddling around and finally come in out of the icy cold water. We have seen other videos of people paddling around here on a beautiful sunny day and it looks absolutely magical. But on this particular day with the rainy sleet coming down, I don't think theit paddle experience was quite as enjoyable.

We stood there for a while on the shore and literally took pictures of pieces of icebergs. Lol, what kind of tourists are we?

From there, we drove back out to the main road. Looping down a little further to the east is a road called Dayville Road. 

It goes out past where the original town of Valdez was. Back in 1964, there was a huge earthquake which created a monumental tsunami wave. It wiped out the entire town. It was a 9.2 on the Richter scale. 32 lives were lost that day in an instant. 

They decided to relocate the town in a different section of the bay. The remnants of the old town are out this direction. We drove past that area because there was some road construction going on and instead turned down Dayville Road to go to another interesting place.

This is the Solomon Gulch fish hatchery which is known for attracting sea lions, otters and even grizzly bears when the salmon are running.

Visitors can take a tour of the processing plant. We chose not to. But then also visitors can park in the adjoining parking lot to observe any wildlife that comes in by the mouth of the river. Although the Chinook salmon are supposed to be spawning at this time, we didn't see any action going on. 

The tide was in high and all we saw were silly seagulls... Flopping around and squawking and making a lot of noise. 

We met an interesting gentleman from Wisconsin who lives near Steve's brother in Neenah. It's funny how many people we are meeting from Wisconsin, once they see the license plate on our motorhome. Or when Steve is wearing his Green Bay Packers sweatshirt. 

We moved on from the fish hatchery further down the road towards the Fort Greeley Army base. They operate a campground right outside the entry to the base. It really is just rows of parking in a blacktop lot. But it's all along the water's edge and during the summer months I think this place is just packed. Especially during various fishing seasons.

https://greely.armymwr.com/programs/allison-point-campground

We found a great spot to park and paid at the self-service pay post. It was $25 without any hookups. But we decided because of the great view we would stay here.  The sun had peaked back out even though across the bay back at Valdez it was cloudy looking and rainy.

We were parked next to these bushes that were in full bloom. The scent was really heavenly. Especially in the damp weather, the aroma was even stronger.

On one side of the motorhome we had the waters of the bay, and on the other side we had a rising hill covered in pine trees.  It was quite a pretty spot, even if it was a black-topped parking lot.

We cooked up a chicken dinner, that I baked in the oven. We settled in for the night and the rain had started pitter-pattering on the roof. It really makes for a peaceful relaxing sleep with those sounds in the motorhome.

Here's the You Tube video link that goes along with the last couple days:

23 miles traveled today

3,732 miles so far

NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAY 29 - THOMPSON PASS, KEYSTONE CANYON, VALDEZ

Today was going to be quite the adventurous day! 

We left Dry Creek Rec Site  and I was feeling better. We did a little grocery shopping in Glenallen at the IGA.  I thought it would be fun to videotape the entire shopping trip so you had an idea about some of the grocery prices. After I got all the video done and uploaded and put together I realized there was a problem. All of the store's background music was copyrighted music, and it was very recognizable. If I uploaded that video to YouTube it would get banned and I would probably get in trouble. 

So I might go through and re-edit the video and remove the sound and just try to save segments of it to show the prices. I don't know.

We also fueled up in Glenallen. We paid $4.12 a gallon for diesel fuel. That's not so bad. Our budget is $5 a gallon. We are doing really good with our fuel mileage. We did 15.67 miles per gallon.

We asked about filling our freshwater tank at the station. The attendant said absolutely not because all of the water in Glenallen is horrible. Nobody uses it and they all drive down to a little public watering station in the next town down the line, about 10 miles.

So we drove on down and turned right on Trailer Court Road and found the watering station. It takes quarters, and we first put in four quarters to start filling our tank. Part way through we needed to plug in an extra four quarters to finish topping it off.  All of the people in the area come here with water jugs to get fresh drinking water. Also large bulk tank trucks come and fill with water here. Then they go out and distribute it among residents who have larger holding tanks at their homes.

As we fill our tank, we always use an inline water filter. Afterwards Steve is careful to screw together both ends of our hose to keep it clean while it's in our storage compartment.

Once the water is in our fresh tank, whenever we need drinking or cooking water (or Nick's water bowl) we put it through another filtration system. This one is from LifeStraw. It is the same components and filters utilized for the people who go on missions out in the Third World countries to have safe drinking water. You can literally stick it in a muddy stream and it removes 99.99% of all the bacteria as well as any other harmful substances.

https://a.co/d/7ZCnzvA

Plus, the water tastes great! This is a glass picture that is similar to Pyrex and is very sturdy. We use it at home as well as take it long in the RV when we travel.

So much better than that plasticky taste from purchased water bottles. Plus we are keeping the water bottles out of the landfill.

One other purchase I forgot to mention during the week was we stopped at a very interesting shop and I bought some mucklucks that are made by Manitobah. These are made in Canada by the indigenous people and they are absolutely so comfortable. They have real rabbit for around the ankles and the foot portions are waterproof suede. The little bead work is so delicate and even but it's all hand stitched on. They are my new favorite things to wear around inside the camper on chilly nights. Toasty warm toes!

Once our water tank was filled, we started heading down the Richardson Highway towards Valdez. One of the first stops we made, by reading our milepost book, was to check out the pipeline.

This is the famous Trans Alaska Pipeline system built in the 1970s. It goes all the way from Prudhoe Bay in the north down to Valdez port in the south. Over 800 miles long. We just had to stop and check it out.

I remember learning about this in school. It was quite a feat to complete, and during the years of the oil embargo crisis, it was a necessity.

We got back on the Richardson Highway again. Although the previous sections of the Alcan had been ridden with potholes, or sections of gravel and construction, this highway was very different. 

It was pretty much fully paved. But the blacktop was like a ribbon that had been stretched and molded along the shape of the ground underneath. 

It was full of little roller coaster lumps and bumps. Some shifted you from side to side, some shifted you forward and backwards. It was like a three-dimensional roller coaster!

It literally went on for 

 miles and miles and miles. 

 It could almost make one seasick.

We stopped at Worthington Glacier. This was something we had marked on our maps that was an easy walk from the parking lot to the glacier. We had even bought ice cleats for over our boots to go climb up on a glacier. So we were looking forward to it. Imagine our dismay when we got there and the upper parking lot wasn't even plowed to get anywhere near the glacier. The snow was 3 or 4 ft deep in places and it was hollowed out and crusty. You couldn't even walk on it because you would sink down in it. So there was no way to even walk up to the glacier unless we had big snowshoes. Which we didn't.

As an alternative, we posed in front of it. The glacier is up over our shoulders.

Because of the snow all around us in the lower parking lot, Nicholas got to get out and romp around and play. What a silly little goose! I love the lower right photo the best...

I did make a little video clip of him romping around, 

as well as the ice water coming off the melting glacier. 

Here it is posted over on YouTube:

Now it was time to get back on the road. We headed further south towards Valdez. We were entering what was called Thompson Pass. The temperatures are still quite cold up there and they had just received a new blast of fresh snow the week before.

It was a Winter Wonderland of beauty. Like driving through a fairy tale land. 

Fortunately, the pavement was clear on the roads as they have been plowed repeatedly for commercial transportation to get through. This is a major artery and I guess it's pretty well maintained for snow removal. Once the sun shines on it, the pavement clears off and we had dry roads to drive on. 

We could see in the higher elevations above us that there was snow falling again. We weren't seeing it down where we were on the road, but it was definitely still piling up on the tops of those mountains.

Once we drove through Thompson Pass, we began our descent. Now this is coming up to the prettiest part of the highway into Valdez. It is known as Keystone Canyon. Breathtaking doesn't even begin to describe what we drove through. This portion of the state is actually a rainforest. The lush greenery and the beautiful waterfalls were totally amazing.

Words just don't do it. Video just don't do it, nor do photos. We have to trap this place in our memories and think about it for years to come. We have to remember the smells, the sounds, and the whole feeling of the place.

In one area there was the beginnings of a railroad tunnel. Nine companies began fighting over the rights or the ability to complete the tunnel so it never got finished. It was in the best interest of all of them, but nobody could agree. We were able to peek in the tunnel and we didn't see any bears.

Nor lions, nor tigers, according to Steve.

This was posted between the railroad tunnel and the beautiful waterfalls nearby. It kind of shows the stupidity of man, instead of working together, it dissolved into a gunfight.

We drove on a little further. The waterfalls were named Bridal Veil and Horsetail. But there were really about five or six other smaller falls in the same area.

There were little pull-off areas along the road that we can stop and get out and listen to the various falls. The booming of the water thundering down the sides of the canyon would vibrate the ground underneath your feet. You could even feel it in your chest like a big bass drum. 

As we continued our journey southward we soon came to the archway entrance into Valdez. This is a beautiful port town. Known for its exporting of the crude oil at the end of that long pipeline. It's also a port for tourism with large cruise ships that come and go. Fishing and wildlife viewing are also a main attraction. It is also the only open water port that is accessible during the winter time. 

We had our choice of four different RV parks within the town itself. Plus two others that were out of town. We were a little tired of traveling and decided we were going to nestle into an Adult's Only campground from the Bear Paw Company. They also have another campground in the middle of town for families. But we opted for the more quiet sites out in a little secluded area facing the port waters of Prince William Sound. It was raining when we pulled in, we paid and got settled in for the night. It was a splurge at $65 a night. But boy oh boy was it worth it in the morning when we opened up our front windshield curtains and saw this:

Yep, this was going to be our view for the next two days. Absolutely stunning. 

There were mountains all around the town on all three sides. Every window we looked out of, there was a mountain. The town is only a few blocks wide and maybe seven or eight blocks long. 

Can you imagine looking out at this scenery every time you do dishes or cook a meal or make some coffee?

The sun was shining all day long, which is kind of a rarity in this area. We really enjoyed looking at the textures and shapes as the sun moved across the mountains across from us. Different times of day it looked different from the way the sun played across the angles.

We were right near a large loading pier for the tanker ships that came in. They were actually bringing back in refined fuel that would be used for the residents of Alaska. It's interesting that this port is used to ship out the crude, as well as to accept the refined fuels. 

From our campsite, we could watch the tides come in and the tides go out. It was interesting how the shoreline scenery would change with each tidal movement. 

Also entertaining were the little bunnies hopping around in the campground. There were two adult black domestic bunnies and one little baby bunny of the same color. There were a couple brown rabbits that look more natural and perhaps were wild. All of them were accustomed to people. There was a bucket of rabbit food by the door to the main clubhouse and I think they are fed regularly. I think they are on site pets for the hosts?  If a dog came by, they just scampered underneath the porch and knew they were safe. But for people, they didn't even bother to move because they knew there was no way we could ever catch them! Lol 

I had pet rabbits as a child, and this was awfully fun to watch them hopping around.

We caught up a few loads of laundry and walked around taking care of errands.

I took some time to catch up traveling details in my journal. This lovely quilted journal was made by my friend Judy. A cup of coffee and a beautiful view out the window. Who could complain?

My mid-afternoon, a big cruise ship came into Port. We didn't see throngs of people like we did in Skagway. Instead most of them boarded buses to go off on tours. I believe they were on whale watching tours out in the water, or sightseeing tours up to Thompson Pass and through the Keystone Canyon.

There's a lot more to see in the area so I will continue that in another blog. 

Here is the video on YouTube so far that goes along with this post.

129 miles today 

3,709 miles so far 

NORTH TO ALASKA 2015 - DAY 25-28 - EAGLE TRAIL & DRY CREEK REC SITES

We left Tok, Alaska, and decided we were going to head South instead of West. Our next goal was going to be Valdez on Prince William Sound. But we weren't going to go there all in one day. We would take our time.

Traveling about 200 miles a day or less is our goal. As we were driving along, after only 19 miles, we made a stop. We saw a sign for a Alaskan State Rec Site called Eagle Trail. We figured we would drive through and just see what it looks like. I wasn't feeling the best, so I really didn't feel like traveling a long distance today anyhow. 

We pulled on in and found the campground to be designed in four small loops. There were a few other campers there, but not many. We pulled into a nice little loop that had trees surrounding us but an open patch of sky above for reaching the satellites for Starlink. 

This was a nicely designed campground!

Steve walked over and paid for the campsite. We thought this was interesting on the sign: 

So, in other words, if you don't pay on your honor and take care of your campsite fee, it's an extra $2 if the concessionaire running the campground has to come and collect it from you!

I decided to shred up the leftover meat from the chicken thighs we had baked. I made up some chicken scampi over rice with fresh vegetables. It was nice to have fresh vegetables again after our stop at the grocery store in Tok.

Steve had picked up some Alaskan beer from the Denali Brewing Company. So he had a well-deserved beverage after dinner. 

I put on my comfy jammies and curled up and went to sleep for the rest of the evening. Because it stays light out so long, we have reflectix pieces we put in each window. Not only do they block out the light but they also help retain our heat inside on the cold nights that we have been experiencing.

By the second day, I was feeling a little bit better and we got out and about and did a little walk with Nicholas. He was getting tired of being cooped up. He does not like to walk with Steve at all. He puts on his little brakes and drags all four paws if he is more than 25 ft away from our camper if I am not along. He considers Steve sufficient enough to get out and go potty and come back in on a leash. But he definitely does not want to go for walks with only Steve. 

What a little nut...

We met up with two other couples that were also traveling in the same brand of motorhome that we have.  They had spent the winter down in Arizona and now were coming back to Alaska. They live in Anchorage and we're hoping to get an early start the next morning and blast their last distance of 300 miles towards home and sleep in their own beds.

They warned us they would be leaving between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. We heard them go and wished them well.

Steve had noticed these interesting bear-proof garbage cans. On the video link below, you can see why he found them intriguing.

By the nect morning I thought that I was ready to get up and get moving again. We were heading in the direction of Glenallen, but I wasn't sure how far I wanted to travel this day. We just played it by ear... 

The weather was absolutely beautiful after being kind of rainy the last 2 days.

This road was one of the craziest ones we've been on so far. It really wasn't too bad with potholes or frost heaves that broke the pavement. Instead it was just all dips and sways like roller coasters! It's like the blacktop surface flexed and undulated along with the movements of the ground underneath. The ones that made us dip forward and back weren't too bad, but the ones that made us dip side to side could catch us off guard.

I don't think the camera can even capture the effect of what these roads were doing. We drove on surfaces like this for over a hundred miles. It really wasn't that good for someone who was having an upset stomach. Ugh!

It was some of the most beautiful scenery ever though. It was along the Wrangle Saint Elias Mountain Range. I took some photos, and shot some video which is also on the YouTube link below.

It was amazing that the tops of those mountains were hidden by the clouds. They felt like we could just reach out and touch them.

They look chiseled and sculpted in ice with their bluish purple hue and the bright white snow was almost blinding. We found we had to wear sunglasses because it was so bright.

I didn't take many more photos but there is a little footage on the video about the next campsite we pulled into. Dry Creek recreation area is where we decided to stop. It was just a few miles further down into Glenallen. So this was a good place to hunker down for the night.

Here's the YouTube video link that goes along with this post: 

19 miles to Eagle Trail, 

Then 122 miles to Dry Creek

3,580 miles so far