Beautiful Backtracking

Worthington Glacier

There are not many roads in Alaska so at some point you find yourself backtracking.  We left Homer backtracking along the  Kenai Peninsula spending the night in Portage and the next night backtracking on the  Glenn Highway and spending the night near the Glennallen junction.   Our destination this time was beautiful Valdez.  The drive from the Glennallen  to Valdez is one of the most scenic in Alaska. We decided to stop at a roadhouse along the Copper River valley area for a late breakfast.  It was run by a gold miner, trapper, innkeeper, cook and bottle washer combined into one colorful character! His little gift shop had the fruits of his labor including gold nuggets and animal pelts. I wanted to get his picture but thought better of the idea,  I got the impression he was someone you should stay on the good side.  Continuing the drive you cross over Thompson Pass noted for having highest recorded snowfall in Alaska and  pass Worthington Glacier.  Just spectacular! Typically, if we think an area may be crowded we call ahead a few days beforehand and make a reservation.  We were thinking this would not be necessary for Valdez but we were wrong.  We arrived in Valdez on a big fishing tournament weekend.  We barely got a spot and our neighbor was on the cranky side.  It was close quarters, what Jack and I call a sardine park. 

Valdez is a small town but it has a beautiful harbor located on the majestic Prince William Sound.  It has an interesting history. The original town was wiped out in the epic 1964 Good Friday Earthquake and moved to its current location. You can visit the site of the original town.  It is also known for the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill.  The museums in the town our worth checking out on one of those rainy days you will inevitably run into during your stay.  Last time we did one of the boat excursions in the Prince William and I highly recommend, we saw a lot of ocean wild life including harbor seals, otters and whales.  This time we opted out since we had just done the boat trip out of Whittier.

Allison Point

The fish hatchery on Allison Point attracts a lot of eagle and bear action.  We took a drive almost every day to the hatchery but we kept missing all the bear sightings. Dang!  Last time we saw plenty and we were disappointed that we did not see any this time. There are plenty of scenic drives and glaciers to see and fishing too if that is your thing.  We stayed a week in Valdez enjoying the beauty of the area.  (Click here for previous post on Valdez.)

Solomon Gulch Hatchery

 It was time for us to go and backtrack yet again finding ourselves in Tok for the night. Decision time do we skip going further north to Fairbanks or head east towards Haines?