We left Tok, Alaska through a thick haze of smoke. Apparently there have been huge bushfires (wildfires) in the Kenai Peninsula, which is south of Anchorage,
and the smoke blew all the way east across to where we are. We went to the Visitor's Centre in Tok and the really nice lady was very adamant that we visit the Wrangell-St Elias NP, which was on our way to Valdez, Alaska. She suggested we stock up with food and spend a few days there as it was one of her favourite places. So we took her advice, got to the Nabesna Rd turn off to the NP and stopped in at the Ranger's Station. The 2 ladies there were so lovely and gave us heaps of information. The road is a dead end gravel road and goes for about 30 miles. So we crawled along at snails pace looking for wildlife....there was NOTHING, ZERO, NIL...the boreal forest (which we have interpreted as "boring old forest") is a thick forest of pines and spruces and NOTHING can be seen through it!!...maybe the wildlife can read....
We were given an audio CD to listen to which was great and helped pass the time, except he would say "now look to your right and you will see one of the biggest mountains in North America and to your left is a volcano that sometimes has smoke billowing out of it".
Well we could see NOTHING because of the smoke haze and the "boring old forest", so maybe I shouldn't blame Wrangell-St Elias NP, but it was so boooriing compared to all the other amazing NP's we have visited throughout the US and Canada!!! It is the biggest NP in North America...5 times the size of Yosemite NP....big bloody deal...Yosemite is way better!!
Stu went for a couple of walks which were not very interesting and we
eventually got to the end of the road, where there was a campsite with
10 spots available. All but one of them was left, so we took it. When
we looked around, all the other campers had 4 wheel motorbikes...no
doubt because you could go NOWHERE in a normal vehicle, and there was even a couple wearing matching camouflaged jackets and drinking out of matching camouflaged coffee cups...they even had a camouflaged tent...complete with chimney!!
So we decided we didn't want to spend the night here and headed back out of the one way road looking for a place to camp on the side of the road. We had all but given up any hope of seeing anything "wild" and with "life", when suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw the back end of a grizzly running into the bush! No time to get the camera out though, dammit! So all had not been lost or wasted at Wrangell-St Elias NP.
We spent the night in the Park, leaving really early the next cold morning to spot wildlife. NOTHING
I think Alaska is having a lend of us!!
We were heading to Valdez, which Walmart Frank had suggested to us...a town on the end of a bay...one road in and one road out. By all accounts it was to be a beautiful drive.....except for the bloody smoke haze!!
The drive was about 250 kms and at one stage we stopped to see the results of a huge avalanche that occurred in January this year. Apparently the weather had been milder than normal for that time of the year, there had been a lot of snow and a lot of rain. This is what it looked like when it happened....from what I have read about it, no one was near that section of the road...thank God.
and this is what it's like now, 4 months on.
This stretch of the road also has heaps of waterfalls.....everywhere....it is so lush and green....almost like Queensland, but only about 40C different!.
When we were about 50kms away from Valdez, we stopped in at Worthington Glacier...one of many glaciers in this area, but this one is great as you can actually get really close to it from the road.
After a short break.....
we took a hike up a mountain ridge, visibility was a bit poor due to the haze, but it still was magnificent.
Stu tried to look like and early explorer, pretending to know where he was going...and being mature
but ruined all that maturity by trying to kick snow at me...
... he missed, so I laughed at him!
And although the mountains around us were a lot higher than us, a fair distance from us, and covered in smoke, Stu got this great photo of some peaks...possibly the most magnificent mountains we have seen as they were completely covered in snow, were up so high and then these amazing peaks, there was a valley amongst them and they were so rugged.
We parked up for the night off to the side of the road,
into what was actually an old, (unused?) airstrip...well we hoped it was old and unused!!
Can you see the camper? Bottom right on the above picture..possibly on the runway!!
The next morning we decided to actually sleep in, as we now know there is no wildlife in Alaska, so no point in getting up early any more!! Just kidding! It was really cold and there is only gas heating in the RV. We use the gas for cooking and hot water and are reluctant to use it for heating for fear of running out..so Stu made use of the toaster to keep warm!
and while we are talking about life on the road, here are some inside shots of the RV..
sorry the bed hasn't been made, Mum..we just got up!! And this is Stu doing his nightly chores...
We eventually arrived in Valdez
...a very pretty location, right in the bay...
but with a bit of a sad history. It was also part of the gold rush and despite so many men travelling here in the late 1800's under terrible conditions, there was no gold here. However, the town still grew, and when it's population was about 650, on March 27th, 1964 the town was struck by an earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale, followed by a tsunami and about 65 people were killed.
We watched a video on the town today and it was very sad to hear people talking about that terrible 5 minutes. The town's population is now about 4000. There are tsunami and earthquake warnings everywhere, along with bear warnings!! Safe town!!
Here's a video of our drive over the last few days....
Drive to Valdez, Alaska
We went for a drive around the town,
and walk today...along a glacier fed river which goes out into the Alaskan Gulf...very pretty and it was great to FaceTime our Aussie exchange friends, Sharon and Lindsay...who were nice enough to make sure no grizzlies crept up behind us as they sat in the kitchen in NSW and we were in a river in Alaska....gotta love the internet!!
Tomorrow we are going on a tour.....in this?
Don't be silly..it's a boat tour....
As I mentioned earlier, wildlife has been lacking so far in Alaska...ecpet for the grizzlies hind legs...so Stu resorted to taking photos of seagulls...at the salmon hatchery, (even the bloody salmon are still small)
Alaskan salmon where we were promised grizzlies...no grizzlies, but plenty of gulls!!
One thing we noticed is we are very early in the season, so a lot of places are closed...this came to a head today and Stu decided to make a little video about it...enjoy!.
Stu's Views
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