The drive from Glennallen to Valdez was absolutely gorgeous.  The first picture is Mount Drum which was straight ahead of us as we drove into Glenallen.  It is so huge (12,011′)  that we also saw it for miles and miles on our left hand side as we drove down the Richardson Highway towards Valdez.

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114 miles on the Richardson Highway

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Bridal Falls

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Horseshoe Falls

Valdez 

The city of Valdez has a population of 3,976 as of the 2010 census.  The city was badly shaken by the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964. Soil liquefaction of the glacial silt that formed the city’s foundation led to a huge underwater landslide, which caused the city’s shoreline to break off and sink into the sea.  This disturbance caused a 30’ tsunami that traveled down Valdez Bay and killed 32 men, women, and children who were standing on the city’s main dock watching the unloading of the SS Chena, a supply ship that came to Valdez regularly.

There were no deaths in the actual city of Valdez and the residents continued to live in the homes for three years while the Army Corps of Engineers sought and prepared a better location for the town. Fifty-four houses and buildings were dismantles and transported by truck to re-establish the city in its present location. The original town site was dismantled and abandoned.  There was a sign pointing to where the town used to be and Tom and I drove down to see what was left, but there are no longer any signs that anything was ever there.

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Homestead Trail

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This is from the cottonwood tree and fills just like very soft cotton, but makes quite a mess on the ground.
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Homestead Trail

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Peter Toth Indian Head Carving

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Rock Point Trail

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DSC02797 View from Rock Point Trail

TSolomon Gulch Fish Hatchery

Here we not only saw thousands of salmon, but we also so thousands of birds, many seals and some eagles in this area.

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IMG 4842Hundreds of seals basking in the sun on the rocks

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This seal is searching for his lunch

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This bird was snacking on this salmon.

Trip Statistics

  • We are staying at the Valdez KOA for $39.50 a night.  That’s a total of $1,719 so far on the trip, or an average of $30.70 a day.
  • We drove 111 miles in the RV and 35 in the car today for a trip total of 7,826 miles so far.