Day 15: Valdez

Highlights Map

After our visit to Fairbanks and drive south to Gakona, covered in this post, today it is time to visit Valdez, our goal in this part of the state. However first we have to pack most valuables to take them with us, it is one of the few days in which we feel it is safer to have them with us in the car instead of a room that cannot be locked neither from outside nor from inside.

The breakfast room is in the nearby restaurant and it is buffet style and there aren’t really that many options. But at least there are some options and the room itself is quite interesting.

As we take in the surroundings it feels a bit more like a serial killer haunt with lots of stuffed birds and pelts everywhere as well as saws and other weird implements so we try to finish our breakfast as fast as we can so we can escape the room.

We decide to walk the grounds before driving towards Valdez and the lodge itself looks quite nice and peaceful from outside. It sits however near a raging river, in fact as far as we can tell we are on an island with raging waters surrounding us.

There are some scenic places on the grounds including the old trucks and the flower fields and we enjoy them for a while before leaving south towards Valdez for a day trip.

Before driving to Valdez we decide to buy gas at the nearby gas station just in case it is difficult to find in Valdez. It is a good choice as at the visitor center in the parking lot right above the entrance we find an active swallow nest, really cool.

Our first stop on the scenic route to Valdez is Copper Center. We exit at the first exit that points to Copper Center and that actually leads us to an unexpected stop, a beautiful wooden church near the road. We stop to visit it and learn it was actually moved from a different location relatively recently in order to be saved.

After the unplanned stop at the church we continue on and soon find our original goal, the Copper Center Museum. We are not sure if it will be open or not as the information is sketchy, but it is and we are the only visitors. It is a free and small museum but we feel it is worth to visit these small museums, whenever possible, to learn more about the history of the regions we travel through.

Not unexpectedly a lot of exhibits are focused on animal trapping which was a big business in the area, probably the biggest besides mining.

As we exit we find out that the museum is actually bigger than we expected as it has a separate annex so in we go to see the old snowmobiles and other exhibits from the area.

There is a fun exhibit about pans but what makes us laugh is the sign above a low door, which say that we should “duck”, quite funny for us at least.

From Copper Center we continue driving south towards Valdez with the next stop being a quick sightseeing one again related to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Along the way there are 11 pump station but here we are in front of pump station 12. That is only possible because there is no pump station 11 which was never built even though it was planned.

We stop close by for a short hike to stretch our legs and find a cache. It is a nice area so we decide to continue below the powerline for a short walk.

There are lots of flowers and we enjoy our walk but unfortunately we soon have to leave as Valdez is beckoning to us.

From the pumping station the road crosses a mountain range and is quite spectacular with quite a few waterfalls and lots of snow on the hillsides.

One of the stops we have planned is at a viewpoint for the Worthington Glacier, one of the many glaciers in the area but one of the easiest visible from the road. It is impressive especially as we see the rocks it is carrying downslope, there are quite a lot of them.

At the top of the pass we have some great views of the surrounding area with the mountains in the clouds. It is quite beautiful and also quite cold so soon we return to the car and continue on.

Right before Valdez the road passes through the Keystone Canyon, a beautiful canyon that has proven to be a challenge to pass during the early days of Valdez. Right now it is a joy to drive through it and see the two huge waterfalls, Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls, both within a mile of each other and both beautiful.

As we arrive in Valdez the first stop is the Valdez Museum to ensure we can see it before it closes. There are a lot more people than we expected and we soon learn there is a cruise ship in town which unloaded lots of passengers for the day. The first attraction in the museum is the old Steam Fire Engine, which is in great shape and quite an interesting artifact.

Another interesting artifact is the Fresnel Lens of a lighthouse with a long history that made it into the museum after it was replaced with a better lens in the 1960s.

We continue exploring the museum with another major artifact being the Pinzon Bar which was a centerpiece of downtown Valdez for almost 100 years until the earthquake that almost destroyed Valdez.

There are interesting historical photos including some showing how the roads have changed since the early years but what we like most is the North Pacific Fur Fish exhibit. we do a double take before understanding it is a funny hoax.

The exhibits that we are most curious about are about the good friday earthquake that destroyed Old Valdez and forced the city to move to the current site and about the Exxon Valdez disaster, the famous ecological catastrophe that happened nearby.

The last exhibit that also extends outside the building is about the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. It tells us a lot about how difficult it was to build it and how difficult is to maintain it, we really hope that it will never break down creating a huge spill.

We then drive to the second part of the museum which is near the cruise port. As such we have an opportunity to view our “enemy”, the large cruise ship that basically flooded the city with visitors.

Before entering we check the views from the docks and we do a double take as we notice a Hoary Marmot enjoying the grass on the shore. The marmot is watchful but really doesn’t seem to care that much that we are taking photos of it, lots of them.

Then we enter the Valdez Museum Annex and it is a much smaller space dedicated to the earthquake that impacted the original Valdez town. There are lots of dioramas of the city and how it looked right before the earthquake.

Afterwards we are quite hungry so we drive to the business area of the town and find a good place to eat, fish and BBQ, both are quite good and soon we are satiated.

After lunch we decide to visit the docks and see if there is any interesting wildlife. The docks here are easier to climb or descend and the walkways are even covered which I am sure is nice during rain or snow.

But today it is sunny and nice outside and we wander along the docks even seeing a Pacific Harbor Seal enjoying the cool water.

There is lots of fishing in the area as we can deduce from the fish remains that seem to be everywhere and the beautiful exhbit about the Valdez fish derbies with some pretty impressive freshly caught fish.

We continue exploring the area a bit more keeping an eye out for the bald eagles that circle the area likely due to the easy pickings from the fishermen.

Our next planned stop is the Overlook Trail, a short trail that leads to an overlook point of Valdez. We hope to see at least a few birds and enjoy the nature but it seems that a few other groups had the same idea as we hear them shouting from the trailhead even though they are at the top of the trail.

The birds however seem not to care and are singing happily all along the trail. Mostly we see orange-crowned warblers and fox sparrows singing in unison or fighting to get the best possible perch.

The trail is quite short and the views from the top are quite beautiful and we enjoy the surround views for quite some time before starting our descend.

But right before the descend we notice far in the distance some birds circling the snow clad mountains, we watch them for a while and notice they are a couple of majestic bald eagles just enjoying the thermals it seems.

Last trail in the area for us is Dock Point Trail a short trail that leads up to an overlook of the bay and the Trans-Alaska pipeline terminal. There is no one else on the trail and the views at the beginning are quite beautiful as we start climbing towards the overlook.

The views from the top are actually less amazing than the ones from the beginning of the trail as the views are partially obscured by the trees. But still it is a nice short hike up to the top through the boreal forest.

We can even see the terminal as we descend continuing on the loop and then follow the lagoon shoreline towards the trailhead.

There are not many birds here except a couple of crows that are watching us suspiciously all along the trail and follow us closely until we leave the area.

Returning through the Keystone Canyon we want to see a new site that we found out at the museum. It is an old railroad tunnel that was never finished and has a morbid history as the two railroad companies trying to build the tunnel had armed men battling each other in the Canyon in a shootout with rifles and revolvers that left one man dead, and several others wounded.

On the way back we stop at a few other viewpoints especially of Wrangell Mountain which is clearly visible in the distance in the evening sun. We are not the only people with the idea and the viewpoints are actually quite popular with other tourists too.

As we approach Gakona Lodge we are happy that this is the last time we have to pass through the one way lane with an automatic stoplight as it lasted forever to be able to pass. And then we blockade ourselves in the room for the night and sleep fitfully till next day.