Continued from the last page.

SOUTH TO VALDEZ

This morning we left our roadside campsite quite early and continued south on the Tok Cutoff to its juncture with the Richardson Hwy. at Gakona Junction.

The two roads run together for several miles to Glennallen. At that juncture the Glenn Hwy. continues west and south to Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. We went south on the Richardson Hwy. to Valdez. The mile posts were "backwards" again on this road since Mile 0 is in Valdez but by now I was getting the hang of reading the Milepost guide book in reverse (there's a learning curve).

It took us six hours to reach our destination campground in Valdez, including several stops for road work and photo ops. Most of the photos I took were from inside the truck as we drove:

Along the way we were delayed several times for one-way road work and gravel breaks. This sign indicates a gravel break:

This sign indicates a gravel break .

Even though most of the gravel breaks (sometimes more like dirt roads) were fairly smooth we always slowed way down when driving through them with the RV.

At one rather short section of repaving we had a 17-minute wait, not for all the oncoming traffic but for the crew to do more work on the road:

We were more comfortable sitting in our nice warm truck
than the young lady holding the stop sign out in the cold rain.

Only one other vehicle came up behind us in all that time. That's how little traffic there was on the Tok Cutoff early this morning!

We drove through another construction zone through the scenic Keystone Canyon north of Valdez on the Richardson Hwy.:

 

SPECTACULAR SCENERY

The scenery along the Richardson Highway between Glennallen and Valdez is simply stunning. I'm just sorry we didn't get to see all the mountains -- or get great photos -- on a clear, sunny day.

 

There are mountains on every side -- the Alaska Range to the north and west, the Wrangell and St. Elias Ranges to the east and south, and the Chugach Range surrounding Valdez. Nine of the sixteen highest mountains in the U.S. are located in the huge Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which we skirted on the Tok Cutoff and Richardson Hwy.

Once again we had rain off and on and the clouds were too low to see some of the mountain peaks. We still got to see quite a lot. We're hoping visibility is better in three days when we retrace the Richardson Hwy. to Glennallen on our way to Anchorage.

We had the best views today of the Chugach peaks to the south:

 

We also had a partial view of a couple of the 16ers in the Wrangell Mountains from an overlook above the broad Copper River Valley:

Everything is vivid green in mid-June as we head south. Flowers are plentiful.

The valleys are as full of streams, lakes, and marshy areas as they were in the Yukon. While I was driving I spotted two moose in one of the lakes far below the highway but I wasn't able to get a picture of them. Those are the first moose we've spotted. We still haven't seen any caribou.

We saw many people fishing when we crossed the Klutina River bridge. The Tonsina River was a deep turquoise color even on a mostly cloudy day. It's easy to tell which rivers are fed primarily by glaciers:

 

Today we bypassed the turnoff for the Copper Center loop and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitor Center. We'll catch those on the way back north in a few days.

A section of the broad Copper River

While we were still more than an hour north of Valdez we saw a line of about two dozen cyclists riding south and spread out over several miles. I didn't see any race numbers. I'm guessing they were part of an organized group doing a scenic century ride. I wouldn't have wanted to be out there riding in the rain, though:

Jim saw some of the riders later this afternoon in Valdez, which was apparently their destination since that's literally the end of the road in these parts.

About the same time we began seeing cyclists we also caught our first glimpses of the Alyeska Pipeline. It runs above ground until it gets close to Thompson Pass, then it's underground through the more mountainous terrain to the Port of Valdez.

The pipes are 48" in diameter but look much smaller than that from the road. You have to look pretty hard along the Richardson to see them.

WORTHINGTON GLACIER AND THOMPSON PASS

There is still a lot of snow on all of these mountains. Ironically, the further south we drove the lower in elevation the snow remains on the ground. We were heading through the region of Alaska that historically gets the heaviest amount of snow in the state -- Thompson Pass, which is 26 miles north of Valdez.

We spotted a glacier near Mt. Billy Mitchell at approximately MP 52:

At MP 29 Jim pulled over at a turnout so I could get better photos of the Worthington Glacier, our closest look yet at a glacier on this trip:

We were at just 2,124 feet elevation, surrounded by snow, and the temperature was a brisk 41 F.  Brr.

An access road leads to a parking area where visitors can usually walk to the glacier's edge but we didn't drive the camper up there this morning. We already knew there was too much snow for the trail to be open yet and we didn't know if there would be room for us to turn around.

The incline in the next two or three miles to Thompson Pass, elev. 2,678 feet, was gradual. As we climbed higher the trees and willows were shorter and shorter and had fewer leaves.

We were above tree line before we reached the pass, in a world of tundra and snow:

This pass is renowned for the amount of snow it gets. In the winter of 1952-1953 it received a whopping, record-breaking 974.5 inches of snow!! The previous average was about 551inches per year, still a huge amount. According to this website about extreme snowfalls, official precipitation records are no longer taken at Thompson Pass:

It is likely that probably the snowiest regions in the world are in the coastal mountains of British Columbia and southern Alaska above the 3,000 foot level. Unfortunately, there are no weather sites to make measurements in these areas. The Thompson Pass location in Alaska is indicative of how much snow probably falls in such locations. The Thompson Pass site is no longer making observations.

Gradual climb toward the pass from the north

I do know that Thompson Pass and everywhere else in south central Alaska got more than average snowfall this year. The Anchorage area got double its average amount this year.

We know how to pick 'em, don't we??

All the snow sure is pretty, though, and the waterfalls and streams are more full than they'd be in a year with less snow.

KEYSTONE CANYON

There is a long, curving, gradual descent on the south side of the pass that ends up in scenic Keystone Canyon along the Lowe River. It was interesting to go through several eco-zones in so few miles as we dropped down to near sea level -- from snowy tundra to the verdant temperate rain forest below.

Near the pass Blueberry Lake was still mostly frozen and the NFS campground was under snow:

Tall upside-down L-shaped metal posts defined the edges of the highway so snowplows don't go off the edge when they're burrowing through several feet of snow:

Beginning the descent from the pass

I imagine the highway department is pretty busy during the winter, trying to keep this road open to Valdez.

In the valley approaching Valdez all the trees, shrubs, and grasses were bright green again. Wildflowers were rampant, with lupines and dandelions especially lush:

 

The strangest thing to me was seeing this verdant, summery landscape . . . against pretty white snow that appears to have fallen recently! All the main roads are clear but there is still snow in shady places at sea level and piles of snow 15-20 feet high in many vacant lots in town. Interesting.

I missed getting a good shot of Bridal Veil Falls in the canyon because it was on Jim's side, I was facing the sun, and we couldn't stop to take pictures while we were in that one-lane traffic through the bumpy work zone. I hope I'll have a good picture of it to show you when we go back through the canyon on our way to Anchorage.

This is Horsetail Falls, which was on my side:

I showed three other pictures of the canyon closer to the beginning of this page when I was talking about the road work through that section.

We will be staying at the Valdez Glacier Military Campground three miles north of Valdez for the next three nights. I'll write about it and our impressions of Valdez in the next entry.

SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS RE: THE ALASKA HIGHWAY

I'd like to note some conclusions and comparisons about our experience on this historic route:

• Road conditions along the Alaska Hwy. were not as bad as I expected, even between Destruction Bay and the Alaska border. My expectations of that section were too low.
• Road conditions on the Alaska Hwy. from the border to Tok, the Tok Cutoff, and the Richardson Hwy. between Gakona Jct. and Valdez were not as good I expected. My expectations of that section were too high.
• Our best advice to other RVers is to take it slowly so you don't damage your vehicle(s). You'll also see more scenery and wildlife that way.
• Our camper is dirty but not as filthy as I expected, considering all the rain, mud, and dust. Jim  cleaned it up as best as he could with a hose or bucket of water after each day's drive.
• We sustained no damage that we know of to the truck or camper; we try to take very good care of them.

Our spacious wooded site at the Valdez Glacier Military Campground

• Items in some of the cabinets shifted around several times but nothing broke or spilled.
• We got no windshield chips or cracks.
• We haven't needed to use any of the windshield repair places or RV washes along the route, but there are plenty if you need one.
• Finally, it's a long, long way to Alaska from anywhere in the Lower 48 by road! In some ways it seems like we got here quickly. In other ways it seemed like forever, especially after that delay in Watson Lake because of the "unprecedented" road damage.

The stunning scenery and the wildlife we've already seen have made it worthwhile, however. We expect to have many rewarding experiences before this trip is over.

Next entry: three days in Valdez, a remarkable town on Prince William Sound

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the ultra Lab

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© 2012 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil