Alaska 2015 - Day 37 - Matanuska Glacier - Valdez

Day 37 – 6-17-15 Wednesday Today was a 3 Moose Day. We departed the campground about 9AM headed to Valdez. As we drove the Glenn Highway from the campground we could see the Matanuska Glacier off to the right for a few miles. The scenery in this area was somewhat different than what we have seen thus far. The road was somewhat higher than the area along it so we could see for miles out over the terrain. There were lots of lakes and somewhat small slender spruce trees. The houses were few and far between and most were set way back in the trees so could not be seen from the road.

We turned right at Glennallen onto the Richardson Highway toward Valdez. We stopped about noon at an overlook above Willow Lake. This is a barren lake (no fish) but we did see several swans in the lake. About 8o miles from Valdez a mama moose and twin babies crossed the road just before we got to them and went off to the left side of the road.

There was snow almost down to the road when we got to Thompson's Pass. This area gets about 75' of snow a year. The views through the area are quite spectacular. About 12 miles from Valdez we pulled off to take photos at Bridal Veil Falls. We drove on into Valdez and checked into Eagles Rest RV Park site 427. As we were setting up we noticed another Tiffin Motor Home two sites over that was getting some windshield repairs. We went over to talk to them and they were also from North Carolina. We compared travel experiences for awhile then finished setting up and did some laundry before driving around town for awhile. We stopped at Old Town Burgers to try their burgers that we had heard were very good. They were good and very big.

Glenn Highway

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Richardson Highway at Bridal Veil Falls

Valdez sits down in a valley between mountains and is the end of the Alaska Pipeline. This is the location of the 1989 Valdez Oil Spill. We came here on a bus just briefly in 2007 while on a cruise with Princess Cruise Lines. We got off the bus and boarded a high speed catamaran and was transported to Whittier to board the ship. Valdez is a small town of just over 4000 people and has an average snow fall of 27'.