Black Gold

Day 66 – Saturday, August 17

We took a long trek today from Palmer, on the Richardson Highway to Valdez—260 miles, but took over 8 hours.  It was another beautiful drive, mentioned in the “Most Scenic Drives in America”  It seemed like everywhere we looked, we saw another glacier!  We also crossed paths with the Alaska pipeline in several places.  The oil flows down the pipeline to the terminal in Valdez.  This “black gold” is a major emphasis in Valdez, which is on Prince William Sound, surrounded by the Chugach Mountains, the tallest coastal mountains in North America.

We forgot about the frost heaves, since it had been awhile since we encountered them, but we quickly remembered the “whee bumps”, when the rv became a porpoise on the road!   It didn’t matter that we had to slow down because the scenery was unbelievable.  At times it appeared we were driving right into a snow covered mountain, or onto the tongue of a glacier!  We stopped at an overlook to see the Wrangell Mountain, which is actually an active volcano!  It was overcast, so we didn’t see the plume of smoke that is sometimes visible on a clear day. But we did watch a sea plane fly over (you can see the mountain in the distance).  The pictures just don’t come out on the camera like they do in real life. 

The Thompson Pass was a breathtaking view, with a huge valley between the mountains, and six glaciers visible from one vantage point.

Just before we reached Valdez, we saw the Bridal Veil Falls that tumbled in six different tiers.

Then, 1/2 mile later, we saw the Horsetail Falls…just beautiful!!

We arrived at Eagle’s Rest RV park, right in the heart of Valdez.  It is a huge park, with rv’s, tents, fishermen and boats, etc. etc.  This is a very active town, right on the Port of Valdez,  where the oil terminal is. 

We found a church a few blocks away-- St. Francis Xavier, and went to evening mass, followed by a late dinner.  We treated ourselves to the specialty drink—Northern Lights (just couldn’t pass it up!)

Then, we were treated to a beautiful view of the moon over the mountains. 

 

Tomorrow we take a boat tour of Prince William Sound.

 

 

I thought I would include a map of where we are.  You can see the route we traveled from Seward to Palmer to Valdez.