Hi everyone:
Another report from the northwest of North America, i.e., Alaska and Canada. We drove many kms on gravel roads to get into Wrangell/St. Elias NP, a great and largely inaccessible wilderness with huge snow-covered mountains. This NP is by far the largest in the US and Canada. The whole area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Including the Canadian part, Kluane NP, the area is as large as Switzerland. Nine of the 16 highest peaks in the US are in this park, for example, Mount Wrangell is 4317meters, Sanford: 4949, Blackburn: 4996, Bona: 5005; plus several more on the Canadian side over 5000m, for example: Luciana: 5226, King Peak: 5173 and the highest of them all: Mount Logan: 6050m, higher than Kili…… It’s also the least visited Nat. Park because it’s so hard to get into.
The Copper River skirts the west side of the park. Gold prospectors flocked there in the late 19th century. And as the name implies, there also was copper mining. We visited the towns of Copper Center and Chitina but decided against driving all the way down the McCarthy Road to the old copper mine of Kennecott. From Chitina to McCarthy is 100km The road is very rough; we felt that it was not for us. So we didn’t see the old copper mine. Too bad.
After exploring the Chitina area where we camped and hiked, we drove to Valdez, the town that was destroyed by the Good Friday earthquake of 1964 and was rebuilt 4 miles farther south. Valdez is therefore a modern town, with a nice harbor; it’s also the terminal for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Tankers frequent Valdez. And the world’s largest oil spill, caused by the the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound in 1989, is etched in the memories of the people of Valdez.
Below a selection of pictures and short commentaries about this part of our trip.
First, try to copy and paste the link below in your browser for a one-minute film of a very cooperative sea otter in the harbor of Valdez. It swam really close to the dock and would dive to get mussels from the pilings. Coming up again, it would be munching on these mussels right in front of my camera, a great show.
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/8e1714276e9676f8de4f5988fbeed360/video/5423196
The story of gold prospectors who hoped to get lucky here in 1898-1900
The road house (inn) and the old gas station in Copper Center
View of the Copper River inside Wrangell NP
The high mountains are covered with snow and glaciers. Many wild fires were burning causing a constant haze
Another moose; we always see the cows and never the males with their huge racks (antlers)
A fish wheel used to trap salmon in the Copper River.
Fish wheels in actual use in the river
We hiked to this lake following a trail on the road to Chitina
The “town” of Chitina. Betsie got a new hat, hand-made by the lady next to her.
A hike along O'Brien Creek where many guys with pick-up trucks were gathering for some salmon fishing
A local young lady on her “quad,” a favorite (and practical) means of transportation here on the dirt trails
Views or the Wrangell mountains and the Copper River
On our way to Valdez, we stopped to admire the Worthington Glacier
And we stopped to take a shot of Bridal Veil Falls, north of Valdez
At Crooked Creek, the life cycle of salmons is explained; a viewing platform allows you to see spawning in action close-up.
Fishing charters into Prince William Sound is big business in Valdez: halibut below
And a shark being readied for consumption……
We visited the Valdez museum, quite modern as you can see
The Prinsendam of the Holland-America Line caught fire at sea in the Gulf of Alaska in 1980. The passengers had to be rescued, first in life boats and then airlifted by helicopters to a tanker nearby. The tanker delivered them to Valdez; no one perished. Below one of the life boats and the newspaper article describing the ordeal.
A steam fire engine from 1907
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Here we are at the site of old Valdez destroyed in the earthquake of 1964. Exhibits show photos of the old town
Remains of the old dock
Betsie standing where the town used to be….
Planting tulip bulbs from Holland by Old Valdez
A view of new Valdez from the other side of the bay; a cruise ship had come into port that morning
On the road outside Valdez, another beautiful waterfall: Horsetail Falls.
Driving along the road to Tok, you can see snow-covered Mount Wrangell. It’s actually an old “shield” volcano (which means that it doesn’t have the traditional cone shape).
Before Tok, you find the only other road, Nabesna Road, into the Wrangell NP; we took it for about 40 miles, going slowly, to save our tires.
On day 1 in the Park, we hiked the Caribou Trail and passed by an abandoned gold panner’s station
After 2 hours, at the end of the trail, you find this new cabin. It’s open for anyone who might get stranded there; it has bunks and a nice wood stove. However, we just had our lunch on the porch and took the same trail back to the camper.
We camped at Jack Creek at mile 35. We were the only ones there.
On day 2, we took the Skookum Volcano Trail (at mile 36). It was one of the more beautiful trails we have hiked so far during this trip. First you go through an enchanted forest (Betsie’s description), then you follow a creek bed (rough going) to finish on steep alpine meadows, at 1460m above sea level with beautiful vistas all around. We started at 830m, so we ascended 630m total. The trail is marked by cairns (small piles of rocks). High on the steep rock walls of the surrounding mountains, you find Dall sheep. They are white so you can spot them, especially with binoculars. They are fantastic climbers only to be outdone by mountain goats. The males have big horns, just like bighorn sheep. Betsie tried to take a shot using maximum zoom. All you can see are a few white spots. Those are sheep, believe me.
Below several pictures of our Skookum hike which took us 5 hours, 3 up, 2 down.
The enchanted forest……
Look for the sheep….
One of the cairns
A beaver lodge along the Nabesna Road on our way out of the Park
Back on the Alaska highway after one month, but now going east, between Tok and Haines Junction, we stopped at Burwash Landing, visited its nice natural history museum and photographed the world’s largest gold pan….
We left Alaska and crossed the border back into the Yukon Territory, Canada, driving along Kluane NP with its beautiful snow-capped mountains and huge Kluane Lake.
After Haines Junction, you leave the Alaska Highway to continue on the Haines Highway; you enter British Columbia where they are working hard on improving the road, see below.
The Tlingit Indians used to have fishing villages here and conducted fur trade in the 19th century
Just before entering the US again, going into the Alaska panhandle, along the coast, you go over the highest point on the Haines Highway: the Chilkat Pass
Fireweed is still blooming but now, late in the season, it flowers only at the top, which, we have been told, means that the first snow will fall in 6 weeks.
History (Gold Rush) and more pictures along Haines Road
You find one of the few native villages: Klukwan, along Haines Hwy. We drove into it and found it, frankly, to be a mess: houses were in a poor state, rusty old cars, lots of junk. The only nice-looking thing was this memorial.
Just north of Haines is the world’s best spot to see bald eagles, especially in October when you have the last salmon run of the season. Hundreds of eagles will gather here to feast on salmon. In Haines, you find the Bald Eagle Center where research on eagles is conducted. We did see some eagles but we were too early to see the large numbers.
In Haines, you also find the world’s only “Hammer Museum.” Unfortunately, it was closed on the weekend, but we were able to take a picture of the world’s largest hammer on display outside the museum. (If you have followed our blogs faithfully, you will now have seen the following “largest in the world:” road runner, beaver, gold pan and hammer.)
Salmon swim up the Chilkat River; they have to pass through a kind of fence (weir) placed across the river and are so counted. The numbers are published on a sign by the weir. Since May 1, 27,715 (twenty seven thousand seven hundred fifteen) salmon had passed through…
A view of Haines from across the cove
A wall picture in Haines, taken during the good times of the Gold Rush
The 2 smallest buildings in Haines; its harbor and a lone bald eagle on a free-standing dock
Local art……
Several pictures of Fort Seward, established at the end of the 19th century
The row of officers’ houses now……
and as seen on an old photo in the local museum
The old Volunteer Fire Department building
The size of Alaska contrasted with the size of the lower 48 States (as shown in the museum)
In the evening, we took the ferry up the Lynn Canal, from Haines to Skagway. Lynn Canal is the longest fjord in Alaska; the trip takes about one hour
Arriving in Skagway, Alaska, around 10pm local time.
From here, we are heading into British Columbia, Canada again and are gradually continuing our trip in southernly direction, back to the lower 48 States in the US…….
Nice pics, I love that one of the Worthington glacier!
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