Valdez Alaska
Before heading to Alaska, I joined a couple of Facebook groups to help in the planning process. One of the biggest debates was whether to visit Homer or Valdez if one had limited time. Fortunately we had the time to visit both places and if you can, we recommend you do too. You should take a minute before reading any further and head back to our previous blog post to get a glimpse of our travels in Homer.
It took us two solid days to drive from Homer to Valdez with an overnight stop in Palmer. The road from Palmer to Valdez was absolutely epic with the landscape very much like that in Game of Thrones. As you follow the Matanuska River you are enveloped by the Chugach and Wrangell Mountains, the Matanuska Glacier and as you get closer to Valdez, the Keystone Canyon, home to a few glorious waterfalls including Bridal Veil Falls .
Unfortunately, the town of Valdez garnered world attention in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound resulting in the second largest oil spill in America history. Although most of the clean up has been completed, there is still evidence of this tragedy in the area.
We stayed in Valdez for three nights, an appropriate amount of time to do what we planned but unfortunately it rained the entire time. We still went on our scheduled Columbian Glacier Cruise which was truly jaw dropping. In addition to wildlife sightings on this 6 hour tour, we cruised through lots of ice until getting close and personal with one of the fastest retreating glaciers in the world. It’s one thing to read about the affects of climate change on glaciers, it’s a whole other experience to witness it.
Valdez is home to the Trans Alaskan Pipeline Southern Terminus and is the site of the largest recorded earthquake in 1964 killing 32 people. Much of this history can be found in the local museums, but unfortunately we didn’t get to them as we chose to spend our time at the Salmon Gultch Fish Hatchery . Here we learned the role the Hatchery plays in the salmon industry and how the salmon return to the hatchery each year to spawn. Not only did we read about the return, we saw it in action. We literally spent a few hours watching the salmon make their way to the hatchery and the ensuing sea lions feasting on a few victims in the process. I was so mesmerized I made Brent take me back at high tide! If you’re lucky enough, you might even see bear feasting at low tide. We saw one up the road from the hatchery having his lunch too. This was truly quite the sight. Why go to a museum when you can witness nature at its best?
Visiting Valdez was an incredible way to end our Alaska trip and I highly recommend making your way to the area.
Click on our YouTube video for more of Valdez.
