The last 50 miles of the Richardson Hwy (Fairbanks to Valdez), is similar to the last 50 miles of the South Klondike Hwy (Whitehorse to Skagway), the scenery just gets better and better. We only had a little over 100 miles to travel yesterday, so there was no hurry.
The Worthington Glacier is impressive, even from a long way off.
A short road leads up to a large parking lot below the Worthington Glacier, where we stopped for a look see. From this vantage point only about half of the glacier is in view, the other half is hidden by the large rock formation to the right of the ice. It was our first up close and personal look at one of these huge chunks of ice in Alaska. We did get close to one other glacier, on the Icefields Parkway in Canada.
When we pulled back onto the Hwy, we were just a short climb away from the top of Thompson Pass, before the long descent into Vladez. Thompson Pass isn't really that high, but boy does it get a lot of snow. The record was the winter of 1952/53, when over 81 feet of the white stuff fell on the summit. The grade on the Valdez side of the pass isn't quite as steep as the drop into Skagway, but it is several miles long.
Just a few miles out of Valdez, the highway works it's way through Keystone Canyon. With the Lowe River alongside the road, and several waterfalls cascading down from the cliffs, it's definitely a scenic few miles. We stopped a couple of times to take pictures.
There's at least one Bridalveil Falls in every state, and here's Alaska's version.
During the Klondike Gold Rush, Valdez became a point of entry into the interior of Alaska. A trail was first established, and later, a telegraph line was built. In the early 1900's, there was an attempt to build a railroad toward some of the rich mineral discoveries, but it only got as far as Keystone Canyon. A competing rail line was built from Cordova, up the Copper River to McCarthy, effectively killing the Valdez rail line. We only took pictures of these two waterfalls, but there were several more in the canyon.
I'm glad I closed the windows & vents on the motor home!
We checked into the Eagles Rest RV Park around noon, and paid for 3 nights. We will most likely be here for a few extra days, depending on what all we find to do. This morning, we're headed out into Prince William Sound, on a 5-7 hour tour of the local waterway. Can't wait to see the first Sea Otter.
Two great catches!
Eagles Rest RV Park - $42.30 Cumulative - $590.21
Miles traveled - 120 Cumulative - 4,629
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