Day 79: Waterfalls, glaciers and salmon in Valdez

Day 79: Friday, August 2, 2013

I love Valdez. It is a quaint fishing village with about 4500 year round residents. It is not too commercial or touristy and everything here revolves around the water. The harbor is surrounded by mountains and is the northern most harbor in Alaska that doesn’t freeze in the winter. The Alaska pipeline ends in Valdez.

Valdez is all about the fishing

View of the bay across from the campground

The sign says it all

Boardwalk next to the harbor

Really nice fish cleaning tables

Looking into the bay from the small boat harbor

A barge going out into the bay

Love the old wooden boat

Wooden boat at the Valdez Museum

Valdez Small boat harbor

On our drive into Valdez we descended a long steep grade on the highway past several glaciers and waterfalls without stopping so we took a drive back up the highway to do a little exploring in Keystone Canyon and at Worthington Glacier.

Horsetail Falls waterfall in Keystone Canyon

Bridal Veil Falls in Keystone Canyon

Bridal Veil Falls is next to another smaller waterfall

This old railroad tunnel was never finished when a feud interrupted progress and a gun battle took place

Near Thompson Pass on the road to Valdez

Beautiful green valley on the road to Valdez

Up close at the Worthington Glacier. With a state recreation area parking area and paved trail to an overlook, this is Alaska’s most accessible glacier.

The lake at Worthington Glacier

Henry and Blondie at Worthington Glacier

This sign explains the Solomon Gulch Hatchery Fish Weir

On the way back into town we took a drive to the other side of the bay to stop by the fish weir next to the hatchery to see if the salmon were spawning. There were fisherman on the banks catching salmon. At the fish weir by the hatchery the water was filled with thousands of fish.

Fishing for salmon across the bay from Valdez

Kids trying to touch the salmon as they swim upstream to spawn. You can see fins sticking up in the water.

Thousands of salmon in the water

The Fish Weir

Fish Weir at the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery

We arrived in Valdez during their Gold Rush Days celebration. The Klondike Gold Rush is an important part of Valdez history and the residents celebrate for several days with events for adults and kids. Friday night was the Wine Walk and start of a street fair. The ladies were all decked out in the 1890’s outfits having way too much fun!