Warmer this morning, 55 F but the clouds were still there. Kelso & I walked early so we could get on the road by a little after 7:00 am.
Some of the people following the blog have expressed an interest in having more Kelso pictures. The 1st two pics were taken last evening.
Needless to say traffic was pretty light. The roads in the mountains must have been designed long, long, ago. They have reduced speeds for some of the curves but the main speed limit is 65 or 55 mph. The lowest speed thru the curve we saw was 25 mph. You had better pay attention because in these places there are not much shoulders or guard rail and the drop in some cases is well over 100′.
While the mountains as we were were leaving the Palmer area were great and very picturesque, they do not measure up to the scenery on Alaska Hwy 4 that leads to Valdez. It starts off fairly rolling but you can see the coastal mountains as you are approaching them. We even saw a glacier along the way and I have a picture of it. There was one area where they carved the road out of the mountain. The removed about 100′ of mountain depth and enough width for the road the shoulders and a little more. The waterfalls in the area were running quite strong.
Valdez is a small city of approximately 3,900 people. It is an important port as the Alaska pipeline has an outlet here for shipping. From what Kelso and I saw there is a thriving fishing industry, both commercial and private. The Valdez Small Boat Harbor has several hundred boats. They all looked like fishing boats to me. Kelso and I walked arounf the harbor area for a while.
We are only in the area till tomorrow morning and then we head for Tok Alaska. I do not know how many noticed on the itinerary that to get into Alaska and out of Alaska proper by vehicle is the same Border entry. I am sure we will see another Border entry before we get to Skagway Alaska in a few days.
Kelso glad to be outside. The temp yesterday got all the way up to about 60 F.
The selfie stick works but Kelso did not want to cooperate.
This is the glacier we saw. I stopped at a scenic turnout. We first saw it when it was right in front of us and it looked like it could be 100′ or more in width.
Here is the coastal range as we approched it. We were probably still 60 or so miles from Valdez.
Another part of the coastal range as we approach. Most of it is covered with snow.
Now that we are closer, part of the white looks like glaciers in the mountains. There are many glaciers in this area. The road wraps around the mountain to the left.
Pretty nice waterfall. This is known as Bridal Veil Falls. Hard to get a picture without tourists in it, There were a lot stopped for this view.
This is looking back slightly were they took out a portion of the mountain for the road. The waterfall is just to the right of this picture.
This is the Valdez Small Boat Harbor. There is more to the right because I am stopped on the road several hundred feet from the end of the harbor. There wasn’t any traffic. Notice how the cloads are hugging the mountains in the upper right area.