Palmer to Valdez, AK – The Worst Drive
August 15, 2013
We started early and hoped for a good day of viewing. Well,
we did not get very far until we drove up into the overcast and had nearly an
hour’s drive in thick fog and missed seeing Matanuska Glacier. The fun part was
this was a winding up and down road. Well we finally drove out of it into sunny
weather. The next problem was the road construction going into Glenallen. We got to roll the newly spread gravel and
glacial mud which again coated everything. We did however have fantastic views
of the mountains in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. In line we could see Mt.
Sanford (16,237’), Mt. Drum (12,101’), and Mt. Wrangell (14,151’). All are snow capped with glacier and almost
completely visible. Mt. Wrangell is classified as an active volcano. We stopped
at the new Visitors Center for the Park for a great view of the mountains.
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Mt Drum
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Mt. Wrangell
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Mt. Drum
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Mt. Zanelli & Mt. Wrangell
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The next section, the Richardson Highway was not
construction but just constant twisting and turning with many frost heaves
(actually dips in the road) that can launch an RV air born if you hit them too
fast. This was a beautiful drive culminated with driving over Thompson Pass and
the descent into Valdez. Of course we stopped to take pictures.
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Worthington Glacier
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Descending Thompson Pass - Note poles on the side of the road marking the edge of the paved surface for the Snow Blowers. Thompson Pass averages 600" (50') of snow annually.
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Bridal Veil Falls
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Horse Tail Falls
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View of Valdez Harbor and back of my RV. That small black boat is one of the "Deadliest Catch" fleet.
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