Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

We have been having the most splendid weather here in Valdez! Sunshine has been abundant, and yesterday we passed 60F. We are both loving it, after so many days of rain in Fairbanks.

I finally resized the photos I took both on the drive down, and yesterday on our adventure around town.  What’s been a little strange is actually having darkness at night. We don’t have to plug up the skylight in the camper to sleep. While the days are still fairly long (dark comes around 10pm), seeing the night sky reminds me that in a month or two, we’ll be seeing A LOT of the night sky.

When the sun surprised us by peeking out between the clouds, we did as most everyone in town did - we went out to enjoy it! Our walk took us down to the marina, where we watched fishermen unload and clean their catch. We meandered along for almost two hours before coming back to the camper for the evening and much needed sleep.

Here are the photos I took on the way down to Valdez, and on our first evening in town: (Click thumbnails to enlarge). I’ve been shooting more panoramas as we travel, as I feel they best present the vast landscape here in Alaska.  Unlike regular photographs, panos are a closer replication of what our eyes see when we look out across the land.

Yesterday, we opened our eyes to a bright light shining down through the skylight over our bed. Could it be that the day would be another sunny one?!  Woo hoo!

After a quick breakfast, Steve decided to go fishing over at Allison Point. I told him I’d join him, but while he was fishing, I planned to drive to the hatchery area to watch the fish swimming upriver.

As we were heading out of Valdez to the road that leads across the bay to Allison Point, we stopped at an area next to a stream, to see if there were any fish in it.  The gulls were having a feeding frenzy on the salmon who didn’t make the trip, but there were quite a few live fish still fighting their way upstream.  As we were standing there watching the action, we heard a rustling upstream about 15 yards.

A black bear came out of the bushes and jumped into the stream, catching a fish in her jaws. She proceeded to tear it apart, eating just about every bit of it.  I could tell from her teats that she had cubs, and we weren’t sure just how close those cubs were, so we left the area.  But not before I was able to snap a few photos - and in one of them she was looking right at us.  What a thrill!

After dropping Steve off, I backtracked to the salmon hatchery area. There were thousands of fish making their way through the rapids and fast-moving water. There were also many casualties laying on the rocky beach, where gulls and other seabirds were making a nice meal of them.

While standing there I noticed hundreds of gulls flying over a particular area of the river. I made my way over to see what had their attention. That’s when I noticed that they were playing! There were fast rapids in that area of the river, and the gulls would land in the water at the top of the rapids, float downstream, and then fly back to the beginning where they would ride again.  I couldn’t help but smile.

Steve fished for about an hour. After I picked him up, we stopped back at the camper to have lunch, before heading off to drive to the Mineral Creek Trail.

The rough gravel road runs for a distance of approximately 5.5 miles before reaching a gate and parking area, the trailhead for a portion only accessible by foot, which leads to an old mill. The mountains rise steeply on each side, and waterfalls cascade to the creek below. It’s truly a beautiful drive, although very bumpy. 4WD is definitely recommended, and preferably a high-clearance vehicle too, as some areas had very deep potholes.

The last time we drove this road, we made it all the way to the trailhead. But this time, we had to cross several portions of the road which were eroded from landslides and avalanches. One portion of the road was so narrow, that Steve had to pull in his mirrors and hug the bushes/trees on the driver side, so that we wouldn’t fall off the road and down the steep hill to the river below.

There are two huge waterfalls that come down to the road, and which you can walk up to. When we got to the second waterfall (Wood Creek Waterfall), a rocky berm blocked the road, prohibiting us from going any further. We approached the berm on foot, and could see why the road was blocked. The waterfall had taken out about 25 feet of road. That ended our trip prematurely. Disappointed, we turned around and headed back to town.

It rained on us for a short time while driving the road. It was neat to see sunshine and blue skies on either side of the storm cloud that dropped huge pellets of rain from the sky. When we passed out of the storm, a look back showed the muted colors of the landscape where the rain was falling.

The photos I was looking forward to getting, were of the falls. I wanted to slow down my shutter speed enough to blur the water and give it a soft look. Unfortunately, I left my tripod in the camper so I could only stop down my shutter to 1/10 and hold still. I did manage to get a few photos which turned out well. It’s a good thing I wasn’t too buzzed on coffee, or I would have never been able to hold so still!

When we got back into town, we stopped at the City Dock, so Steve could throw a line in. He wasn’t successful in catching any fish, but we both enjoyed the sun which continued to shine brightly.

Later last evening, Steve went back to Allison Point in search of silver salmon. He’s been catching quite a few pinks, but he won’t eat them as he has become spoiled with silvers and kings. He’s enjoying himself though, and that’s what’s important.

This morning, he set the alarm so he could go back to Allison Point for high tide. I slept in, which was nice. He just came back to the camper about an hour ago. The sun is going in and out of the clouds, but at least it’s showing from time to time - and it’s NOT raining. It’s chilly today - 50s.

We’re going to take Sedona for a walk on the Dock Point Trail (short walk), and then might go walk the Shoup Bay Trail. With the fish in the streams, and the black bear sightings around town, I’m not feeling real warm and fuzzy about walking through thick sedge grass and thickets of willow and birch brush. We’ll see how brave I’m feeling in a few hours.

Keep your fingers crossed that we continue to have sunny skies. It’s been wonderful to “dry out” after all the rain we’ve had in Fairbanks. I’d like to be able to savor this for a few more days.

Until next time…