Heading South to Stewart/Hyder

After taking Amy to the Anchorage airport to fly home, Al and I headed for Haines. We planned to see Haines and then take the Cassiar Hwy south with a side trip to Stewart and Hyder, then continue on home.

As we crossed into Yukon from Alaska we got snow. This is near Destruction Bay, Kluane Lake, Yukon.

Swans near the road going in to Haines.

A geocache we did just outside Haines. Logbook was inside the booth. One of the most unusual geocaches we stopped to do on the trip. After Haines we made our way down to the Cassiar Hwy which would take us back to the US by a different route than we had taken to the north.

Bear Glacier on the road into Stewart, BC. Weather on the Cassiar Hwy going south was pretty bad with rain and clouds making it impossible to enjoy the scenery. But, we still made our planned side trip into Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK to visit Fish Creek and the famous bear feeding area.

Looking down from the walkway to the bear feeding areas along Fish Creek. There were no fish, no bears, only evidence that they had been there.

Salmon Glacier, near Hyder was pretty impressive, but the low clouds made picture taking difficult. From here we headed back to the Cassiar Hwy and south to Prince George.

Anchorage and Palmer area

Leaving the Kenai Penninsula we had non-stop rain days to Anchorage, so we had to pass up on some places we had intended to stop at on the Cook Inlet. In Anchorage we ended up in a Travel Lodge that nobody should have to stay in.

We got out of Anchorage to Palmer and a great improvement in hotels. The Muskox Farm located outside Palmer was very interesting. There was also a reindeer farm nearby that Al and Amy visited.

These muskox are already 4 months old and have been separated from their mothers. The kids are feeding them leaves from an (I forgot) tree.

Al on Hatcher Pass road on our way up to see what was at Talkeetna, near Denali Park. This was the first snowfall of our trip and gave rise to thoughts of heading south soon.

Road sign at Talkeetna, AK. Too bad we did not see any of these moose while we were there (so no actual pictures). Talkeetna was a very busy town with people filghtseeing over Mt McKinley and river rafting. We left and camped down the road a little, heading to Wasilla's Iditarod Museum and then to Palmer for Amy's big birthday bash.

The Iditarod Museum near Wasilla was a stop on our way back to Palmer from Talkeetna. Al posed for me next to the sign. The museum showed a great video about the iditerod race and has some nice souvenirs.

Amy next to the Joe Reddington monument at the museum. Joe known as the "Father of the Iditarod" was the guy that got the race going back in 1973.

The Valley Hotel in Palmer was super good deal and there was an inhouse restaurant, lounge and liquor store.

Amy's 39th birthday party at the Valley Hotel Lounge. We had hit a couple of the local bars beforehand, but they were pretty trashy, so we went back to the hotel lounge. We partied late into the night, perhaps 9 or 10pm.

Seward and Homer

Seward was similar to Valdez, surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. But, the town itself was not as good (to me) and it was really oriented to the tourists on the cruise ships, not unlike Skagway. Campgrounds were just large gravel parking lots with no character.

Looking across the bay from our campsite in Seward.

Monument on the shoreline about the founding of Seward as an all weather port and starting point for the railroad into the interior of Alaska. Seward was also the beginning point of the Iditarod trail to the goldfields, a name that would become associated with a dogsled race in later years.

Horned Puffin at the Sealife Center in Seward. The center has all kinds of wildlife that have been rescued and rehabilitated. Many of the critters are released, but some have become domesticated and would not survive, so and must be cared for the rest of their life.

The much photographed Russian Orthodox Church in Kenai is one of the many buildings on the Kenai Penninsula that remind us of the Russian Heritage predating the expansion of the US to the area. 

Amy and Al in front of Veronica's Cafe across from the church and housed in one of the supporting buildings. The old rectory, I think.

This is at Anchor Point, the farthest point you can drive in North America. A must stop on our way to Homer.

The Salty Dog Saloon at the Homer Spit, one of the more famous Alaskan watering holes. Basically a tourist attraction (we were attracted). 

A visitor to our campsite when we were on our way up to Anchorage and Palmer. This is just south of Soldotna on the Kenai.

Valdez

We stayed in Valdez for three days. Beautiful location surrounded by snow capped mountains.

Bear Paw Campground was centrally located to everything, bars, stores, restaurants and museums. Also right across from the small boat marina where we would catch our cruise to Columbia Glacier.

We took an 8 hour cruise on the Lulu Belle out into Prince William Sound up to the Columbia Glacier and to see wildlife (not much, whales were gone to Hawaii). Cliffs along the channel out off Valdez.

Columbia Glacier. We were about a half mile away from the wall, which was about 300 feet high. The depth sounder had the sea bottom at over 800 feet.

Harbor seals were everywhere basking in the sun.

Amy on the ferry we took from valdez to Seward. We signed up on standby and were able to make the ferry, saving us more than 300 miles going around through Anchorage.

McCarthy and Kennecott

From Denali Park, we drove across the Denali Hwy to the Richardson Hwy at Paxson. The Denali Hwy is all dirt about 135 miles, it rained the whole way, most of the way hunters were everywhere looking for caribou, so we did not stop except for a couple of geocaches. The Denali Hwy was the only way to get to the park before the paved Parks Hwy was built between Anchorage and Fairbanks. We were headed for McCarthy and the Kennecott Mine nearby and after that on down to Valdez and Prince William Sound.

Al crossing the single lane Kuskulana bridge between Chitina and McCarthy.

Camped at Glacier View Campground near the McCarthy footbride.

A & M crossing the McCarthy footbridge. On the other side you take a shuttle a mile to McCarthy, or an another five miles to the Kennecott Mine. No access to McCarthy side of the bridge for visitors. There is a privately owned vehicle bridge down river for locals and the mine restoration vehicles to cross.

The Kennecott Mine is under restoration. Probably will be a long time effort.

Kennecott power plant.

Worthington Glacier on the way to Valdez.

One of the many waterfalls on the road into Valdez.