July 12-18
The weather here is a bit wet- it rained here most of last week while we were at Kennecott- the Chugach Mountains kept most of the rain to the south of us, although we did have light showers most afternoons. And Valdez got a couple of good days- some sun and highs in the 50s and now more cold and rain…rather dreary, for sure, but this seems to be the summer weather pattern- I guess preferrable to the 25 FEET of snow they get each winter!
Prince William Sound by boat-
We took a wildlife and glaicer tour on the Lu Lu Belle- fortunately the weather stayed dry and the sun even showed up for part of the trip- the 9 hour trip. The Sound is HUGE and very protected by the Chugarch mountains which include mountainous islands in the sound, so the waters can be very, very calm. We “woke up” a few groups of sleeping sea otters on the way out of the harbor.

 
The day of our trip was the “opening” day of commercial pink salmon fishing. Over 100 fishing boats were out in sound- each boat had a crew of 4-5 one person in a “skiff” hauling the seine purse net away from the boat to set it and then to help bring it back when the catch was in.

We stayed extremely close to one boat as they brought in their catch and then one of the crew passed plates of brownies to the crew using a dip net!
Lots of wildlife, and many very up close views as our captain was incredibly adept at moving his boat in to tight spots.

And then the Columbia Glacier- he moved us through about 9 miles of icebergs to within 1/4 mile of the face of the 200ft high and a couple mile wide glacier for an up close and personal experience.

And Linda never passes up a chance to steer the boat-

The captain has been doing these tours for 41 years! And lives on the boat around the Seattle area in the off season. He gave an informative, and historical commentary most of the trip, including details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the 80s. He has a quiet, wry sense of humor and one had to pay attention to pick up on his personal opinions.
Since the pink salmon have just started to run, we decided to buy licenses and fishing gear and try our hand at salmon fishing. We have another 8 weeks in Alaska so we might catch a few. Clare started by fishing for artic grayling in the lake at the campground- some hits but no fish. And then we went out to Allison Point and the place was hopping- the fish hatchery there gathers spawning Pink Salmon and Chinook to collect eggs and raise salmon fry. The salmon are not ready to spawn quite yet, but are not hungry either. As we watched others fish from the shore, we were quick to figure out that those that were catching fish were “snagging” them, not quite sporting, but the fish aren’t hungry.

So, Linda and Rhylee watched from the top of the bank while Clare cast the first line- it wasn’t long before he had some snags and then pulled one in. The tide was going out and the salmon were moving back down the stream. It took Linda a bit longer to get one- other anglers had moved in closer making casting trickier.

The limit is 6 per day, but we settled for one each- they were about 18 inches long and maybe 3lbs. We gutted them at the shore and iced them down.

We camped on the side of the road that night…in bear country- oh wait most of Alaska is bear country. To finish cleaning them and readying them to eat, we gingerly prepped them away from the camper, with Clare watching for bear with his bear spray ready. And of course, cooking them spread the lovely aroma all over the area. Pink Salmon is lightly colored when cooked and mildly flavored. Looks like we will have salmon tacos, salmon cakes, and maybe salmon hash- after the first night of grilled salmon. Oh, our campsite by the road- turned out to be part of a still active airstrip- the inspector buzzed us and them landed – we had a great conversation with him and his two young helpers. AND, the view- well it is Worthington Glacier about 2 miles away.
Historically, Valdez was hit hard by the earthquake of 1964- 9.2 earthquake one of the biggest ever on North America. The town of Valdez had bee built on glacier rock and gravel, very loose and unstable. A huge section of the harbor just slide into the ocean. Some places dropped 8 ft in elevation others gained 15ft or more. 32 people lost their lives, mostly due to the huge tsunais that hit this tiny harbor between the mountains, as well as many other areas around Prince William Sound. They moved the town 4 miles away to more stable land within the next couple of years. Clare was here in 1965 with his grandparents and has some memories of the devastation here.

A few more shots of the area:

The view from the camper at Blueberry Lake:

Side of the road wildlife- moose and trumpeter swans.

Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls- right along the road- they ice over solid in winter and people ice climb them!