Day 25 From Valdez to Glennallen

It was a quiet morning.  I woke up at 7am to foggy skies but no rain.  Sadie still looked exhausted but Zeke was ready for his morning pee walk.  A .8-mile walk along a ski trail near the Mineral Creek glacial debris did the trick.  A breakfast of biscuits and gravy (served with three eggs!) at the Oldtown Burgers place edid the trick.  I was full as I left town.  The sun broke through the clouds at times.  This was the weather I had wished for yesterday.  My rain coat and shoes are still very wet from yesterday's hike.  The cold rain and grey clouds kept me from enjoying the beauty around Valdez, but I'm glad I got to see the place where for years the oil spill caused headlines.  I wouldn't want to be here in the winter, here, as the town is locked in.

Now back north over Johnson pass, a quick walk to the Worthington Glacier was my first stop.  I got to hike this glacier, even getting close to the blue-hued ice.  The trails are not official trails, so there's much rock hopping and climbing, but I stuck to the easier routes for the dogs.  Several people went even higher, but I turned around when hiking became climbing.  The views alone made this stop worthwhile.

My next stop was a layover at the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, our largest national park that few people have heard about.  This is old mining area, and a few historic cabins remain here.  People from the original homestead can still live in the park.

I took my time driving back north, detouring as planned to Wrangell-St Elias National Park via the Chitila road. The road is paved 33 miles only to the town.  Once over the Copper River it's washboard driving the entire 97 miles to Kennecott Mine.  I didn't quite make it to the mine because I couldn't drive very fast over the bumpy road, and I could tell that Sadie wasn't liking going airborne whenever I hit a bad dip in the road.

I saw moose and trumpeter swans, but then turned around shortly after the old rail road tressle.

I got back to Glennallen and stayed across the parking area from the visitor's center, where at least I had phone reception.


I'll be back in Tok tomorrow and then I'll decide where to go from there.

More details later