June 29th, 2016 Valdez

What an awesome day of hiking and exploring.

Today we started out by taking the Jeep up to the Worthington Glacier. There were really two hikes; One up to the ice field, and the other up to some spectacular waterfalls and the toe of the glacier. The hike itself was pretty challenging due to the loose rock and glacial stream crossings. I will say though it was well worth it.

From there, we headed back towards Valdez stopping at the two unfinished train tunnels. There were two competing companies that wanted to get train service to Valdez in 1905. The competition got so severe that a gunfight ensued. Several people were hurt and one person was killed. After that, they stopped construction.

From the train tunnels we went to the other side of the bay to check out the Salmon Fish Hatchery. Nothing is going on right now as the Pink Salmon do not return until August. However, there were dozens of Bald Eagles. I really mean dozens. We both lost count.

Then on to the original site of the town of Valdez. The town was pretty much destroyed during the 1964 earthquake and tsunami. After the event what was left was condemned. Quite a few people died, and the town was moved to the current location.

After seeing nothing at the old town site other than some photos on sticks, we headed up to the Valdez Glacier. I did not think we could drive up all of the way, but to my surprise, we ended up at a lake with remnants of the glacier. It is very strange that these chunks of glacier are still in this lake as the toe of the glacier is miles away.

Overall, a really nice day.