The city of Valdez is one of
the two Alaskan ports that do not freeze solid in the winter. The Bay of Valdez is a major commercial
fishing area for salmon. The original
town of Valdez was completely destroyed/condemned by the 1964 earthquake and
subsequent Tsunami. The town and port
moved to its current location after a thorough survey by the Federal
Government, where it has flourished. The
town is also known for being the final point on the Alaska Pipeline, and the
infamous oil spill from the tanker, Exxon/Valdez.
The town of Valdez got on the
map during the gold rushes at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. On Good Friday, in 1964, an earthquake of 9.4
on the Richter scale lowered the land in and around the original city by some
three feet. The epicenter was out in the
Bay and it produced a 30-foot high tidal wave that echoed off the walls of the
bay to produce three successive surges eradicating the buildings, and killing
nearly all of its inhabitants.
Valdez is beautiful now. It is a major attraction for tourists
("Nature's Playground"), a burgeoning seaport and a center for
sport. This and other sea arms that
connect to the Prince William Sound allow access to glaciers, fish, and
wildlife unmatched in the world. It
reminds one of Milford Sound (New Zealand) on steroids!
The Richardson Highway is the
only way into Valdez by land. It
traverses over Thompson pass, past glaciers on the Thomson Ice Field, and right
by the Horseshoe and Bridal Veil waterfalls before it meanders down to the
seaside.
The Bay of Valdez is filled
with wildlife and wonders. Salmon return
here to spawn from the largest salmon hatchery in Alaska. The roiling salmon-fish shown below did not originate
from a river, but from this dead-end hatchery.
The hatchery thus captures the fish, harvests and incubates their eggs, and
then transfers the fingerling offspring to remote sites around the Bay to
continue nature's cycle.
Sea lions live here year-round
and happily rut on the rocks surrounding islands in the bay. Several thousand sea lions cavort, and
procreate on these rock-bound shores with great glee, judging by the intensity
of their barks.
The sea lions thrive on the
fish in the bay and are especially blessed by the annual surge of salmon
returning to the hatchery - where they and the bears hunt regularly at high
tide.
Sea gulls also enter into the
act, picking up spoils from the sea lion catches (and perhaps, re-depositing
them into the bay) from their unique rooming house.
The 2-legged fishermen in the
area also capitalize on this process.
Whales enter the bay on their
annual trek up and down the pacific coast.
Many spend the summer in the bay
Other animals include deer,
fox, sea otters, porpoises, eagles, and those cute little flying penguins - the
puffin. All of these critters can be
seen on a day-cruise, during the season.
Two major glaciers reach the
sea along this coast: Colombia glacier is receding (pulling away from the
shore). Ice-floes are shucked into the
inlet at an astonishing rate.
The Meares glacier more
spectacular, as an advancing glacier. It
is over a mile wide at the base, 6 miles long, and extends some 90-feet above
the water. It moves several feet a day. With great cracking sounds, it calves blocks
of ice the size of a house into the bay every hour or so.
You are Here: Trip Miles
2170-2503 (Chicken to Valdez)
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