July 21 - The Drive to Vadez

On Thursday we finished the Top of the World highway.  One thing we began to notice is that Alaska is very BIG.  The mountains are huge and far away, you can just plain see a long way.

We stopped in Tok to fill up with cheap diesel, well if you call $4.69 a gallon cheap, and a stop at the visitors center to pick up more Alaska info.

Then we were on our way to Valdez.  The drive to Valdez is unbelievable. 

First, there are views of the mountains in the Wrangle-St. Elias National Park.  A couple of the mountains here are over 16,000 feet, and Mt. Wrangle is an active volcano, with steam visible coming out of it on a clear, calm day.  It was a nice day, but still some clouds blocked the top of the mountains from view. 

We finally did see the clouds clear around McCarthy, and got a good pic of Mt. Wrangle. 
Couldn't tell if there was steam coming out though.

As we got closer to Vadez, about 50 or 60 miles north, the views got really breathtaking. 

Here's some fireweed in full bloom along the road.  It is thicker here than anywhere we've been so far.

Lots of tall, craggy mountains filled with snow, glaciers, and waterfalls.

We followed this helicopter, watching it land and take off along the road a couple times.  Too bad they didn't flag us down for a ride with them over the glacier.

Turns out this is named the Worthington Glacier and there was a pull out, so we decided to stop. 

It ended up being a long stop, because we couldn't resist taking a walk up to the glacier, hoping to actually touch one.

A view from a ways up the glacier.

Our first time to touch a glacier.  This is actually a large piece of ice.  Roxane is touching a spot where we wiped the dirt away.

A couple more views from high up.

Just down the road from the glacier,  we pulled out to check out the scenery at Thompson Pass - elevation about 2,750 feet.  More great views!

Click on this panorama to check it out.

2,750 feet doesn't sound very high, but knowing Valdez is at sea level, we knew it would be a long and steep downgrade to Valdez.  But again, the scenery just kept getting better, the road wound between mountains that rose straight up from the road.  Pictures just wouldn't do this drive justice.  And of course there were waterfalls!

Once at the bottom, we started looking for the Allison Point State Park Campground.  It's right on the Prince William Sound, across from the City of Valdez.  As we drove around the sound, there were bald eagles flying around everywhere.  We pulled off to check the view ourselves and spotted this crossing the road behind us...our first grizzly bear!

It looked like a young bear, and it went right down to the water to catch some dinner.  What a great sight to end the day!