Chicken, or not...

       

Remember those mountains I showed you yesterday?  When I said Mt. Drum was the second highest mountain in Alaska?  I was wrong. That's what happens when you get your information from a highway flagger and don't check it out!  My bad…  I don't know what the second highest mountain is, but when I find out, I'll post it. Anyway, I had wondered what the mountains I admired really looked like with no clouds, and this morning I found out. 

Sometimes you have to make decisions that are opposite what you really want to do.  That happened today. Today's plan was to drive the gravel road to McCarthy, get a shuttle into Kennecott, and really see the place where those great books I have devoured for the past 8-10 years are set. (The author is Dana Stabenow, and it's the Kate Shugak mystery series.) So I got to Chitina, where the gravel road starts, and discovered, much to my horror, that it was 60 miles of gravel road, flat tires are "not uncommon," and it is strongly recommended that you have a spare tire, not a donut tire, when you attempt it. OK – I have my minivan, with a donut spare, that I don't even know how to get out from underneath the car by myself (at least I've never done it – I'm sure I could learn, but that's why I have Triple A). I took a look around town, realized there was no Triple A garage here, and even if there was, my phone wouldn't work to call them anyway. So do I head heedlessly to McCarthy or swallow my disappointment (and lack of thorough preparation) and turn back? Was I chicken, or was I going to be smart?

Looking at the map a little more closely, I saw that one part I really wanted to see – the Copper River, where all that fabulous salmon comes from – was just a mile down the road and there was a bridge across the river that would give me a really good view. OK, I'll just go that far. I even saw some fish wheels on the river, although I don't think they were working, but at least I saw them. I even got close to what looked like a fish camp, although I soon realized that I was trespassing on private land and quickly turned around and left.

Fish camp

Copper River from Chitina

So, on to Valdez, since the weather was beautiful and was supposed to stay that way for a few more days. Oh, my; I thought the south end of Kluane Lake was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen, but the road from Copper Center into Valdez wins hands down. I was constantly pulling over to the side of the road just to look and drink in all those beautiful mountains.  Pictures simply don't do it justice. But here are a few…

Along the side of the road.

Even their blue bonnets are gorgeous -- taken near Chitina.

One of the attractions on the way to Valdez is Worthington Glacier (Ruth, I thought of your great granddaughter the whole time I was there!!) which comes down close enough that you can walk almost to the mouth. That was a fun walk – cold, but fun.  It's the closest I've been to snow in several years!

Driving on, I went through a canyon that had waterfalls about every 100 feet it seemed – each one more beautiful than the next.

Bridal Veil Falls on the road to Valdez

The end of the road is Valdez, so I spent most of the afternoon wandering around town, and I even booked a glacier cruise for Thursday.  So now I'm headed to the library to see if I can post this blog, and I'll tell you more about Valdez next time.