Valdez..........Land of Waterfalls

 We left Tok, knowing that there would be some rough roads ahead to Valdez.  It couldn’t be any worse than it was a few days ago, “so I thought.”  Whoever put out the info on the 35 miles of poor road conditions was a little off. Out of the 250 stretch…200 miles were in very poor shape, I would say!  Shouldn’t “Road Damage” signs be followed by “Construction Ahead” signs?  I have to admit though…the bouncing down the Alaskan Highway made the spectacular views we encountered on our way to Valdez...

worth every bump!  

How many pictures can I take of mountains?  Well…there’s mountains, and then there’s mountains with snow, mountains with sunshine, mountains with fog, need I say more?  So I have hundreds of pictures with mountains!  Here’s a new aspect of mountains I haven’t captured before…mountains reflected in water.

The moose were out this morning.  We saw about 10, during our journey today.  They are odd looking creatures that look like they would be a bit clumsy.  On the contrary, they are quite smart and quick.  On the Alaskan news, they had an incident of a man, while hiking, being attacked by a moose.  The man didn’t know that the female moose had a newborn close by and was protecting her territory and calf.   The man was hurt; but survived by scaring the moose off with his walking stick.  He was lucky to survive because their legs are strong and can kill with their kicks.  Also, males can reach up to 1500 pounds and females up to 800 pounds.  We saw some black bears too today and a couple baby cubs.  No pictures, they were quicker than my flash. 

Before reaching Valdez, you have to go through Thompson Pass, which is the snowiest place in Alaska.  It averages 500 inches a year.  In 1952, a record year of 974.1 inches of snow fell.  “Yikes!”    There was still lots of snow on the sides of the highway, as we went through.  It was beautiful; but not enough to get me to move there!

When driving into Valdez, we passed through Keystone Canyon.  It is a place with countless waterfalls cascading from the mountain sides.  The average snowfall of Valdez is more than 27 feet. In spring, when the snow melts, this area becomes known as “The Land of Waterfalls.”  It’s hard to find adjectives to describe 

what your eyes are seeing.

No matter what window we look out of in the motor home tonight, we have a magnificent picture to enjoy of Valdez…mountains, waterfalls, and ships in the harbor.  Sunny out; but a cool 55.  Not bad, considering the average high temperature in Valdez in summertime is 64.