Valdez Backtracking

As we have mentioned before that when we missed something or want to go more off the beaten path we use "the toad" (the Honda), for various reasons.  We completely missed Thompson pass coming in to Valdez, due to extreme fog.  So we decided to backtrack today and see in this sunny clear weather what we missed the first time through. 

This commemorates the attempt to get a railroad to Valdez.  They didn't make it.

Hand dug tunnel, never got quite large enough for a train.  Valdez has no railroad to this day.

Fireweed blooms are not quite to the top, but getting close.  This tells us that late summer is upon us.









A little information on Thompson pass. 
Thompson Pass is through a 2,805 foot-high gap in the Chugach Mountains. This the snowiest place in Alaska, recording 551.5 inches of snow per year on average. In the winter of 1952–1953, 974.1 inches of snow fell—the most ever recorded in one season at one location in Alaska.  In fact it is also the most snow ever recorded in one season at one location anywhere in the fifty states. The pass also holds the Alaska record for the most snow in a single day: 62 inches  fell on December 29, 1955!
The pass was named in 1899 by U.S. Army captain William Abercrombie "in compliment to Hon. Frank Thomson, of Pennsylvania", but he spelled the name "Thompson" on his sketched map, and that spelling stuck.  The pass had been used by the Alaskan Native people for generations prior to Abercrombie's arrival, but Abercrombie marked and defined a trail through the pass for use by Gold Rush miners. His route later became the Valdez-Eagle Trail and was used by the telegraph Company to string cables through the Pass. The path through the pass continued to be improved, and automobiles first drove the entire length of the trail in 1913. By that time, it had become the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail.  It was renamed the Richardson Road in 1919.
Because of heavy snowfall over Thompson Pass, the Richardson Highway was used only in summer.  Not until 1950, when a freight company foreman demonstrated that the pass could be kept open with snowplows, was the road drivable year-round. The trail through the pass remained gravel until 1957, when the Territory of Alaska paved it. In the early 1970s, Thompson Pass was the scene of frantic activity as thousands of workers built a portion of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline from a camp located nearby.  Heavy snowfall in the pass slowed work in the winter, but the pipeline was completed by 1977.  Today oil flows through the pass on an almost continual basis.
The work of keeping the highway clear through the pass is still extremely challenging due to weather conditions.  This was highlighted in the Discovery Channel television special Alaska: Most Extreme.

There, now you know, and so let's look at the road. 

A pullout view where you can see that some of that snow is still around--on the high peaks.

Notice the snow pole markers that demarcate the edge of the road for the snowplows.

This is the icefield above Worthington lacier.

Worthington Glacier and Lake.  

You can see the blue ice and wear on the rocks.  Very Pretty but dirty.  Guess we will have to come back in the winter.  NOT!

This is Mt. Billy Mitchell.  There is a sign that explains why he got a Mountain named after him.

Mount "Billy" Mitchell: Lt. William "Billy" Mitchell (1879–1936), father of the modern U.S. Air Force. In 1902 Lt. Billy Mitchell, U.S. Army Signal Corps, was sent to the territory of Alaska to construct a telegraph line linking Valdez and Nome to the United States. Mitchell learned to fly in 1916 and commanded several units in WWI. He became the leading proponent to create an independent U.S. Air Force. Mitchell's previous Alaska experience shaped his idea: he who holds Alaska will hold the world, as far as defending the North American continent. In 1946 Mitchell was awarded posthumously a special non-combat Medal of Honor by Congress for outstanding pioneer service and foresight in field of American Military Aviation.

At the Trailhead for Worthington Glacier they were putting in new vault toilets.  Parts were delivered like this.

Then assembled on site.  Now you know we explore everything.  (Pauline's interest stems from her Landscape Architecture Internship training at Siskiyou National Forest in the summer of '93.  These type of outhouses, called SST's or sweet smelling toilets, were then the newest design.)

On the way back to Valdez,
notice this:  the Lowe River is getting real close to the road edge.  The river is fed from melting ice; and, as you can see, it's really melting at this time of year.  Saw a couple of washed out driveways.  Another Alaskan mindset change:  rivers here are high in summer, low & frozen in winter.

 One of the washed out driveways.  Wonder how they get out.  There was a mailbox and all there.

Got a picture of a young eagle hooked onto something too big.

Still trying to get it out of the water.

But it couldn't get it up.  You can see how wet it is by the water running down the stump perch.  Sometimes eagles get hooked onto something too big and can't get loose, and they'll drown.  Guess this one got lucky--but he doesn't look happy.

When we got back to Salmon Gulch, by the Fish Hatchery, we found the salmon were thick.

 The dark is fish.  How thick were they?

Real thick.  Some make it inside and can't get down off the weir.  They fed the gulls.

The fish ladder up to the hatchery was as full as this, but like I said earlier it was closed so we could not see what was going on up there.  And no Bears.  We missed a big mamma and her two cubs by only minutes; must have known we were coming.

 We stopped one more place where we were told there might see bear, black bear this time.  So one more place, no luck:  just too warm.
It's evening when we return to the RV for dinner and to get ready to head onward tomorrow.  We have enjoyed all around the Valdez area.