Valdez

The Valdez city entrance was marred with several large RV parking lots. The weather was still gray and we were worried about our kayak trip the next day. We stopped in the rental house and confirmed that the weather was building up and that our trip the next day would be unlikely to happen. Nevertheless, return tomorrow just to make sure. Oh well, we'd had such great weather so far that we couldn't complain too much.

We didn't really want to stay in one of the ugly RV parks near the town entrance, so we followed a sign that led us down South Harbor Drive which wrapped around toward the bay. The Sea Otter RV Park (835-2787) at the end of that road was virtually empty and right on the bay. It also had laundry and showers -- we had found the promised land!

After wasting no time registering and getting change for the laundry, we parked the RV. The showers felt wonderful and we were so pleased to finally wash all of the stuff that had been gritted with road dirt from the Denali Highway. I noticed a beige rabbit just outside of the lobby and the caretakers explained they kept a lot of bunnies on the premises as pets. They lived under the porch. How neat.

By the time we were done with laundry it was getting close to 7:30 -- we needed to check out the Terminal Tour. We drove around the bay and made it to the terminal with 5 minutes to spare. The security guard explained to us that the tour started at 7:30 on a bus in Valdez. We would never make it back to Valdez on time to catch the bus, so we never got the tour. Frustrated we headed back to the RV park to retire for the evening. Got a picture of the terminal entrance -- notice the unorthodox speed limit.

There was no evidence of an oil spill anywhere. It had all been cleaned up years ago. Also, the actual spill didn't really affect the town of Valdez. The tanker grounding happened miles away and the oil drifted further away from the town.

The next morning we headed to the kayak rental shop. The weather looked bad and our fears were confirmed that they wouldn't be going out to Columbia Glacier. The less expensive (and less awe-inspiring inferred from brochures anyway) Shoup Glacier tour was still available since it was in a protected bay. Would we get a partial refund? No, because we were the only 2 people on the tour. Since we drove all the way to Valdez to experience a prepaid glacier kayak adventure, we decided to go on the Shoup Galcier tour after all.

I detected at once from his vocal mannerisms that our guide, Aaron, was from Seattle. He was really excited about his job and patient getting us all set up for our journey. He explained paddling strokes, kayak operation, and what to do if you tipped over (it hadn't happened yet on one of their tours, but just in case...). We were fitted with bulky plastic skirt/overalls that fastened to isolate the outside weather from the inside of our kayak. We got dry bags for our cameras and lunches and walked across the street to the dock. We selected our kayak, adjusted the rudder controls according to my height, and loaded them on top of a fishing boat.

The owner of the kayak rental place drove the fishing boat. One other guy was on board just along for the ride. Shortly after we were out of the no-wake zone we spotted a few otters. We stopped for a few seconds to watch them and then moved on.

The boat stopped in a protected bay. We dropped a kayak into the water, swung over the edge of the fishing boat and boarded our kayak. Sure looked precarious, but Aaron explained that it looked a lot harder than it actually was. He was right, boarding the kayak was pretty simple. It was drizzling.

Aaron boarded his kayak, we agreed that 3:30 would be a good time for the boat to pick us up, and we were off. Not only was it drizzling, but it was also low tide, and a system of tidal rivers flowing against us was the only way into the bay that hid Shoup Glacier.

Our transport boat sped off to leave us. We paddled towards one of the two main tidal rivers. Aaron chose the one on the right and we started fighting it. We didn't last long -- we were barely making progress against the constant flow. We paddled to the side and got out. Aaron explained that we'd have to drag the kayaks up a ways. It wasn't too bad since we could walk on land and the kayaks could stay in the water.

The farther we went, the more Aaron realized that this was the wrong way. We dragged our kayaks across the shallow river where Aaron enthusiastically informed us that we'd be dragging the kayaks across the snow to the other river. Great. Turns out that kayaks glide well in the snow, the problem is walking in (and falling through) the snow.

The rain was still falling and we stopped to rest about half way. Aaron pointed out a bald eagle which landed quite far away, but we still tried to get a picture of it (it's that small thing that resembles an eagle right in the center of the picture) . Enough rest, back to work dragging the kayak.

We made it to the other river which was flowing even faster than the first. We dragged the kayaks to its source. There the water greatly expanded into a calm bay. If only we could get around the slippery rocks that impede our way to the traanquil beach. Aaron assumed that duty while Kelly and I made our way on land up a small hill and through some thick bushes. We all made it and we were all in our kayaks in calm water at last.

Our first stop in the bay was a kitiwake rookery. It seemed like thousands of these seagulls were all inhabitting a small, steep island to rear their young. None of the babies had hatched yet. It was quite noisy and quite active. All of the kitiwakes looked quite busy, but I wasn't sure what any of them were really doing.

We paddled off to the right and found a neat waterfall cascading into the bay. The on-again off-again drizzle was tapering off. When I got the camera out of the dry bag I noticed the lens had fogged up. Made for a soft shot, but I wasn't too happy at the time.

We paddled up the bay towards the glacier. We beached our kayaks high on the sand so that the tide wouldn't take them while we were eating lunch. It was a fun hike up the rock and through the snow to the vantage point where we had lunch. A few calvings entertained us while we rested and ate. A pair of seals came to investigate, but they didn't come close enough for a picture. We noticed another small group of kayakers heading our way, so we returned to ours. It was a nice, peaceful lunchbreak.

We got back in the kayaks and paddled a little closer to the glacier. There we sat and watched the scenery. Not really any big calvings to speak of, so we headed back the way we came in.

We made it to the kitiwake rookery from the other side this time and since the rain had stopped we took a few more pictures. I assumed they were researchers when the 2 people motored their zodiak up to the rookery island and got out to climb up it. The kitiwakes were pretty upset with the intrusion and the air got a lot louder and thicker with birds. The researchers looked like they were measuring something.

We headed back out to where our transport boat left us. The trip was a lot shorter going with the tidal river. We raced a few ice chunks down a short ride to the outer bay and paddled to where we thought the boat would get us. We were a little early, but Aaron eventually got the boat on his radio.

Only it wasn't the same boat. Our first boat had some prop damage going back into the harbor, so Anadyr Tours had to get a fishing boat to come get us. The captain was keen on telling us stories of the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964 that he wasn't around to see but heard about how it drained the entire Valdez Bay. He also told us about the Exxon Valdez and how it made its way out of the Bay (again on Good Friday -- don't ever go to Alaska on Good Friday) and creamed an island trying to avoid an iceberg. The captain also related a grizzly story about how he was on the search and rescue team outside of LA when the Alaska Airlines jet went down.

As we pulled back into the harbor we passed our RV park. The captain was saddened, "All those empty RV slots should be filled this time of year. This will be a tough year." We thanked him for the stories and the ride, went back to the kayak shop and changed clothes. We had a cup of hot chocolate and headed back to the RV. Kelly was soaked and she wanted a shower.

So we went back to our RV park. While Kelly showered I took care of filling and dumping the RV. She was using the dryer while she showered. When she was finished we headed into town for our first restaurant meal. It was quite expensive and it just tasted OK. They served a lot of food, though, so our doggie bags provided dinner for another night.

As we drove out of town we decided to try the radio. We heard 3 songs on their only station before we were out of range. We headed back up the mountains towards the Glen Allen Highway on our way to Seward.