Visiting Valdez

Living remote in McCarthy, sometimes you have to go out for groceries, doctor, building supplies. Often it’s the hell trip to Anchorage or the Valley – 600 miles round trip, 7-8 hours of driving each way, with a whirlwind of stops crammed between as you pick up everything you need to maintain your life.

Occasionally you just need a few essentials or you don’t have enough time for a full-on Anchorage run. If you’re lucky, you can get what you need at Wenger’s, an excellent old-fashioned country store in Kenny Lake, just 85 miles away. When you need to go mid-range, you have 2 choices – Glennallen, 120 miles away (B-O-R-I-N-G) or Valdez, 180 miles away.

Valdez has a hospital that’s far better than the clinic in Glennallen, a good chiropractor, a thrift shop I like and a natural foods store. The grocery store gives me sticker shock every time I’m there. It’s more expensive than the one in Glennallen, but the produce is better.

The town of Valdez doesn’t look like much. Although it has a rich and fascinating history dating all the way back to the “98 Gold Rush, the entire town washed away in a tidal wave during the 1964 earthquake. Most of what was rebuilt was essentially a man-camp in the pipeline boom – ugly, square, utilitarian. No character. But the drive and the setting – Oh my!

Valdez is a town defined by water, in all its myriad forms. Snow, ice, waterfalls, of course the ocean, and rain. Incessant rain.

But if you happen to visit Valdez on a good day, it is one of the crown jewels of the Chugach.

Driving to Valdez, you must go over Thompson Pass. This is one of the snowiest places in North America, with 600 to 900 inches of snow a year. In the winter, it is one of the world’s primo extreme heli-skiing destinations. In the summer, think alpine wildflowers, glaciers, tundra benches, jagged mountains, and a little later, blueberries. Lots and lots of blueberries.

Coming down from the pass, you enter Keystone Canyon. The Chugach Mountains are forbiddingly steep, rising 5,000 feet straight up from the coast. And when all that winter snow melts…Can you say waterfall?

Of course, there are the big ones, Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls. But there are dozens more. Every time I take this drive I spy another one I hadn’t noticed before. In the winter, this is an ice climber’s dream.

When you get to town, you’re surrounded by all the wonders of Prince William Sound. Valdez is a great destination if you want to get out on the water. You can go kayaking at Shoup Bay. You can take a tour to see the Columbia Glacier, or go halibut or salmon fishing.

If these activities are not in your budget, there are plenty of things to do on land. You can revisit Gold Rush history with a visit to the Museum or the Valdez Glacier, the “All-American” route to the goldfields. Take a hike on the old Valdez Trail, constructed by the army in 1899 as a safer route into the Interior.

Stop at the Forest Service Visitor Center and watch the salmon come in. Sometimes there are bears. Take a drive out the Dayville Road to watch the sunset. Get a view of the coast on the Shoup Bay Trail, or check out the waterfalls and flowers along Mineral Creek.

This weekend it’s Gold Rush Days in Valdez. Go down and join in on the festivities, and on your way, enjoy that beautiful drive!