Wrangell – St. Elias
Host Eric is making breakfast this morning when we step out
of our room. The bed was too soft for
Mary and the hot water ran out during her shower so she has a different view of
the stay than her partner. The cast of
characters gathers around the kitchen bar with coffee watching Eric work. One couple is from College Station, Texas,
another from Switzerland, a fellow who works for the National Park System, and
a woman who works in counselling in the Native American community. Quite the diverse group. John talks business with Eric for a half hour
before the rest of the troops arrive and there is always a connection between
fellow inn keepers. Breakfast is fresh
fruit, eggs with jalapenos and sausage and waffles and the whole gang eats
around a community table. It is sort of
like our B&B in Girdwood where the power went out. Come to think of it, our B&B experiences
on this trip have had their share of problems. We chat with Eric on the font porch on our way
out until the mosquitoes drive us to the car.
Nice people make all the difference in this business.
Our day today will be spent driving the last 120 miles to
Valdez where we will catch the early morning ferry back to Whittier tomorrow. Our mission during that drive will be to get
acquainted with Wrangell – St. Elias National Park. This is a good time to review the issues of
time and space for traveling in Alaska.
We all know Alaska is the largest of the states. If Alaska were cut in half it would be the
two largest states. Denali N.P. is a
little smaller than Massachusetts. Wrangell – St. Elias is larger than Denali and
is in fact the largest of our national parks.
It is about the size of Switzerland except W-St.E has higher mountains. Nine of the 13 highest mountains in North
America are in the St. Elias range ranging from 16,000 to over 19,000 feet. The Wrangell Mountains are volcanic and range
from 12,000 to 16,000 feet. There is a
snow field in the park the size of Rhode Island where the snow is 1,000 feet
deep. You get the idea.
You have to be serious to get involved with Wrangell St.
Elias. There is a gravel road that goes
about 50 miles into the park and some other gravel roads that skirt it, but
outside of that it is backpacks, tents and mountain climbing gear. There are no buses into the park, no guided
ranger tours and certainly no hand holding. The park is there if you want it, but you had
better be prepared.
We aren’t but we are curious. Our first stop is at the Wrangell-St. Elias
visitor center on the Richardson Highway which is managed by the National Park
Service. There is a scale model of the
park, numerous displays of the flora and fauna and a pretty good movie with
tons of aerial shots of the mountains and glaciers. We chat with the ranger and
she suggests that for some easy sightseeing we take the 33 mile road from the
Richardson Highway into Chitina at the edge of the park. There is a ranger station there and she
thought they might have some suggestions in the area.
Chitina is the beginning of the gravel road that ends in
McCarthy and Kennicut, the two old mining towns that still sort of exist in the
interior of the park. We drive a short
distance on the gravel to get a feel for the terrain but have no interest in
going further. Vicky, the Chitina ranger
gives us a couple other suggestions for some interesting local sights. Her boss called her this morning to let her
know that the Superintendent will be visiting her today and she had better have
all the right posters hung and she should get some locals to stop by so she
looks busy. We signed the guest book to
help justify her existence.
There is a short drive south of town with some water and
mountain views, and then a return to have lunch at the Chitina Hotel. This is an old building right out of the gold
rush days. There are a couple locals and
a couple other nosy folks like us. Mary
had a $9 grilled cheese sandwich with two slices of cheddar on white and John
had the French dip with 2 oz. of shoe leather on a hot dog bun for $15. If you don’t like the food or prices go
outside and see where else you can eat.
After lunch we go past the Chitina airport about five miles
out of town and following our ranger’s instructions work our way down a moose
trail to the edge of the Copper River.
Here are 4 or 5 fish wheels with one kind-of operational. These wheels are rotated by the current of the
river and scoops dip into the water where they will grab any fish passing
upstream and deposit them into a basket.
When the salmon are running this thing is a fishing monster. Not today though—no fish. On our way back to the main highway we pass a
cemetery with all of the graves individually fenced in. I guess you don’t want the bears digging up
Aunt Mabel.
We continue to travel south through the Thompson Pass that
is frequently closed in the winter. The
pass gets 900 inches of snow a year which is a good reason for an occasional
shut-down. As we continue downhill our
next stop is the salmon hatchery about 6 miles north of Valdez on the Copper
River. Our host Cynthia from last night
said this is a great place to watch the salmon swimming upstream and the bears
romping around at the buffet. No fish
and therefore no bears. We are still too
early for the next run of salmon that will be the silvers in another couple
weeks. Another viewing area is at the
Forest Service Station closer to Valdez but the same thing is true there. A local who had stopped by there to see if
the fish had started yet showed us a video on his phone from last year where
the fish are literally stacked on top of each other in the water. We’ll have to come back next month.
Our hotel is the Best Western on the Harbor in Valdez. It is pretty dumpy but so is Valdez so it
fits right in. Mary figures out how to order
a Subway on line for the ferry tomorrow which is our excuse to get out for a
half hour walk. The town is loaded with
RVs, vans, motorcycles and every manner of mobile camper, most of whom will
probably be on tomorrow’s ferry. We dare
to have dinner at the hotel restaurant and it turns out OK. John has a salmon roasted in cedar paper (?)
with a very good rice pilaf and a cup of chowder. Mary has the chowder and a Caesar salad. She is still a cheap date.
The alarms are set for 4:30 am. We need to be lined up at the ferry terminal
at 6:00 am so it is early to bed.
Today’s Most Useful Line: The mosquitoes are so thick you
could swing a pint jar and catch a quart of them.
