Glenallen, AK to Valdez, AK

We will be driving to Valdez today along the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, and then south on the Richardson Highway to Valdez. We have driven more than 6,000 miles on this trip so far. Most camp grounds have wi-fi, but we don’t always have the pictures labeled and ready to go for a blog post. So, we are updating the blog as time permits. The mountains and rivers and lakes are just really amazing along this drive.

We saw the Alaska (Alyeska) Pipeline on the way into Valdez. There are expansion joints in the pipeline that let it expand at least 4 feet left and right as well as forward and back. There are also heating elements in places to keep the oil flowing. They use “pigs” to clean up the natural wax buildup that occurs along the pipeline. They put in overhead pipes where vehicles can drive under the pipeline that prevent trucks that are tall enough to damage the pipeline from hitting the pipeline. Most of the pipeline is buried, but not all.

We stopped at the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery and the U.S. Forest Service Spawning Area. We saw bear going for the easy catch near the fish hatchery.

The last picture is from an overlook in Valdez at the Civic Center. You can see the mountains, the ocean, the town and the harbor.