Enjoying Stunning Glaciers, Birds, Sea Life and More in Valdez Alaska

Valdez, Alaska (72 degrees, bright blue skies)

Columbia Glacier

It was a long, and sometimes slow drive from Destruction Bay to Valdez Alaska. A stopover to break up the trip was planned in Tok. It's a small town with lots of services for RVers. We found reasonable gas, liquor and groceries after crossing the border. Our campground even had a RV/Car wash. Thank goodness. Our rig and jeep were a sticky, dirty mess. This stretch of road has frost heaves and is oftentimes dusty and bumpy.

Our Jeep (Teddy) on arrival in Tok sure needed a bath

Our weather has been amazing and the scenery stunning. We pulled over often and especially enjoyed a stop at the Tetlin Fish and Wildlife Refuge and Wrangell St. Elias National Park  (America's largest National Park) Visitor Centers.  Our approach to Valdez was especially breathtaking. 

Valdez is a seaside town located in Prince William Sound and is surrounded with snow cap mountains. We feel in love with Valdez immediately. 

Valdez Harbor

Hey whatcha doing?

One of the highlights of our visit was a glacier cruise on the Lulu Belle. It's an eight hour cruise and the main feature is being able to see the Columbia Glacier. In route, we saw so much sea life. The owner of this beautiful wood boat has been operating this trip for over 40 years. He  narrated throughout telling us all about the sea life, glaciers, Valdez oil spill, fishing, and so much more. Here are some photos of our trip.

Mama and her baby out for a float

Check out the cute orange legs of the Pigeon Guillemot

Bald Eagle

Seeing Humpback Whales come up and flip their tales is such a delight. We saw them spout and could hear them in the water playing with each other.

Humpback Whale

Whale Animation (click here for cool animation created by Google Photos)

Crowd pleasing Tail flip - Humpback Whale

The Stellar Sea Lions are huge and smelly. and there were hundreds of them along the beach. Our captain was not a big fan of them.

Tufted Puffin (one of my favorite birds)

For all of us the encounter with two killer whales (Orca) was the highlight of the cruise. There were two playing with a Stellar Sea Lion. Lucky for the sea lion they were only playing. The captain said if the Orca's had been hungry they could shake the sea lion right out of it's skin and eat it in one bite. Dang!  They came back and forth near our boat and really showed off.

Otters chilling out on an iceberg

Check out the blue ice

Our captain expertly negotiated icebergs as the boat approached the Columbia Glacier. The temperature dropped considerably.

For an hour we stayed their watching this beautiful glacier. A few times sheets of ice came off.

Columbia Glacier

Columbia Glacier

Our captain also told us a lot about the fishing industry. We  saw two boats gathering fish with special nets and later in the day off loading the fish into a larger processing boat. They have huge hoses which suck the fish right out of the boat. Fishing can be a tough and dangerous business and the salmon season was just starting in this area. Speaking of dangerous we also saw the ship from the show Deadliest Catch which is used in the winter in the Bering Sea to catch  Alaskan King Crab.

Deadliest Catch Ship

Nets being circled around to essential scoop up the fish

Check out the big hose for sucking up the fish

We loved this cruise and felt very blessed to have such great weather too. Our group has expanded by two more for a couple of weeks. Fran and Randy have joined us. We have volunteered with them several times and even worked together at a sports memorabilia kiosk one holiday season in Port Charlotte Florida. They have taught us so much about birding and it's so much fun joining them on these adventures.

TIP:  If you do not have trouble with motion sickness, try to go early and be in the front of the line. The top level is small and has great 360 views.  Plus you can sit down during the trip.  Otherwise, you will be standing for most of it. 

Back row L to R (Bob D, John, me, Barry, Randy, Bob C) Front row Patsy, Jann, Fran, Becky

Campground Reviews:

Tok - Tok RV Village and Campground, 4 stars, gravel, flat pull thru sites, full hook ups, 50 amp, free cable,good WiFi and Verizon signal, very friendly staff, warm chocolate chip cookie on arrival was super nice, RV/car wash price/foot

Valdez, KOA, 4 stars, 30 amp electric and water sites on gravel and grass, free pump out service on request, free cable, good WiFi, fairly good Verizon signal (better in town), friendly staff, nice location, other campgrounds in area are basically just parking lots.

Brown Bear Sightings - Destruction Bay Yukon

Destruction Bay, Yukon (52 degrees, blue skies, chilly)

                                         "You can't stay in your corner of the Forest

waiting for others to come to you.

You have to go to them sometimes"

Winnie the Pooh

Our next campsite involved traveling in Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon all in one day. Destruction Bay is a small town in the Yukon overlooking a very big lake. Wildflowers were in full bloom along the roadside and mountains. It was delightful.

Our plans included  relaxing for a few days and enjoying a few hikes.  We found out it is also Brown Bear country and our campground had lots of information warning us to be alert and careful with trash. In this area they are called Brown Bears or often times grizzlies They are huge and  much larger than ones we have seen in the Grand Teton National Park. They can weigh between 800-1200 pounds and are considered very dangerous. However, due to the plentiful food supply as a rule do not usually think of humans as food. They love salmon and sedge grass.

Grizzly Bears and Brown Bears are technically the same species. Basically, the distinction is based on where they are located and what they like to eat.

The bears were munching on the wildflowers and it seemed to be delectable to them. We saw four of them near our campground over two evenings. We got some great photos but keep in mind our camera has a tremendous zoom and we were safely at a good distance in our friends truck. What was fascinating was being able to watch them without any crowds. We spend two enjoyable evenings watching them for a long time. They were not the least bit interested in us but seemed aware of our presence.

In the past when we have spent the summers in the Grand Teton National Park we only got quick glimpses and most of the time were very concerned about the hordes of people getting way too close to them. It was wonderful to observe them quietly. 

Campground review:  Cottonwood RV Park, flat, gravel sites, with 15 amp electric and water, dump station available, carry out trash due to bears, pretty park, water view sites available if you are small without hook ups. Lots of nice landscaping and wildflowers, nice deck off of office, WiFi is poor, very limited cell phone signal (Verizon), could only text. Electric service is run by a generator and at times was not very reliable, be sure to use a surge protector, free video/DVD rentals. Not many services in the area so be sure to have some groceries.