65 Miles from Nowhere 8/16/2019

Valdez

Because our plane doesn't leave until 2 pm from the McCarthy airport, we opted to take the hotel shuttle into the town of McCarthy 5 miles away, and leave our bags at the flight company office. After that, we took a "walking tour" of McCarthy, population 28. If Chitina is nowhere, McCarthy really is 65 miles from nowhere. It serves as the air gateway to Wrangell St. Elias National Park. None of the businesses or residents there, like the Kennicott Lodge, are on the grid. Generators rule. When we got to the flight office, we asked if we could fill our water battles. "Sure. If you walk out that door, and go down the path on the right, you'll see the community water source, a creek." Hmmmmm. Sure enough, there it was. Well, we weren't that thirsty anyway. The rusty pipe protruding from the ground was a nice touch.

Onward. We followed a road from town down to the river, and saw salmon swimming in the creek,

Main Street, McCarthy, AK

and took in some great views of the river and mountains. Once back in town, it took another 10-15 minutes to see the rest of town. We met the owner of the local lodge, and chatted with him about the logistics of running a hotel in the backcountry off the grid. Food, supplies, electricity are all a challenge. We did stop in to the very interesting town museum and spent some time reading the displays.

Soon it was time to head out on the plane to Chitina. I got to sit in the copilot seat this time, and Ray and I were the only passengers. The views were as awseome as the flight in.

A 2 1/2 hour drive took us into Valdez. Route 4 took us through spruce forest and not much more, until Worthington Glacier and Thompson Pass, all soaring mountains and killer views.

On to Valdez, our biggest, and most delightful surprise of this trip.What a fantastic place! Here, soaring mountains meet the sea. A 12,000 foot mountain here juts up from sea level, not from a starting 5,000 feet. It's pretty impressive. The town of Valdez has something of a tourist feel (at least while we were there), but it's obviously a place where people work and live. After dinner, we walked along the harbor and saw families, fishermen  cleaning their catch of the day, and fishing boats coming and going. What a scenic gem, and definitely a place to which we'd like to return (in summer). (Winter can deliver 400-500 inches of snow here on mostly dark days...)

Photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4AzToHsBv4Q5NtJL6