Alaska Day 34 Valdez

The day was filled with little trips and different things we wanted to see and do here. We are discovering that we have done most of the things we wanted to do on the trip. Did a drive through town to find the post office, not much commercial area. Mostly residential areas with very nice homes. Population of Valdez is ~4,500. The town is ALL about fishing. A fishing derby currently going on, so far the biggest fish cauis 275 pounds. (Halibut). One would think it would be cheaper on a menu however no such luck. When I bought it fresh off the dock in Homer, I paid $30 for a shade over a pound - just like home.
Next stop:. The Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery. Never did I think a fish hatchery could be so interesting. About 10 miles our of town, we parked at an area where there were people watching a lot of gulls. Turns out it was the parking lot for the fish hatchery. It is salmon spawning season right nownformabout 3-4 weeks so lots going on here. There is a rushing river coming down the slope into Prince William Sound. Thereis a fish weir across the water. A fish weir is a device that keeps the salmon from being able to get up stream and channels them to a fishladder that takes them into the hatchery,. Without exaggeration there were thousands of pink salmon ( the links are running now, coho in a couple weeks). There is a self guided walking tour around the hatchery with videos to watch about the process. At this time they process 20,000 salmon a day!!! 😱. Processing means that they separate the males and females, take the road out of the females, the milt (fertilizer) out of the males, mix in a bucket ( I am sure the recipe is a secret) and take them to the incubators. There they grow to a certain size and are released. Their fertilization rate is almost 100%!!! Each year they process 250,000,000 pink salmon and 2,000,000 coho salmon.
Then went looking for a place for a picnic. Found an idyllic spot next to a glacial lake filled with icebergs fed from 2 glaciers. Quirt and peaceful until 2 groups of kayakers returned from their tour. 🤣. Tire low again so back to the tire place for hopefully a permanent fix. 🤞. Cocktail hour and dinner "in".Baca selengkapnya