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Valdez–Cordova Census Area

Here you’ll find travel reports about Valdez–Cordova Census Area. Discover travel destinations in the United States of travelers writing a travel blog on FindPenguins.

14 travelers at this place:

  • hinter-dem-horizontKanada und USA
    Day94

    Valdez, Alaska

    August 14, 2015 in the United States

    Zum Ende ihres Lebens im Meer kehren die Lachse genau an den Ort zurück, an dem sie geboren wurden. So wimmelt es derzeit in vielen der zahlreichen Flüsse Alaskas von diesen Fischen, die gegen die Strömung ankämpfen. Viele von ihnen fallen Raubtieren zum Opfer oder sterben vor Erschöpfung ...

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  • hinter-dem-horizontKanada und USA
    Day95

    Herbst

    August 15, 2015 in the United States

    Auch in Alaska gibt es vier Jahreszeiten, sagen die Einheimischen: Frühling ist im Juni, Sommer im Juli, Herbst im August, und der Rest ist Winter.
    In der Umgebung von Valdez fallen bis zu 20 Meter (!) Schnee pro Jahr, manchmal zwei an einem Tag! Und die kalte Jahreszeit kündigt sich jetzt schon an – mit Tagestemperaturen von maximal 15 Grad, viel Regen und Nebel ...

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  • hinter-dem-horizontKanada und USA
    Day77

    Unser Gletscher

    July 28, 2015 in the United States

    Alaska bietet fantastische Landschaften. Der Richardson Highway führt entlang der Alaska Range, einer Bergkette mit schneebedeckten Gipfeln von über 4000 m Höhe. Auch einige Gletscher gibt es hier. Wir entdecken einen, finden einen Fahrweg zu einem Stellplatz am Fuß des Gletschers, und unternehmen am nächsten Tag eine Wanderung bis zu dem Punkt, wo die Massen an Schmelzwasser tosend aus einer Eishöhle hervorbrechen ...Read more

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  • Sue LaceyAlaska & the Yukon
    Day5

    Meares Glacier

    August 17, 2017 in the United States

    We travelled by boat up a narrow fjord to the head of Meares Glacier. All around us were small icebergs. While stationary about 500m off the head of the glacier we watched and then heard the cracking of the ice as the face carved small icebergs which fell into the murky waters which are laden with grey glacial silt. Dozens of harbour seals are floating on the ice and seabirds stand precariously on the small icebergs.Read more

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  • Sue LaceyAlaska & the Yukon
    Day6

    Valdez Fishery

    August 18, 2017 in the United States

    Travelled to the back of the fjord to the salmon fishery. Thousands of birds waded in the mouth of the salmon run waiting for easy pickings. The salmon by now have stopped feeding and are swimming upstream to spawn. The fish are now 4-5 years old and are big fish by now. They will all die following the spawning. Sometimes there are bears here, but not today. An interesting stop by the side of the road.Read more

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  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day14

    More on Valdez

    May 29 in the United States

    Today we visited two of the museums in town to learn some of the history of Valdez.

    In 1897 gold seekers came to Alaska to follow the "All American Route" (instead of going through Canada) over the Valdez Glacier into the interior of Alaska. A tent city sprang up at the head of the bay, thus forming the city of Valdez. Prior to that the territory belonged to the Chugach, an Alaskan Native people in the region of the Prince William Sound. Prince William Sound was originally named Sandwich Sound, after the Earl of Sandwich by Captain Cook in 1779. Editors of Cook's maps renamed the Sound to Prince William Sound after Prince William IV. IN 1790 Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo was sent to Alaska to investigate Russian involvement and to establish claim in the area. There is a street named after Fidalgo. The port of Valdez was named after Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán a Spanish Navy Minister in 1790.

    In October 1980 the luxury cruise ship MS Prisendam was enroute to Japan, having cruised the inside passage way from Vancouver, put out a distress call as they had a fire that started in the engine room and was spreading. It was determined to abandon ship. The US Coast Guard and a tanker near by came to rescue and bring the passengers and crew to Valdez. One life boat was lost for 12 hours but was found. It is on display at the museum. There was a pilot, Bob Reeve, who became a famous Alaskan bush pilot. He his supposed to be the first to but skies on the wheels of is plane to be able to land in the snow (photo 2 & 3). The other museum was all about the damage done to the town by the earthquake and tsunami. Photo 4 shows what the intersection looks like today - photo 5 show what the intersection looked like before the damage (see where the red VW bus is). Photo 6 is part of a house that was an actual home in the original town.

    Photo 9 is the Valdez Marine Highway Terminal. Alaska is over 650,000 square miles and much of that has no road access. The primary forms of transportation in areas without roads are by air or sea, so the Alaska Marine Highway is a big part of the 'highway system.' It is such a unique set of routes that is has been designated as a National Scenic Byway and an All American Road, the only marine route with this distinction.
    With its southernmost port in Bellingham, WA, the Alaska Marine Highway extends more than 3,500 miles to Dutch Harbor, with over 30 stops along the way.    Read more

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  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day11

    Glennallen

    May 26 in the United States

    Leaving Palmer (which we found out was started in the thirties as a government farming project during the Great Depression) we took the Glenn Highway to our next overnight destination, Glennallen. The scenery along this drive is beautiful! You are driving with the Talkeetna Mountains on one side and the Chugach Mountains on the other side and follow the Matanuska River to its headwaters. There we stopped at the Matanuska Glacier (photos 4 & 5). This glacier is the largest road accessible glacier in America and you can view it from the road. We stopped and took a short hike to get a closer look at it. The glacier is 4 miles wide at it's terminus and extends for about 26 miles back into the Chugach Mountains. It is classified as a valley glacier; a body of solid ice that flows like a river under its own weight through an existing valley. About 10,000 years ago it began its retreat to its present day location, and it has not seen any significant change in mass for almost two decades. Just after the glacier we passed Sheep Mountain (see photo 9) which is part of the Talkeetna Mountain Range. Our highest elevation we traveled was 3350 feet. Although the indigenous Ahtna people have lived in the region for countless years, the town of Glennallen was established in the mid-1940s as a highway construction camp for the Glenn Highway.Read more

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  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day12

    Valdez, Alaska

    May 27 in the United States

    We decided to go to Valdez today instead of staying in Glenallen another day. Before I describe our trip I wanted to show a picture of what sunset looks like. The first picture was taken at 11:15pm. Sunset was 10:55pm and sunrise was 4:32am. We talked with a local who said it only gets 'somewhat dark' between midnight and 2:00am. In the winter it is only light out between 10:00am and 1:00pm!

    From Glenallen we headed south on the Richardson Highway, Alaska's oldest major Highway. This road runs from Valdez to Fairbanks in the interior. We picked it up about halfway. You can see the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline along the way but I'll talked about it more later. The Richardson Highway began as a gold rush trail. In 1910 the road was upgraded to allow cars. There is also a glacier that you can go to off of this road but unfortunately due to the visitor's parking lot still covered in snow, we could not stop to visit. Yes, snow! We were so surprised to see snow on this route. In fact, when going through Thompson Pass we had snow flurries and low visibility. The elevation is only 2720 feet. Once through the pass, the snow was gone. Valdez has a long-standing reputation for great snow - up to 900 - 1000 inches of snow! After Thompson Pass you drive through Keystone Canyon, about 10 miles north of Valdez. This Canyon has waterfalls which are created from melting snow run-off. We passed two popular waterfalls - Bridal Veil Falls (photo 9) and Horsetail Fall (photo10).Read more

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  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day13

    Touring Valdez

    May 28 in the United States

    Today was spent touring around the town of Valdez. We visited the Solomon Gulch Hatchery located across the bay. Not much was going on as the time for spawning of salmon is not right. The best time is July through September. During this time, bears, sea gulls and sea otters can be seen feeding on the fish. It was built to make sure sufficient numbers of salmon return each year. The facility incubates, rear and release 230 pink salmon and 2 million coho. (Photo 1)

    The 1964 earthquake also hit Valdez. In fact, the tsunamis that occurred after the earthquake demolished the town. The original town of Valdez was actually four miles west of the current town location. The original townsite was condemned because of the ground being unstable so in 1967 the entire town was relocated to its current location - 52 buildings were moved and the rest were razed. You can still see where the streets were and they have markers where buildings were. Photo 2 was where the hotel was and photo 4 is where the post office was. The population now is around 4500 who work for the city, the oil industry, tourism, fishing or the transportation and shipping industry.

    Our next stop was to Glacier View Park and lake. As you can see the lake is still slightly frozen so you could not get to the Valdez Glacier. (Photo 5 and note in photo 6 how you see the reflection of the mountain surrounding the lake). On the way to Glacier View Park you pass the Valdez Municipal Airport. We stopped in and other than private planes there is only one airlines, Ravn Airlines, that service this area.

    We did a short hike on the Dock Point Trail. Parts of the trail give you a view of Harbor Cove and the Port of Valdez. The pink flowers are called Dwarf Fireweed and are also called River Beauty. The yellow flowers are called American Skunk Cabbage as they give off a skunky-odor when blooming although we didn't notice a smell.

    We stopped off at the local grocery store to replenish- it was a Safeway. That seems to be one store that is found in almost every town. Food tends to be a little expensive - a half gallon of milk: $5.29; lettuce: $2.99; radishes: $2.99; onion: $1.74    Read more

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  • Bobbi and Rod ReevesAlaska Adventure 2018
    Day15

    On to another place

    May 30 in the United States

    We left Valdez this morning heading north but before leaving we chatted with a local and asked him about the tide in Valdez. We noticed that it was quite a big tide and seemed to occur often. He said the tides occur every 6 hours and there is generally a 12 foot tide. It was 37 degrees when we left. We headed north back on the same road as we came in (there is only one road in and one road out!). We stopped at the old railroad tunnel outside of Valdez. This tunnel was being dug out by hand in 1906. Unfortunately there were nine companies that wanted ownership of it and a big feud and gun battle took place and the tunnel never was finished.

    We continued north until just passed Glennallen, where we stayed a few days ago, and then took the Tok Cut-off to head north-northeast. We are spnding the night in a town called Gakona. The temperature was in the high 40's. Gakona served as a wood and fish camp, and later became a permanent village. A federally recognised tribe, Ahtna Athabascans is the Native Village of Gakona and is located here. In talking with the campground owner the weather can get very cold - as low as minus 60 degrees but last year it got 'to only minus 40'! They only got about 60 inches of snow this past winter. Summers are mild. Once camp was set up we hiked to the Copper River where we saw caribou and bear tracks.    Read more

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You might also know this place by the following names:

Valdez-Cordova Census Area, Valdez–Cordova Census Area, Área censal de Valdez–Cordova, ভালডেজ-কোরডোভা মানুলেহা লয়া, Région de recensement de Valdez-Cordova, Valdez-Cordova, Census Area di Valdez-Cordova, Valdez–Cordova Phó͘-cha Tē-he̍k, Zensusrebeet Valdez-Cordova, Okręg Valdez–Cordova, Região Censitária de Valdez-Cordova, Валдиз—Кордова, Valdez Cordova Census Area, 瓦爾迪茲-科爾多瓦人口普查區

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