Monday July 19

Today was cloudy with the clouds hanging on the mountain tops. The temperature was a cool 60 degrees. In the late afternoon it sprinkled rain a little but nothing big. I understand that is a typical summer day here. Valdez gets around 12 days of sunshine a year! It is still a beautiful town.
We started off the day by driving around the road to a place they call Allison Point. It goes around Prince William Sound opposite Valdez. It goes past a refinery then a fish weir and hatchery. As you drive past that there is a nice walkway with parking on one side. The other side goes up a mountain with spruce trees on the hillside. I'll tell you now, those trees are alive with bald eagles!!!! This goes on for about 3 miles. Then there are several tiny "campgrounds". It is just a few tight spots where they let people park and sleep. No services such as water, electricity, and sewer. Finally the road is blocked at the entrance to the Alaskan Pipeline Terminus. They don't let you near after 9/11. There are some storage tanks and docks you can see but that is all.
This is a real beautiful spot on its own. However what makes is special is that is if a terrific fishing place. Fish stack up near the weir and hatchery as there are millions of salmon coming in the sound to go up rivers and creeks to spawn. We watched people standing on a bar as the tide dropped and on the edges of the rip rap along the road catching salmon. Some were cleaning their fish and gulls were trying to feed and yelling as they fought over the scraps. Then the bald eagles would swoop down out of the trees and take what they wanted. They would fly back to the trees and eat. One young eagle didn't know how to swoop down and grab what he wanted so he lit on the ground, walked over to a bunch of seagulls, and took what he wanted. One time I was taking pictures of some gulls and eagles on the ground and I kept hearing eagles scream behind me. I turned around and counted 12 bald eagles settting in the trees. Signs were posted to not fish within 300 feet of the fish weir and I could see why. They were stacked in there like cord wood. You could have just netted them. To get to this place you had to walk past warning signs telling you not to proceed because bears frequent the area to get these fish. I heard the bears sometimes come and run everyone away. I knew I had to investigate what type of lures to use and a little about the rules. I want to catch a salmon!

We then went to the Old Original site of Valdez. The town was destroyed by a 9.2 earthquake on March 27, 1964. It was about 5:45 pm on Good Friday. It was an eerie feeling to look around the area although most of it is grown up and the buildings themselves are gone. Over 40 people died that day and I just kept thinking about what it must have been like for the ground to flow like water. The foundation and cement floor for the post office was still intact. You could see where the walls were. That building was 2 years old when the quake hit. The area along the water front was the most evident and accessible. The dock area was destroyed with one dock falling off into the sound. The sound comes much further inland after the quake. You could see broken off pilings in rows. Along those rows were broken and bent pipes where they had run along the piers to furnish water to the docks. Three inch pipes bent in many shapes. The most sobering thing was a fork truck. The fork had been modified to carry something special. I figure some type of boxes of fish. It dropped off of a pier during the quake and the fork was driven into the ground first. As the fork truck rocked back the fork broke off breaking two welds. That fork is still stuck in the ground solid and the truck still setting right where it fell. They had removed the motor and gas tank but it was otherwise intact. Someday I will post a picture of this forklift.
We came on into the "modern day" Valdez and secured our campsite among a million other campers. We walked around Valdez taking pictures and seeing the sights. We walked around what they call the small boat harbor. That means they are not tanker ships. It is a real pretty harbor. I saw a boat lift with 4 slings attached. I took a lot of pictures of it for the folks at American Webbing since we make the 8 inch polyester material those slings were made of.
Valdez is not a new modern town as you might expect. It is not laid out any different than any other town along the coast. It is spread out a little with some distance between stores. If you didn't know the story you would not know that the town was a new rebuilt one.
I washed the camper again before supper. It was looking so bad I could not stand it any longer. This is the third time it has been washed since we left home. These roads are rough and a lot of dirt places and dirt roads. You can't keep anything clean for long. I couldn't touch the mosquitoes on the front end. I just scrubbed the best I could and I'll get them off when I get home. We debated a long time about taking a harbor cruise to look at glaciers and wildlife. We had trouble getting excited about it so plan to go fishing and we may take in the local museum tomorrow.