Paxson Lake, Alaska - Valdez, Alaska

Day 22 – Saturday, August 20 2005
Paxson Lake, Alaska – Valdez, Alaska
Miles Driven: 189

The only real “schedule” we had on this trip is to be in Haines by the 27th to catch the ferry. Since we were running a couple of days ahead of that time line we decided to take a side trip and headed south on the Richardson Highway toward Valdez. What a great decision, as this turned out to be one of the prettiest stretches of highway we traveled. The rouged peaks of the Chugach Mountains and glaciers are incredible. The Worthington Glacier comes almost to the highway, and there are a couple of spectacular waterfalls including Bridal Veil Falls and Horse Tail Falls. We stopped several times for photos and video. We had hoped to find a nice motel and get a great seafood dinner, but ended up in the Keystone Hotel with take-out seafood. The hotel was the old command center during the oil spill cleanup project and has paper thin walls. The people in the next room kept their TV on all night so it was not a very good night’s sleep. The only good thing about being in the room was it rained pretty heavy during the night so we were glad we were not camping.