Ocean Sail Issue 25 - Friday, August 11, 2000

Location: Valdez, AK

Homer is the end of the road. No really it is – At the end of Alaska Highway 1. Well that is what the sign has printed on it., but then again this is true for most coastal  Alaskan cities: Whitaker, Seward, Valdez and Skagway. Cordova and Jeunue don’t even have highways to then. So what does that make them  And the end of the road is about all Homer is. Historic Homer is a collection of shanties and tourist trap shops arranged on either side of the road that goes down the center of  the five mile spit that juts into Cooks Inlet. It has all the charm of a run down beach town without the beach. In the earthquake of 1964 the spit was submerged and they moved the real town to higher ground. Several million dollars later the spit is again above sea level and supports a small boat harbor.  The primary activity seems to be charter fishing – mostly halibut  Despite the short coming of the town it has the most stunning back drop. To the south and west of town is a range of snow capped and glacier licked volcanoes. In the foreground is the milky water of Cook Inlet. Add a pale blue sky and you have a picture post card in the making.

Farther north and just opposite of the Turnagain arm is another end of the road city Whitaker. Well actually until this year there was no road to Whitaker, but the Alaskan Highway department enlarged the train tunnel to the town and now after 60 years you can drive there. Previously you had to take a ferry or load your vehicle on a train flat car. It turns out there is no reason why you would want to go to Whitaker in the first place and the town’s residents are doing little to change that. Most people probably went to Whitaker to take the ferry to Valdez and short cut 8 hours of driving with a 7 hour ferry ride and sneak a peek at the Columbia Glacier. We tried this but the ferry was booked for a couple of weeks. Since the this is the first year that tourist have been able to drive at will to Whitaker the town decided to make everyone feel welcome to shop and browse by charging $4 for the first 2-hours parking, and a one dollar an hour there after. There is of course the obligatory glacier in the background, which make it all seem worth while. We stayed only for a short lunch and then drove back trough the one lane 3 mile tunnel and headed north.

For a week we have been exchanging email and voice mail with some friends: Keith and Sonya Moore. They were on a flying trip of Yukon and Alaska and we had previously arranged to meet up with them “somewhere” in Alaska. We had their itinerary and we had none. So our challenge was to be somewhere that they would be, assuming that their itinerary did not change or get delayed. Since cell phone coverage is really spotty in Alaska we never got to talk with them, but they were scheduled to be in Valdez on Tuesday. So we left messages on their cell phone, and they left message on our cell phone as the days and cities converged. We finally made it to Valdez after a long drive around and we checked to the same hotel as they did  Keith and Sonya were walking around the town so we went scouting for them in the Hummer. Either they would spot us or we would run them down. After a bit wandering up and down the streets we decided to head back to the hotel. As we turn down the street to the hotel we spotted Keith and Sonya walking down the sidewalk. We pulled up behind them on the sidewalk, and surely would have guessed that they would hear us coming but we got within 6 feet of them before I had to rev the engine to get their attention. Sonya nearly left the ground, and I thought that only Keith had a pilot’s licensee.

They headed out the next day, not wanting to lose the opportunity to fly in the fine weather window that was with us. We hung around Valdez. It turns out to be one of the nicest small cities on the trip so far. Probably the Valdez oil spill did the city well if the environment badly. The weather was exceptionally fine with temps in the 70 and clear blue sky. Apparently a rarity this summer. We wanted to get close to a water terminated glacier and our two choices were a small boat cruise today or a kayak trip tomorrow. We decided that the weather would hold for another day so we opted for a kayak trip on the following day. A tour of the Alaska Pipeline terminal was informative if just a little limited. We boarded a white school type bus after first going through a metal detector. ?? After a short ride we entered the facilities and were driven around the area and were only allowed to leave the bus at overlook 600 feet above sea level. What impressed us the most was the environmentally sensitive way that both the terminal and the pipeline are constructed. 

In order to make amends for the terminal tour we wanted to ride our bikes, so the visitor center suggested a trail called Mineral Creek. So off we headed – turns out it less a trail and more a dirt road.  It wound out of town to the northwest and followed a milky white stream in its right. On the way up the road we had passed several people hiking and wondered what could be the motivation to hike up a road that you could drive up or bike up? After an hour of riding the road ended and became a single track trail. In a little bit beyond that the single track was blocked by a snow bank. We negotiated the snow bank and as we came around a bend,  what do you suppose we saw? Nothing but yet another glacier, but in less then a quarter mile our way was blocked by a swollen stream. Unwilling to get our feet wet we back tracked and to the Hummer. On the way out we noticed a couple of nice camping spots and decided to return with the Hummer to camp for the night. It was a fortunate choice as it turned out. That night when I stumbled down the ladder from our roof top tent to relieve myself, one glance in the sky had me mesmerized. The Aurora Borealis was quavering in the sky above me.

We awoke early in the crisp morning – we had an 8 am boat to catch, kayaks to paddle, glaciers and ice bergs to see. We arrived at the harbor at 7:30 and fussed about to wear. We eventually decided on  nylon wind pants, polypro top, windproof fleece vest and our lightweight Gore-Tex rain gear. At the outfitting center we were issued rubber boots, spray skirt and life vest. Our day was off to a great start when Ktoo put her foot into the rubber boot and was shocked by the cold wetness that soaked her sock. More fussing around to find dry socks and when I put my foot in I got wet feet too, but not as wet as Ktoo, so did not bother to change socks. Following our little lesson on kayaking we loaded three tandem kayaks and one single onto a 26 foot aluminum “water taxi” a.k.a. fishing boat and settled down to an hour ride to our drop off point in front Columbia Glacier.  The other members of the group were a family from Colorado, mom, dad and two teens – both 13, and of course our guide. On the way out we saw the oil tanker that was filling at the Alaskan Pipeline terminal yesterday. Then it was riding high, but now it sitting low with 500,000 gallons of Alaskan crude and headed out with a two tug escort. This was a small tanker. The really big ones can carry 2 million gallons of crude.

The hour passed quickly and soon we were in the water with our beluga white kayak. Ktoo was in the front setting the pace and taking pictures. I was in the back steering and following Ktoo’s lead. From were we were dropped off the Columbia Glacier is fronted by 3 miles of more or less stationary ice bergs. The terminal moraine of many years ago is keeping the bulk of the calved icebergs from escaping the bay. We headed out toward this ice flow. It is otherworldly to paddle up to something that should be floating in your gin and tonic, or in my case rum and tonic. You are simply not prepared to think of these floating objects that shimmer and glow an eerie blue in the sunlight as something that could crush you. In your mind you think snow cone, but what you should be thinking is frozen clear concrete. But even after touching and running your hand over the cold clear and some times cloudy surface, your still thinking, rum, tonic and a twist of lime.

Playing among the ice flow has us hungry so the group paddles up a quiet bay and beaches the kayaks. After lunch we learn why rubber boots are so necessary in Alaska as we hike across the landscape to get a view of the glacier and ice flow. The land is a spring with water. Every step brings a squish or gurgle if not an outright splash. And we are walking across apparently dry landscape. After 15 minutes of walking in rubber boots we come over a rise and a view of the ice flow and the Columbia Glacier. The glacier has been in a catastrophic retreat for the last several years and this has left it unviewable from the bay.

We slog back, mount our kayaks and head for the ice bergs once again. On the way out of the bay we see a family of sea otters swimming 50 yards away. When they become aware of us and they swim to shore and scamper up the slope and into the woods, stopping several times enroot to check us out. The falling tide has left the ice bergs sitting on the bottom and they reveal their true size. Some are completely land bound and stand their like ice blocks waiting for a sculpture. We manage to squeeze between a couple flows but they are jammed so tightly that a way can not be found beyond the edge. In one high centered block current is running by swiftly and a smaller block is caught swirling in a hollow recess and chimes against the larger block. 

Playtime is over and we paddle back to the drop off spot and await our water taxi. Precisely at 4pm we see him approaching and with in 15 minutes we are all loaded and headed back.  Motoring back more sea otters are spotted. An hour later we are in Valdez.