Valdez, Alaska: Liquid Sunshine In Abundance

We have had an abundance of 'liquid sunshine' each of the two days we've been in Valdez, Alaska. We can't really complain about the rainy weather given the almost four weeks of above average temperatures and below average rainfall we experienced while on the Kenai Peninsula.

The weather here is about average for this time of year in Valdez: cool and rainy.

As a consequence, this place is beautiful. The many islands, fjords, and mountains are covered in lush, deep green vegetation and forests. The waterfalls, and there are many, are bursting with water, falling rapidly down steep, glacier carved slopes.

Top it off with a few extra helpings of wildlife and you have the Prince William Sound and it's surrounding glaciers.

Today we took a cruise to the Meares and Columbia Glaciers following a scenic round-a-bout path that let us get an up close and personal view of the scenery and the wildlife.

First we motored out to the Meares Glacier located at the end of the Unakwik Inlet. We were able to get within a quarter of a mile of the glacier; there we sat watching and listening to the glacier. If you watched the face of the glacier closely you were rewarded with a portion of the glacier sliding into the sea. Followed shortly thereafter by the sound of the glacier calving.

Everything happens so quickly that unless you are watching the face of the glacier closely, those thunderous cracks announce you have missed another glacier calving.

The Meares Glacier is the only tidal glacier that is advancing; all the other tidal glaciers in Alaska are in their retreating phase.

Including the Columbia Glacier, which holds the distinction of being the last of Alaska's glaciers to go into retreat.

These days the Columbia Glacier calves about 13 million tons of ice per day; when it first started retreating in 1978 it was calving ~30 Million tons of ice per day.

In fact, we couldn't get any closer than 9 miles to the face of the glacier, which was barely visible in the distance.

I highly recommend the tour of Prince William Sound and it's surrounding glaciers. Spectacular beauty combined with lots of wildlife made the day fly by.

Tomorrow we start heading out of Alaska and Canada, which should take about two weeks or so.

See Ya!