Valdez, AK to Chitina, AK (180 miles)
From Valdez it was back over the pass, this time heading north on the Richardson Highway. We took a diversion into the Wrangell-St Elias National Park on the McCarthy Road. The park as absolute wilderness, which considering how much nothingness we have seen in a lot of places this is saying something! We didn’t head all of the way into the park as it was a 100 mile round trip on a dirt road but we got as far as the first ‘town’ of Chitina. To call it a one-horse town would be an overstatement, even the horse hadn’t turned up for the season yet. It was still a great drive and spot to visit, a local that we talked to (who did a double take when he saw a tourist here this early) explained that in a month or two the town explodes with visitors who come for the full combat salmon fishing and fight over the abundance of fish.
You get an idea of the road from the notch that had been blasted out that is the one way route into town.
Chitina, AK to Palmer, AK (150 miles)
From the wilderness of Chitina it was back up the Glenn Highway and heading towards west towards Anchorage. We had yet another day of scenic driving with views of the Chugach Mountains that stretch all of the way to Anchorage.
After a detour to the Matanuska Glacier which stretches 23 miles from the mountains it wasn’t too long before we started to pass working farms and farm land on the outskirts of Palmer. Palmer is a nice working town just far enough from Anchorage to still be on the sleepy side of life. After checking out a couple of breweries (of course) we headed to an informal campground on the banks of the Matanuska River which flows from the glacier 60 miles away. Most towns along the way so far seem to have informal campgrounds that are basically places where the wont get hassled by the cops for parking up for a night or two. This overnight spot was in a particularly scenic spot and combined with some nice weather made for a good spot to enjoy a bottle of wine and some of Heathers campervan cooking.
Palmer, AK to Anchorage, AK (80 miles)
From Palmer it was time to head to the ‘metropolis’ of Anchorage. Anchorage is mainly a jumping off point for cruise ship passengers or tourists heading north to Denali but it isn’t a bad place to spend the evening. It has some good walking trails, scenic views and enough bars to keep you busy for a while – which is just what we did.
The drive into Anchorage was funny after a couple of weeks of relative wilderness, all of a sudden you have traffic lights, multiple lanes of traffic and rather than a friendly wave at junctions you are more likely to get the finger 🙂