Valdez, AK – August 26, 2018
Sep 4th, 2018 by rallyadmin
The Copper River Princess Lodge is quite a bit above the usual Alaska overnight. It’s owned and operated by the Princess Cruise Lines and tries to carry the cruise experience on to land. With varied success. Great restaurant. Suitable bar. Expensive souvenir shop. Total crap wifi. Why would a cruise ship company have any knowledge of wifi anyway?
We’re headed to McCarthy, AK, the farthest east town accessible by road in Alaska. It’s also the location of one of cable tv’s most manufactured reality shows which is saying a lot when you consider Gold Rush, The Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, all cable tv reality show staples.
We’re headed there not because of the reality show (more inspite of the reality show) but rather because it’s gravel road that we haven’t been on. There’s not many of them left for us to explore.
We stop for a nice visit with the ranger, Vickie, at the Chitina ranger station. She’s jovial, welcoming and madly in love with her job and post. And she knows more about the Wrangell-St. Elias Park and Preserve than most of the locals. She tells us that the road sis a bit rough but definitely doable. But we will have to stop short of McCarthy and take the shuttle into the town.
Up the road along the river and as we climb the bluff along the river, stop and take some pictures of the river below. There has been a lot of rain in this southeastern corner of Alaska and the river is full, more than I’ve ever seen a river in Alaska in the summer.
During the usually dry Alaskan summers, most rivers are just a group of small channels that are called braided rivers. Not this one. It’s full almost from bank to bank. And occasional gravel islands are piled high with flotsam brush which are actually full trees not the branches that they appear to be from this distance. As Steve Perret says, “This view is why I keep coming back here.” Me, too.
The road is narrow and, in some places, potholed and muddy. But we make good time until we come upon a couple of SUVs with the dreaded Valdez rental car stickers on the back. It’s actually damned considerate of the rental car company to put the sticker someplave very visible, kind of a warning to us of the drivers, escapees from the cruise ships that stop in Valdez.
There are two of SUVs, both Kias, traveling in convoy. We follow them for a couple of miles hoping that they will let us pass. No such luck. They are undoubtedly, concentrating on the dangers of driving on a gravel road in the wilds of deadly Alaska. (“Was that a bear? Be Careful! Slow down!”) They certainly are cautious.
A few more miles and the Kia in front of us pulls over to let us pass. The next Kia, however, apparently didn’t take driver training that included using mirros while driving. The rear window of the Kia is completely covered with mud and the driver doesn’t seem to be using the side mirrors so we continue to carefully trudge along.
Finally, the driver notices that there is a huge red truck behind them instead of the white SUV they had been convoying with. He pulls over. Or so we think. I take the opportunity to pull up along side him while trying to pass.
But apparently, he hasn’t noticed us and the move over to let s pass was just a momentary lapse in his driving skills. When we get alongside his driver’s door, he promptly freaks out and pulls his car to the left and drives us into a shallow ditch on the left side of the road.
Now I’ve got the left front, the left rear and the left trailer wheels all down is the shallow trench. I’ve got to get out of this before we hit something in the ditch or the SUV on the right whose driver is madly trying to stop the SUV. “Give me all you’ve got Scotty!” I’ve got the truck in 4 wheel drive and I turn right and stand on the accelerator. Luckily, the truck pops up out of the ditch and we keep moving with the SUVs dropping behind us. We don’t hit anything in the ditch or the SUV. No harm, no foul.
Farther up the road, we see Kevin, Sweep 1, cvoming back down the road. We stop and he teslls us that the road get’s quite narrow and getting the truck and the trailer turned around could be a problem if we try to get too close to McCarthy. We continue a bit farther and find a wide spot to turn around. We’ll wait for Ron Sorem and David Fox in one car and Steve and Katherine in the other car go up go McCarthy and come back.
They return in about 45 minutes. The SUVs never do arrive. They must have decided that this McCarthy business was too dangerous for cruise ship tourists and retreated back to the safety of Valdez.
Back down the McCarthy Highway and stop on a bluff overlooking the river again, this time from the east side just before the bridge. There are the carcasses of 6 or 7 trailers down on the river’s small gravel banks. They were put out on the river ice during the last river freeze to server as camps for winter fishing on the river. But the ice breakup came so suddenly that none of them were able to be recovered. The river caught them and this is where they ended up. Alaska is a tough place. Even for the locals.
We continue down the road, past Chitina and out to the road to Thompson Pass and Valdez. We should be there with plenty of time to eat and get some quality bar time. Until we see one of the moo-riders flagging us down in the dim light of the rain and overcast. Luckily, we see him waving frantically in the gloom as we drive by.
It’s Troy Thompson. He’s had a flat and he’s having trouble getting the flat fixed. We stop and try to lend assistance but his tire is fighting the good fight and we’re getting nowhere. He’s using a tubeless rear tire and he/we can’t get the beads to seat so that we can get the tire re-inflated. Steve and Katherine have stopped with us and, after an hour of trying, they leave for Valdez with Troy’s tire to get the tire mounted and inflated.
It’s getting darker and the rain has turned from light showers to steady rain. The thre os us get in the truck and with for something good to happen. And about 2 hours later one of the competitors, truck #20 coincidentally returning to the Princess Lodge in Copper River, stops with Troy’s wheel fixed and ready to be put on the bike.
Bike fixed, Troy takes off up the road to the Thompson Pass summit with us in hot pursuit. It’s a beautiful ride even in the rain that I’ve only done in the winter. Valdez is a usual stop on the winter Alcan5000. We finally arrive in Valdez at sometime after 9PM. Hope the hotel kitchen is still open. Not too worried about the bar,
We check in, get to the bar and order dinner. (Yes, the kitchen was still open.) Some food. Some Irish whiskey to celebrate Troy’s resuce. Some beers for a chaser.
It’s been a long day. I’m ready for bed. Tomorrow, we drive to Fairbanks via the Denali Highway and the Parks Highway. Memo: no more tubeless tires on the next summer Alcan.
Obi-wan