We woke to sun streaming through the bedroom window...no clouds to burn off this morning! It was an absolutely gorgeous warm start to the day...we hate to leave this beautiful spot! A little fog did roll in over the water...made for some cool pictures...
The sun glistening on Valdez Glacier with fish jumping in the foreground...
It was 9:40 when we left Allison Point and headed back to the Richardson Highway and the return drive north. The Lowe River...
An old railroad tunnel through the mountain...
More stunning scenery...
It's a long climb up to the Thompson Pass summit...
Oil pipeline runs 800 miles to Valdez...
After 115 miles on the Richardson Highway, we reached the junction with the Glenn Highway and turned west (left) onto it. This was the start of a long stretch of road maintenance...it extended from the junction, through the town of Glennallen and for quite a distance beyond (it seem to go on for miles!).There was a water tanker spraying the road with water...great, so much for our clean truck...
We had just gotten back onto pavement when we came across some bridge repair...
Staging area for rafters...
At this point, the Milepost book states..."CAUTION: Narrow, winding road westbound next 25 miles; no passing lanes, very few turnouts, 7 percent grades, slow for 35 mph curves..." (yikes!)
..."soft dirt shoulder to south with steep drop-offs and no guardrails"...glad we are on the north side! Beautiful view of Long Lake...
Another stint of road work...
Stunning views over Matanuska River...
Just before 5:00, we arrived at Mountain View RV Park. Palmer, Alaska...the sun was shining and it was hot! I'm not complaining, but I certainly didn't expect it to be so hot in Alaska! We got leveled off, unhitched and then sat outside in the shade with a cold beer before we continued our unpacking job. It's not a bad RV park...nice to have grass at the sites. With our Good Sam discount, it is $31.50/night with full hook-up and wifi (although, the wifi is a little slow...perhaps it will improve once the Caravan behind us leaves). For the most part once you get past all of the road construction past Glennallen the highway is fine...just a few bad spots that sneak up on you.We'll check out Palmer tomorrow and then likely continue onto Anchorage after...we'll see...can't plan too far in advance!
It seems like a continuous stream of tourist heading to Alaska, as well, as several caravans. Is it crowded?
ReplyDeleteWe saw two caravans back in Dawson Creek, BC and there was one here in Palmer but that's it. The campgrounds don't seem overly busy...perhaps they will be more so as we head further down the Kenai Peninsula. Advice we have received from others is to arrive early in campgrounds. But, I'd say so far it doesn't seem overly crowded at all.
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