RVentures with Doug and Chris: Valdez Alaska: Nature's Perfect Playground

Our journey continued to be as beautiful as the destination as we made our way along the Richardson Highway to Valdez, Alaska. Glaciers hung frozen in time on the mountains in the distance. Streams flowed through the canyons below. Waterfalls greeted us alongside this road that has been proclaimed one of ''America's Most Scenic Roads'' by Travel+Leisure magazine.

We had boondocked the previous night nearby on the top of Thompson Pass which boasts of being the snowiest place in Alaska with an average of 500+ inches of snow a year. The nearby mountains were still having trouble getting rid of their snowy decor despite the strong summer rays and long Alaskan days.

As we cruised down the pass into Keystone Canyon, we knew that the mountains, streams, and waterfalls were just the beginning of the beauty that awaited us at the end of the road in Valdez, Alaska ... Nature's Perfect Playground.

Valdez has been nick-named ''Alaska's Little Switzerland'' because of its striking resemblance to the European country with its snow-capped mountains framing the town and harbor. Located at the end of a deep fjord off Prince William Sound, Valdez's port welcomes a maze of tankers, fishing vessels, and tour boats year-round because its waters never freeze over.

But its history has not always been so tranquil and serene. The original town sprung up almost overnight in 1897 when gold seekers by the thousands came to find an ''all-American'' route to the gold fields of interior Alaska. The original town was built hastily on the fine silt and sand that was left behind by nearby glaciers. This unstable soil proved disastrous for the town when on March 27, 1964, the Good Friday earthquake and resulting tsunami destroyed most of Old Valdez. This 9.2 magnitude quake, the largest ever recorded in North America, triggered a massive underwater landslide and thirty foot tidal wave that wiped out this important shipping port.

Three years later, in 1967, the town of Valdez was relocated and completely rebuilt on more stable bedrock four miles west of the original site. Today ''new'' Valdez boasts of a modern marina, vibrant tourist area, and well-planned neighborhoods for the town's 4000 residents. All that remains of Old Valdez are pothole-ladened gravel roads and a few concrete foundations. We decided to test our luck by boondocking a couple of nights just up the street from where the tsunami struck. I'm happy to report that we had no close encounters with shaky ground or visiting spirits in this true ghost town.

It was a quiet night whether parked on Main Street,

... or in a van down by the river.

In 1977, a new business brought prosperity to Valdez when the Alaska Pipeline was completed, and oil started being transported out of the Port of Valdez. But once again disaster would test the resilience of the community when on March 24, 1989, almost 25 years to the day of the great earthquake, the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in nearby Prince William Sound. Determination and a strong love for their beautiful surroundings helped the city come back with stronger safeguards in place to protect these cuties and all the creatures who enjoy nature's perfect playground.

But it is not all fun and games for certain visitors to the Port of Valdez. Every July the pink salmon return to the Solomon Gulch Hatchery where they began their lives a couple of years earlier.

One of nature's great mysteries is how and why salmon instinctively return to their place of birth in order to spawn and die. But return they do ... in massive numbers!

And the bears, eagles, sea otters, seals, sea lions, sea gulls,

... and humans happily welcome them back!

Boys will be boys!

It was fascinating to watch the salmon work their way through the maze of hungry critters to the ''relative'' safety of the fish ladder.

Once they make their way up the ladder, they complete their life cycle. Their eggs and milt are collected, fertilized, and incubated. In the next year, the new generation of salmon is released into Prince William Sound and make their way to the Gulf of Alaska. As adults they will instinctively return to Solomon Gulch, and the circle of life will continue.

With an abundance of spectacular scenery and wildlife surrounding us, we once again boarded a tour boat to get a closer view. We took a six hour cruise out to the Columbia Glacier with Stan Stephens Cruise Company. Since rain is a common occurrence in Valdez, we recommend checking the weather forecast before booking.

Rain is also the reason this

blog is getting so long!

As it turned out, my personal tour director picked a glorious day to explore Prince William Sound!

Some highlights included:

... up-close views of the professional fisheries that were ''netting'' our next seafood dinner.

... a journey through a maze of icebergs that had recently calved off of Columbia Glacier, one of the fastest retreating glaciers in the world. Our guide told us that between 8,000 and 10,000 tons of ice break off each day.

Check out this chip off the old block!

... and an abundance of cute critters happy to show off nature's perfect playground.

Following our cruise, Doug once again found out that the glacial waters produce some top-notch local IPAs at Valdez Brewing, and I realized that I have to be careful with what I agree to during ''happy hour'' because ...

... while walking back to our van, we passed Anadyr Adventures, and Doug signed us up for a kayaking excursion the next morning. I was a bit nervous, but it turned out to be my #1 most favorite Alaskan adventure to date!

That morning we drove out to the base of Valdez Glacier where years of melting ice has produced a glacial lake. The lake's surface is constantly changing due to the breaking off, shifting, drifting and melting of the glacial ice, which in turn makes a simple paddle more like a journey through a giant maze.

After outfitting us with waders, wading boots, and life jacket, our young, enthusiastic guide, Will, gave us a paddling lesson, helped us into our inflatable double kayak, and assured us that we would not fall into the 34 degree glacial water.

Will shared a wealth of information about the area and about glaciers in general. He let us know that because glaciers are ''moving rivers of ice'', a paddle around Valdez Glacier Lake is never the same.

This deep blue cave recently opened up and invited us in for a closer look.

A path that Will had taken the week before suddenly became a dead-end due to the constantly shifting ice.

Hot chocolate and snacks were served on huge mound of gravel and rocks. Upon closer examination, we found that this rocky ''picnic'' area was actually an iceberg in disguise.

We also learned that the chunks of floating ice in the lake have different names depending on their size. Those the size of large buildings are officially called ''icebergs''.

Those the size of a house (with a height greater than three feet but less than sixteen feet above the water) are called ''bergy bits''.

Those a bit smaller ... say the size of our camper van ''home'' are called ''growlers''. The coaster from Growler Bay Brewing later confirmed that small bit of trivia to be true.

And lastly, a tiny heart-shaped piece of glacial ice just plucked from the water and given to his love will quickly melt away, and so it is just called a sweet memory.