Day Eleven, Tok Cutoff and Valdez

On our way on the Tok Cutoff we took this picture of Fireweed with Mt. Wrangell in the background.  The trip today was 254 miles and it still took most of the day.

When we got on the Richardson Highway, one of the first stops was at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  This is the largest National Park, 13.2 million acres.  It's bigger than Switzerland and the mountains are higher.  It's bigger than the state of Rhode Island.  It came into the National Park System in 1980.  That fact gives Jimmy Carter the record for adding land to the NPS.  The photo above is of the Visitor Center and below is of the ranger giving a talk.  We have the best national parks in the world!



We had lunch at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge which is very close to the Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor's Center.

Just before we got to Valdez, we had to climb (drive  up) Thompson Pass (2,771 ft.), a part of the Chugach Mountains.  Even though it doesn't seem that high, there are several glaciers in the area. 

The picture above is Connie in front of the Bridal Falls, one of many water falls coming off the mountains.

The photo to the right is the end of the Alaskan pipeline, the Valdez Marine Terminal.  This was as close as we could get.  Tomorrow we have a 7 1/2 hour boat tour of the area.