We watched the sea lions feed at the salmon hatchery across the way from Valdez. There were about a dozen or so hanging out in the water, taking turns slurping up the fish. The Worthington Glacier was farther away from the road than I remember, and we never quite reached it to climb upon. This was another disappointment because I’d mentioned that the glacier came right down to the road….
Wrangel St Elias national park at McCarthy is a place you will never want to leave. It’s after the end of a 4 hour drive over a washboard road that used to be a train track. And somewhere along the way there’s a single-lane bridge about 600 feet long and about 1200 feet above a river that would just love to beat your bones against the rocks until all your flesh is gone. 100 years ago this bridge was for the train. 100 years. It has railings I guess. I really don’t remember. My technique for driving it was to look 5 feet ahead of my car at the wooden planks. They were good wooden planks. Upon reaching the end of this road there’s another bridge, a footbridge this time, about 100 yards long and then it’s another 3/4 of a mile to McCarthy. You park your vehicle at the end of the road and pay $5 for 4 hours, $10 dollars for all day, or $30 to camp the night. I hadn’t planned on staying more than a couple of nights, but after the nerve-wracking drive in, I paid in advance for 4 nights. Coming out was not bumpy, so maybe the washboard is only one-way. I swear that you couldn’t make that much washboard road by accident, so I think they are trying to keep people out by discouraging them, just like on the Dalton.
Anyway, Lucy finally got a chance to walk on a glacier. On the hike back, there was a couple who had to abandon their campsite because of a bear and its two cubs. We were hoping that they were black bears, but no, they were grizzlies. Mary tells the story better. She wasn’t trying to give the campers her bearspray like some idiot I know.