July 25, 2009

We drove to “Old Valdez” about 4 miles from current Valdez. The 1964 earthquake totally destroyed the harbor at Old Valdez and did a lot of damage to the town. The town was moved to more stable ground.



We stopped at the Crooked Creek Salmon Spawning Viewing Area where we watched pink and chum salmon spawning in Crooked Creek.



We drove the Dayville Road – a short scenic road along Valdez Bay. Where Solomon Gulch Creek empties into Valdez Bay we could see so many pink and silver salmon that the water was churning with them. These salmon were much bigger than the ones we saw at Crooked Creek. This is a good spot to view bears, eagles, seals and sea lions feeding on the salmon. We watched a sea lion feeding a short distance from the shore but no bears. We also saw a number of sea otters playing. This road ends at the Alyeska Pipeline Terminal and we watched an oil tanker come up the bay and dock at the terminal.

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