FRIDAY, AUGUST 2

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2:

     Overcast and cloudy again when we got up, but we were happily surprised to see it all burn off by mid-morning.  Turned into a beautiful day.  And I was feeling a lot better. 

     So we headed towards town, first turning off onto a road which leads to Valdez Lake and Glacier.  The RV park owner here said that we could paddle our kayaks out there.  Didn’t think it was a good idea to do that today, since I didn’t want to have a relapse of my cold, but wanted to check it out.  We’d love to do that, so hope we have another sunny warm day like today!

 

     Then drove into town.  Took a little hike in a loop around the harbor.  Valdez is a gorgeous town when the clouds lift and you can see the mountains and glaciers surrounding it! 

 Then just poked around the harbor some . . . saw a few people cleaning their fish on tables provided.  

 

 

      Came back home.  Bill dropped me off to take a nap while he drove up a road to the other side of the harbor inlet, where we were told that the locals all fish, and where there’s a salmon hatchery.  He came home a while later with 2 salmon that one of the guys fishing there had caught.  He was going to throw them back . . . because they were pink, or “humpie” salmon, which he considered not very good eating.  He was trying to catch a silver.  Both are running now, but the pinks predominantly.  Bill persuaded him to not throw them back, but to give them to him.  So guess what we had for dinner tonight!  Tasted fine, but not as good as some other salmon we’ve had up here, which I think must be the king variety. 

     After dinner, we drove back on out there.  A few people still fishing.  The salmon are so thick now, you just cast your line out and hardly have to work at all to get one.   We walked past the hatchery, where there were hundreds at a time using all the energy they had to try and swim up over the little concrete barriers, to get to the hatchery where they were born.   The water was black with them!   Only God knows what inner compass compels them to doggedly persevere to make their way to the exact spot where they were born, or die trying.   As we saw that some did.  Once there, the hatchery will retrieve the eggs, artificially fertilize them, and when the fry are born, will feed them until they’re mature enough to fend for themselves and then will be released to swim out to the Prince William Sound until their life cycle nears completion and they make the trip back here some summer hence.  This hatchery was approved by the State in order  to ensure a stable number of salmon.

     We also kept our eyes open for bears.  We were told repeatedly that this is the place to find bears – obviously because of the rich salmon supply.  A mama and her cubs are supposed to be around here, as well as a somewhat aggressive male who tries to intimidate fishermen who have a fish on the line to throw it his way, instead of fishing for his own.  But we didn’t see any.  Saw some pretty woods, though, including a beautiful waterfall.