Day Eleven

Day Eleven

We started the day in Whittier, there was a light drizzle and the clouds appeared to be hovering just off the surface of the water.  I snuck into the bar and watched the boats coming and going from the harbor as I edited the previous days photos.

After finishing up and uploading the photos I took a walk around Whittier.  There are two large buildings in Whittier, both were built for the military.  One, the Begich Towers, houses most of the people in Whittier.   Above the Begich, a glacier melts forming multiple waterfalls on the hills above it.

The other building the Buckner, which looks like it should be in Russia somewhere, is abandoned due to asbestos issues.  The water dripping through it is growing stalagmites.

We booked out passage on the ferry from Whittier to Valdez, lined up and then loaded up tying the bikes to keep them from moving during passage.  It took us about two hours to make the trip.   The weather cleared as we headed south and the sun was breaking though the clouds in Valdez.  We cleared the ferry and headed for a gas station to fill up for the ride north.

As we headed out of Valdez on the Richardson Highway it started drizzling again but once we made it over the Thompson Pass it stopped and started to clear.  Just another mile or so down the road is the Worthington Glacier, you can walk right up to the base of it

After taking lots of photos we continued north with snow covered peaks surrounding us.  It really is a phenomenal place.  Stopped in Glenallen for gas and rode another 30 miles north on Hwy 1 where we stopped for the night at the Red Eagle Lodge.  We pitched our tents and made some dinner, the freeze-dried lasagna isn’t too bad.  They have showers so I was able to get a nice hot shower before turning in for the night.

There is also a contingent of cyclists from Austin Texas that are cycling from Austin to Anchorage.  We passed them near Haines Junction four days ago, they’ve made a few hundred miles and we’ve covered closer to a 1000.  They’ll continue on towards Anchorage tomorrow and we’ll head towards Haines.