Copper Center

Sunday, August 8 - We headed back toward Glenallen this morning, stopping about 15 miles short of there at Copper Center.  This drive out of Valdez is so pretty that seeing it again, going the opposite direction, was a joy.  We go through Keystone Canyon before we cross Thompson Pass, and this is where the Bridal Veil and Horsetail waterfalls are.  It is just a really pretty canyon, with a river right beside the road.

We had our first roadkill today - a ground squirrel or chipmunk that ran out in front of us.  I think, though, that we might have hit a bird somewhere in Canada, and I think Dave or Collins did too.  We saw a porcupine on the road that someone else had hit, so it was a rough day for the little furry critters.

Here's Willow Lake, with the Wrangell Mountains behind it.  Very pretty.  The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve are somewhere over there, but I think it is a 93-mile side trip, over pretty rough roads, so we skipped that.

Our 105-mile day ended about 1:30, at the King for a Day RV Park just south of Glenallen.  The campground is a little rustic, but it is in a beautiful setting, on the banks of the Klutina River, another tourquoise-colored river.  There's fishing here, but that river flows pretty fast, so we didn't attempt that.

You can see the river in the background, but here are some better views.

We saw an eagle where we stopped for lunch along the highway, and there was another eagle here, in the top of the tree across the river.

It's in the treetop with the cloud behind it, if you can pick it out.

We took a little drive into Copper Center, but it didn't have much to offer.  Mazie and I got ice cream cones, though, so it wasn't a total waste.

We should meet back up with the Brundiges in Tok tomorrow.  Marilyn found out that the road from Chicken to the Canadian Border is closed again, after the third wash-out, so that trip is not looking very likely.   But we'll probably be heading out of Alaska when we leave Tok.