Basketball at Midnight

Still travelling with the Auzzie girl (Lisa), I came to Valdez to flee the rain, see some new sights, and continue on my way. With time running short, and remembering a vague feeling from Rachel that Valdez might be cool, I figured I could check out Valdez and Denali and then high tail it back home. I thought, at the very least, some views of oil plants against mountains would provide for my type of contrast (and it was raining all week in Denali). Although I’ve not taken too many photos in the city due to evening overcast conditions, it’s not much what I expected. The mountains, glaciers, and sheer natural stuff is pretty amazing. The town is small and somewhat bare, having only been built since a huge earthquake 50 years ago. The road down from the Alcan turnoff is intense, though, with jagged peaks spitting forth tongues of glacial ice and rivers flowing into tundra marshlands.

In a bit, I’m off for the scenic route to Denali, and then will do a bit of a trek into the backcountry, I expect. Talking with some other folks, it seems they have no trails and no specific camping sites. The backcountry there is pure backcountry: map and compass backcountry. kit looks like the weather will even break for me for the three days.