Valdez for Some Fishing

 Wednesday June 15, 2022 - It was a quick drive this morning to Tok, where we spent the morning doing laundry and groceries.  After catching up on errands we drove 20 minutes outside of Tok to Eagle Trail State Recreation Area.  We were the only ones camping in the campground (not even a camp host).  It had a few hiking trails so we did a quick hike before dinner and then enjoyed a fire, with wood we found around the campsite.

Pretty drive to Tok

more wildflowers lining the road

1 mile nature hike loop

Not sure what kind of wildflower this is, I need to find a better wildflower book than the small booklet I got in the Yukon

there were a few mosquitoes, although we've seen worse

our site at Eagle Trail SRA

We love campfires

Are we going to stay up THAT late?

Thursday June 16, 2022 - Today was a 4 hour drive to Valdez.  What great scenery...lots of really big snow covered mountains.  Just outside of Valdez we stopped at some waterfalls next to the highway.  We are staying 3 days at Allison Point, which is across the Valdez Bay from the town of Valdez.  The pinks come through here starting in mid to late June, so we thought we'd spend a few days here, enjoying the great view from our campground and fishing.  

views on the drive to Valdez, on the Tok cut-off highway

Mount Sanford, the 6th highest peak in the US, it's part of Wrangell-Elias National Park

Mailboxes in front of the view

lots of glaciers on the drive to Valdez

Bridal Veil Falls

Horse Tail Falls

Our campsite at Allison Point

fire pit with a view!

It's another parking lot, but the views make it worth it.  We pull in door-to-door and have a nice private spot

cool bench on the walk down to do some fishing

It was some tough fishing - high tide and windy

but fun to give it a try

We decided we'd each get a yearly fishing license ($100 non-resident), so we can fish whenever we get a chance.  

Friday June 17, 2022 - Kevin felt a little under the weather yesterday and today he woke up with a runny nose, so he did a test and found out he has COVID.  My test came back negative, so we're hoping I don't end up with it in a few days.  We mostly spend time with Gene and Gerry outside, so hopefully they avoid it completely.  Luckily he seems to only have a few sniffles, and we're hoping it only last a few days.  He spent the afternoon watching non-stop TV in the RV (which he was quite content to do) and Gene, Gerry & I walked down to the Solomon Gulch Hatchery.  It was a nice 1.5 mile walk down the bike trail that goes into Valdez.  The Hatchery had a great self guided tour, that provided lots of info about the facility.  The hatchery propagates Pink Salmon (humpies) and Coho Salmon (silvers).  The Pinks are a two year fish, meaning they will hatch, go to sea (the gulf of Alaska) and return to spawn here at Allison Point in mid July the following year.  Cohos are a three year fish.  They spend their first year and a half at the hatchery and then are released in the spring to begin the same cycle as the pinks. Pinks are the smallest of the 5 species of Pacific Salmon (average 3-5 pounds).  Cohos are a feisty sport fish and are bigger than the Pinks (average 8 pounds but can weigh up to 20 pounds).  The Cohos run in late Aug to early Sept at Allison Point and the Pinks run mid June through mid Aug.

Our view when we woke up at 6:00AM (looks like it's noon)

a little cloudy today

Uncle Gene and I decided to go fishing this morning at low tide and Uncle Gene found my Pink Pixie that I lost yesterday

Too bad the lure was our only "catch" today

Clouds across the mountains

Nice wide bike trail from our campground all the way to Valdez

Waterfall on the walk

The fish ladder at Solomon Gulch is a series of 29 resting pools, with a step at each level, designed to move the returning salmon into the facility so they can be spawned. 

20,000 salmon a day swim through this ladder during spawning season

A fish weir is located at the mouth of the stream next to the hatchery.  This weir moves with the tides and keeps salmon from swimming up the stream and directs them instead into the hatchery

lots of nice information on the self guided tour

These are the outdoor raceways that the fishing ladder feeds into.  The fish are held here until they are ready to be moved into the spawning building for processing

pretty views from the hatchery

love the flowers