DEAD BEAR WALKING AND A TALE OF TWO TOURS…

View From Bear Paw

The drive over Thompson Pass into Valdez is stunning.  Waterfalls cascade down the canyon walls and the Thompson Glacier sparkles in the distance.  Arriving in Valdez we check into the Bear Paw RV Park.  This park has two sections, one nondescript parking lot across from the harbor and the Adult Park along the waterfront.  We opt for the waterfront.  From here we watch the fishing boats go in and out of the harbor, framed by the municipal wharf and the Alyeska Oil tanksat the Pipeline Terminal on the far side of the bay. The facilities are clean and the Wi-Fi good. Instead of a centrally located dumpster for refuse, there are 50 gallon plastic trashcans conveniently located around the park. BUT, there is a note on the laundry room door stating that, there is a bear in the area and please don’t put your trash out overnight because we don’t want to have to shoot him!  I talked to the maintenance man and he told me that the bear had been coming around and getting into the garbage, but they bear-sprayed him a few days ago and was hoping that he would not return.

Forging in Valdez is good. There is a newer Safeway for basic provisions and the Peter Pan Fish Marketplace for seafood. Peter Pan is a large processor of fish in the Pacific Northwest and we pick up some halibut fillets and spotted prawns for about half the cost of retail fish markets.

Purse Seiners

We book a tour with the Lu-Lu Belle to visit the ColumbiaGlacier.  This tour was recommended by a few folks that we met during our travels and has many positive reviews on-line. The Lu-Lu Belle is a lovely boat. It’s small with lots of wood and faux oriental rugs but it feels a bit cramped as we are traveling at near full capacity and there are not enough indoor seats for everyone during the mandatory safety orientation. The weather is perfect and we head out of the harbor.  The captain starts his commentary on the area and seems to end every topic with an off the wall comment. Just past the municipal wharf, we are treated to a couple of rafts of sea otters.  They are obviously used to the boat traffic and just float on their backs as we slowly circle them.  Further out the purse seining fishing boats are laying out the nets and we watch a nice haul of pink salmon loaded into the hold.  Continuing down the sound, the captain draws the boat right up to the shore (we’re talking a couple of feet here) of an island with steep vertical cliffs.  We are looking for puffins that don’t seem to be around.  

Stellar Seals

Puffin

The topic changes to the Stellar Sea Lions. Pulling the boat around the bend we come to a narrow beach teaming with these huge creatures.  The boat is only a few yards from the shore and some of the sea lions are a bit agitated by our close proximity.  It is apparent that the captain has no love for these creatures or their southern cousins the California Sea Lions because in his opinion: they eat too much of the salmon, they stink and should not be classified as an endangered species. Once we pull away from the island we see the puffins cruising on the water and flying about. More skewed commentary as we pass the site of the Exon Valdez oil spill with emphasis on the cost of the safety measures now mandated because of it.  

Columbia Glacier

As we approach the Columbia Glacier the captain circles a mother otter holding her baby, the mother dives down and vanishes from sight.  Then we continue on and pick our way through the ice.  It’s the only time the captain is quiet.  The glacier calves a bit and we head back to Valdez.  The boat has a small snack bar.  Chris gets a nasty hot dog and I have a watery bowl of tasteless clam chowder.  YUK!  On the return trip the captain takes the opportunity to share his misogynistic opinions on: government regulations, unions, the environment and foreign ownership of American based businesses with his captive audience.  There are speakers everywhere on the boat and we cannot escape his ramblings.  It’s like watching a Nat Geo show with a Rush Limbaugh commentary. We now have headaches and we just want him to STFU! Once we dock, we can’t get off the boat fast enough. Despite the glowing recommendations, this was certainly not the tour for us.

Otter

We book a second tour.  This time, it’s with the Stan Stephens Tours on the Valdez Spirit to the Meares Glacier.  This boat is a 82 ft. catamaran we are at about 60% capacity, but there are enough indoor seats with huge windows for a full house and it is much more comfortable than the previous tour boat.  Again the weather is perfect. Our Captain Amanda Bauer begins the tour with much of the same dialogue on the history of the area (without snarky editorial comments.) She is articulate and very knowledgeable about her topics.  She explains how the Alaska pipeline and the oil tanks were designed for a thirty-year lifespan. It’s now been thirty-eight years.  With maintenance and improvements they may be used for about fifty years.  We pass the rafts of otters, the purse seiners and Bligh Reef the site of the Exon Valdez oil spill where she tells us about the event, how unprepared anyone was for a disaster of this magnitude, how there is still cleanup going on in Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands, and some species of sea life have not recovered. Now there are improvements, processes and special equipment in place to help prevent this type of disaster and mitigate the destruction if a spill were to occur.  Passing the entrance to the Columbia Glacier, Amanda explains that the Columbia is a retreating glacier and the Meares is one of the few advancing glaciers.  At this point we feast on a lovely lunch of chicken with Alfredo sauce on a bed of rice with steamed vegetables, rolls and butter and Oreo cookies for desert.  

Happy Humpback

Meares Glacier
Calving

Heading toward the Meares, we spot a mother otter with her baby, the boat veers to the side away from the otters because baby otters do not know how to dive and if the mother dives too fast to get away from the boat, the baby can drown. At the base of the Meares, we sit in silence and watch spectacular calving as two huge chunks of ice, fall from the face of the glacier into the sea.  On the return trip we cruise by the epicenter of the 1964, 9.2 magnitude earthquake.  Amanda spots some Dalls Porpoises but they seem more intent on heading away and don’t stick around to play.  And then someone spies a whale spout.  Our captain heads the boat in the direction and soon a 40 ft. humpback breaches off the bow.  We slowly circle the area and are treated to a real show.  This whale is breaching then swimming on his back with his large pectoral fins waiving in the air and then diving and breaching.  This goes on and on over and over, waiving pectorals, rolling, diving and breaching.  Everyone watches in silence and awe.  We finally have to leave and Amanda states that this is the first time she has ever had to leave a frolicking humpback before it’s done.  We cruise around past the Stellar Sea Lion Colony and observe them from a distance. Amanda explains that although the colony in the Prince William Sound is stable, they are endangered because all of their other colonies are in decline.  Then we head off to watch the puffins doing their puffin thing. Before returning to port, we have a lovely bowl of clam chowder that’s tasty and full of goodies. It’s a beautiful relaxing ride back into port and we wish the day could go on forever.

Across the bay is the Solomon Falls Gulch Fish Hatchery.  They incubate and release the Pink (Humpback) Salmon that are currently being caught in the sound.  We visit the hatchery twice but the salmon are not running yet and there are no tours offered here.  However, there are some salmon nearby as indicated by the seals, that surface occasionally with a fat salmon in their mouths. 

Old Valdez

We also drive out to the Old Valdez Site.  The city was rendered uninhabitable by the 1964 earthquake and accompanying tsunami. It was relocated two and a half years later to the present site.  All that’s left of Old Valdez are decaying pier pilings. The salvageable buildings were moved to current Valdez and the rest were burned. Now the earth is slowly reclaiming the city site. 

The Valdez Museum Society has two locations. The Museum Annex near the ferry terminal is dedicated to Old Valdez, with artifacts, a scale model of the entire town and short film about the area, the destruction and the relocation.  A few blocks away, the Valdez Museum is a wonderful place to learn the history of both Old and New Valdez.  They have some wonderful exhibits including the beautifully restored original fire wagon.  We watch a short film about the history of the city from the native fishing villages to the boom and bust cycles: as the gateway to Yukon gold, the destruction and relocation after the 1964 earthquake, the building of the Alaska Pipeline and the current economy of oil, fishing and tourism.

Dead Bear Walking

On our last morning the Bear has returned.  He has systematically turned every trashcan over and gone through the contents.  A park employee arrives and chases the bear off, but the bear lets him get pretty close before running away. I can’t help but wonder why the park uses plastic trashcans and not bear-proof receptacles? They know that bears come into the area for the salmon, why make it easy for them to stay for the garbage?  This bear is back, he has no fear of people, and he will become dangerous if allowed to continue this behavior.  He’s a dead bear walking.

We head to the terminal to catch the ferry to Wittier. On the ferry we meet a couple from Valdez, they tell us that on their way to the ferry they saw trash cans by the post office turned over by the bear. I show them the photo I took earlier.  We talk about bears and they mention that last year, thirteen problem bears were shot in Valdez.  Thinking back I don’t recall seeing bear-proof trashcans around Valdez.  OK, so obviously bullets are cheaper than bear-proof trashcans… but WTF?

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