Alaska, the last frontier

Here's one of many glaciers we will see on this trip. It is hard to imagine the magnitude and size of these ice flows. These glaciers are located in the 1,500-square-mile Juneau Icefield.


Watson Lake, the famous Sign Post Forest, located along the main street in this little town. It was started in 1942 by a homesick Army GI, Carl K. Lindsey of Danville IL. Company D, 341st Engineers. While working on the Alaska Highway he erected a sign here pointing the way and stating the mileage to his hometown. Others soon followed his lead and are still doing so to this day. There are more than 10,000 signs there, I am not sure who counted them.



Dawson Creek is located in the northeast corner of British Columbia in the centre of the Peace Region. This is the city that is located at Mile '0' of the Alaska Highway, this is the beginning of our adventure to the new frontier, Alaska. This is our first big trip after our retirement on June 1, 2000. We expect to stay the entire summer exploring and filling our eyes with Alaska's awesome beauty and will come out around the middle of September before the first big snow.

One of many beautiful lakes throughout Alaska's awesome scenery. Notice the homes on the opposite shore. How would you like to wake up to that scene every morning? And all the fish you want is in that lake.

Our boat trip into the Prince William Sound and the glacier ice fields. Alaska’s Prince William Sound is ringed by the coastal mountains of the Chugach Range and situated in the midst of the Chugach National Forest. Its’ 2,700 miles of coastline is home to the towns and villages of Chenega Bay, Cordova, Tatitlek, Valdez and Whittier.

In March 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, rupturing its hull and spilling nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil. It remains the largest oil spill ever to occur in U.S. waters. Exxon paid 287 million dollars in actual damages and 5 billion dollars in punative damages.

By the time we got there in the year 2000, it was pretty well cleaned up, however the shoreline was still contaminated with 26,000 gallons remaining in the sandy soil declining at a rate of 4% a year.

Governor Tony Knowles dedicating the bike trail that would run from Anchorage to Seward. We were at the Turnagain Arm on the Seward Parkway. This road is considered to be America’s most beautiful and scenic road, crossing mountain passes and majestic valleys. Along the way we will try to spot moose, caribou, eagles and other wildlife.

Another view of Turnagain Arm Lake and mountains, this is a spectacular 127 mile drive between Anchorage and Seward. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula for which it was designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.



Oh, wow! Coming into Homer is really pretty incredible!! First you climb a steep hill then swoop down into a wondrous sight of the beautiful Kachemak Bay surrounded by glaciered alpine mountains. Ocean View RV Park was “all that”. We woke up each morning to this great landscape. Homer is known as the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World" famous for their "barn door" size halibut that are caught in the nearby waters, also famous for the awesome tasting fish & chips located on the "Spit". No time to fish today so Gene, Dana, Donna and I went to Young’s Chinese Restaurant for dinner. No matter where you go in the world there is always a Chinese restaurant.



What did I say about the "Halibut Fishing Capital of the World"? That dude is bigger and weighs more than I do. If halibut is not in your palate, there are plenty other fish in Alaskan waters such as salmon rockfish, lingcod, dolly varden, steelhead and more. Homer even has non-traditional “fishing”, such as clams, mussels and oysters! Close by was great clamming in Ninilchik, we were able to get the hang of it and came home with about 30 large razorbacks.


This is the boat harbor in Haines Junction, this is a great and wonderful stop for gas and food, however, the mosquitoes ate me up. The local guy told me to spray myself with vinegar which I did, it didn't keep the mosquitoes away but I did smell like a salad all day.

There were many eagles in this area and we were thrilled to see them up close. The Chilkat River valley is home to the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and to the largest congregation of bald eagles in the world.

More of our trip to Alaska in another blog.

Valdez, Alaska

Floating ice flow in Valdez Bay.

The harbor seal populations of Prince William Sound and the northern Gulf of Alaska were in
decline before the oil spill for unknown reasons. The spill injured these populations, adding to
the decline, and they are not recovering.

A pit containing a heavy oil residue. The 2001 shoreline survey has provided new insights for possible sources of continued oil contamination. This has stimulated future studies that will focus on the bioavailability of the oil and its impacts on species such as sea otters, harlequin ducks, and their intertidal prey.

Every month about 75 tankers come into Valdez. It takes 18 hours to load each tanker. Each tanker holds anywhere from 175,000 to 1,050,000 barrels of oil.


In Valdez there are huge holding tanks that can hold up to 9.18 million barrels of oil.



The Valdez Marine Terminal and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began operations in 1977. Between 1977 and 1996, 11 billion barrels of oil were shipped from Port Valdez to refineries in U.S. ports. Do not miss the opportunity to take an interesting tour of the facility


Valdez also has the largest sport fishery for pink salmon, with the majority of fish being caught from shore. This year start looking for king salmon released from the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery as they return to Valdez.



Valdez has salmon fishing year around, as there is a winter fishery for feeder king salmon for those that brave the ice and snow. However, it is the summer fishery for silvers that is its real attraction.



Marine recreational fisheries are popular in Southcentral Alaska, supporting approximately 486,000 angler-days of effort for all finfish species (2000 estimate). An angler day equals one angler fishing for any part of a day.


So far this Alaskan adventure has been everything we envisioned and expected. There is still plenty of places to see and enjoy.

Fishing Pics of Alaska (Last Frontier)

If you love awesome beauty and fishing, go to Alaska. It was our dream trip.

We stayed in Alaska all summer and fished until our freezer was full. We had enough salmon to last us the rest of the year after we left Alaska in September. Fishing license was $100.00 a full season, as you can tell, I got my monies worth.

I met three guys that loved to fish and we did our thing day in and day out.

I met Eamonn Stafford from Ireland on the Kenai River. We fished the Russian River, Kenai River and Hope River at the Turnagain Arm. One day we caught 70 salmon and released all but three. Later we met in Seward and fished again, this time we got skunked (no fish). Obviously, the captain had no clue where the choice fishing holes were.

I met Ernie Lucia, he lived in Anchorage and we fished out of Seward, the following pictures tell the story.

I met Gene Adams in Seward, we fished in Seward, Homer, and Cook Inlet. We also got our share of razorback clams at Ninilchek (north of Homer.

There is nothing better than wild Alaska Salmon.

Our Captain of our fishing vessel and me. It was a pretty good day.

Ernie Lucia, Captain and me.

Our catch of salmon for the day

Buying fresh shrimp off the boat in Prince William Sound.

Allen fishing the Kenai River for salmon (no fish dinner that night)

Fishing at the Copper River, World famous for their salmon.

Salmon resting on the scale

We know what he's having for dinner.

Local residents are allowed to net the salmon out of the Kenai River. Limit is 25 fish.

Got one!

Donna, Dana and Gene Adams (we did a lot of fishing together + eating)
This was taken at the Cook Inlet, Kenai River.

This is our stash of salmon for the rest of the year. We purchased the freezer from Sears in Anchorage.

I know they are waiting for me.....

This is when I knew I was really, really retired......