Valdez hatchery and Worthington glacier

Waking in Valdez again, this time near the lake I was paddling the morning before, I end up getting drawn back into the waterfront coffee shop. Sitting in a comfortable space (that I can even stand up in!) and catching up on the myriad little things I've been meaning to feels good. Perhaps it speaks to the domestic part of me that I've been neglecting. Much to my chagrin, reality is coming knocking on my little adventure. Bills must be paid and plans for the future to be made, along with my normal 'digital chores'. Focusing solely on my trip and adventures has been a nice, maybe selfish, detour from my life in CO.

Its amazing how many hours can slip by as I chip away at my to do list. I do feel better having some progress made, and the list hanging over my head being smaller. A few updates made on my website too, thanks to the seemingly rare find of decent bandwidth.

It is the well into the afternoon before peel myself away from the digital world. One last thing I want to see before getting too far north is the local fish hatchery I've read snippets about. The facility itself sounds interesting, but there evidently is also typically various wildlife drawn in due to the abundance of salmon. Evidently its a bit of a luck of the draw on what is there at any given time, but the tide appears to be in my favor of there being something, so I head over to the other side of the bay to check it out.

I am not disappointed. The sheer number of salmon bristling in the shallows is amazing to me, but there's more... there are sea lions steadily swimming against the current, staying nearly in the same spot until making a lunge for a salmon snack. Sea gulls dot the surface of the water, seeking to steal a sea lion's catch if they are lucky. Looking a bit closer I see a few sea otters as well, lounging on their backs and eating their catch. They've got to defend themselves from the cloying sea gulls as well, but they seem to be able to more casually, just rolling onto their bellies and holding their catch underwater in their hands until the bird gives up.

I'm not sure how much time I spent at the hatchery watching this little show unfold unhurried. Slowly walking back along the shore towards my parked van I noticed a little spot that the water flowing from the nearby spillway took a bit of a drop. Within this drop I witness for the first time the stereotypical salmon behavior, fish jumping upstream. Well, they try to anyway. There is actually a seine installed above the short fall to keep them from progressing up that particular channel. It allow me to wait and watch their efforts though, and once again I'm amazed. Those are some strong 'little' fish!

Finally heading out of town, there is one last last stop to make. Worthington glacier is actually well out of town, but not too many miles. Its likely just a roadside stop for many. There's a large parking lot with bathrooms, a couple information signs and a telescope viewer thing to point up at the glacier spilling over the crest of a mountianside a little ways up a small valley. You can take a little hike to a lake made from the glacier's meltwater... or take the less trodden path that veers off steeply to the left and then climbs along the left arm of the little valley as it tops out finally above the glacier. This is where I head.

I'm a little bit taken back by how steep the trial actually is. I kindof relegated this to a stroll in my head. I didn't bring my camera, or pack, or water, I just headed up. Working up a sweat, I'm forced to shed a layer despite the cool breeze. Ok, here we go! An actual little climb! I do have to stop to catch my breath a few times, but the couple of miles of well trodden dirt along the ridge go pretty quickly. The view of the glacier gets exponentially better with the improving vantage point. To begin with it just the ice that spills over the slope in front of and below me. With more elevation I see the slope of the more densely packed ice and snowfield on the more level portion as well as where it extends up the mountains behind, presumably to where it begins. I'm humbled by my surroundings yet again.

Taking a few pictures, I debate pressing on and maybe even down on to the surface of the glacier. Ultimately, I decide I'd like to have a bit more time and a bit more gear in order to press on. I've never hiked on a glacier before and I'm not certain how seriously to take the endeavor really. There have been few very seriously worded warning signs around the parking lot below, listing not only injury but death as the likely outcome of going out on the ice. How seriously to heed these warnings has always been a mystery to me. Either way, I decide to hike back down and make a few miles down the road towards tomorrow's destination instead.