Glenallen area, Alaska

Sunday 1st July Odometer reading. 51,189 km Venue. Glenallen, AK The skies were leaden this morning but we had decided to ride the 117 miles to Valdez and back. After 53 km of wet, cold (4C) riding into ever increasing fog we decided enough was enough and turned back towards Glenallen. Thenks to the heated vest that Wes loaned me I was able to keep my torso warm although my hands were in need of a warm place to put them.  To make the most of a bad day we made a couple of stops on the way back. At the Copper River crossing we noticed several vehicles stopped by the road and on closer inspection we found several fishermen and one lovely lady from Florida who had just caught two lovely Red ( cohoe) salmon.

 She explained that the cost of a fishing license was $145 for the season and that entitled her to a catch of 3 Cohoe per day on one King salmon per season. It doesn't take much reckoning to realize that these are very expensive fish, notwithstanding their freshness. By the way, the male fishermen had not caught anything. Further on we dropped in to the little native community of Copper Centre where the local store is run by a white couple from Oregon and Florida who had lived there for ten years. Dealing with the natives seemed to be a regular problem as they seemed constantly under the influence of some drug. In front of the store the Indians had built a replica " fish wheel" which is normally placed in the river and automatically catches the salmon as they swim upstream.

 Our next stop was at the headquarters of the Wrangell - St Elias National Park, the biggest Park in North America. This park has nine of the tallest mountains in Nth America and most of them are volcanic of which Mt Blackburn is 16,300 ft tall.

A technicolour Moose outside our Motel

 When we arrived back at the Motel in Glenallen Brian and Val Cullinan, Adelaide friends of Mike, we're booked in. They have been riding for riding in North America for three months and plan on another three at least. It was good to catch up with them.

The 48 inch oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez near Glenallen