Sunday, June 27, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010 Chitina

This morning we left Valdez driving north on the Richardson road.   Tom and I each drove a vehicle (Tom the Motorhome and I the car) the first 25 or so miles.  There is a 7.5 mile steep climb out of Valdez  up through Thompson’s Pass that we thought it would be easier than the motorhome pulling the car that distance.   Once over the Pass we pulled into a turnout and hooked the car up to the motorhome for the remainder of today’s trip.  Clouds were with us from Valdez until we got over the mountain ridge and then we had mostly sunshine the rest of the way.  We turned onto the Edgerton Road to go back toward Chitina.  This road was continuous frost heaves and patched areas.  A few miles from Chitina we came to the Wrangell View RV Park where we parked our RVs.  This is a self serve campground- find your site, fill out information on an envelope provided, put your money in the envelope and deposit in a slot in a metal tube.  We were surprised to find full hook-ups, including 50 amp. electric, at this area and the price at $20.00 per night is one of the best we have encountered.  The views from the campground are wonderful and it is so quiet here.

From Alaska 2010-06-24

After lunch we rode through the town of Chitina and down along the water of the Copper River.  Numerous fish wheels are set up on the river but the fish are a little slow today.   There are a multitude of types of fish wheels from basic old Indian style wooden to a more modern metal but they all have the same purpose of scooping up the fish as the fish come up the river. 

From Alaska 2010-06-24
Talking to a fisherman, it is expected that in a couple of days the red salmon will be moving up the river.  The red salmon from the Copper River is considered one of the best tasting salmon.  Several boats were on the river with dip nets. 
From Alaska 2010-06-24
They would motor upstream and then drift down stream with the nets in the water and were catching some salmon in the nets.  These boaters were not allowed to go below the bridge so they would drift to the bridge and then motor back up stream.   Very interesting!

For dinner tonight we had red salmon from the Copper River.  We had bought a filet in Valdez at a fish market.  The red salmon meat is a bright red color and we thought that it was very good eating.