Driving In To The Valdez Fly-In - Part 2

Now for the actual Fly-In photos...

What a great Alaskan experience. Park right in front of the airport (albeit a small bush airport), walk right to the tarmac, and even right ONTO the tarmac with minimal security watching your every move. I felt like I was once again experiencing what life USED to be like when people were actually responsible for their own actions and... get this... survived! What a concept.

First, let's get our bearings...

The Valdez Airport is sort of tucked in a valley among several mountains and right up against one of those mountains. It's on the north end of Prince William Sound, and Valdez is the terminus of the Alaska Oil Pipeline. So on the map above, we were sitting on the south side of the runway looking toward the mountains that are just above the words "Valdez Airport". Now that you have your bearings...

First we got to see some aerobatics. Pretty neat with the mountains as a backdrop! And so much snow remains... wow.

The view toward Valdez Glacier. So pretty!

More aerobatics... with remote controlled planes! They were pretty cool.

Check out the cheesy smile on this "pilot's" face.

One of the attractions at the Fly-In was helicopter rides being offered. I've been on bush planes several times, but never on a helicopter. So we took advantage.

This is where the "walk onto the runway" part comes in... we just walked past this sign and I admit it felt a little strange not having to convince anyone we were supposed to (or allowed to) do so! This is one of the many things I really appreciate about Alaska.

Our ride... and check out the snow bank in the background! It IS mid-May, right?!

We're settled in and looking back toward where all the action is. These planes you see here belong to people that flew in for this event... most of them camp right here through the weekend.

Helicopter controls

Here's a video of us taking off... a very different experience than in a plane!

And we're off! Flying toward Valdez Glacier. Down this road is a campground which we considered camping at this weekend. Ha... it's under several feet of snow! Good thing we had an alternate plan.

Here's the beginning (actually the end, if you want to be technical about it) of the glacier. Notice that spot that looks like the opening to a cave. There's a closer photo of that toward the end of the tour.

I love the aqua pools of water on the glacier. So pretty.

The glacier... a true "river of ice".

Closer view of the glacier

I love the mountains around here... they're not joking around! Looks kinda rugged to me.

Here's a video to give you a better feel for the terrain in this area:

There's a glacier under there somewhere...

More close-ups of the glacier. There's so much detail that you can't see when looking at the "big picture"!

Here's another video as we're heading back toward the airport...

I know... it's hard to get any perspective of size. It's not any easier being there in person! It's part of what's crazy and mysterious about Alaska.

 There's the "cave" again. I'm fairly certain I could walk in there with no problem (size-wise, anyway... other hazards notwithstanding!)

Flying back to the airport... just follow that road!

A better overview of the airport looking toward the west/southwest.

And here's the view as we're coming in for a landing. Pretty neat!

That was an awesome experience! And now back to the entertainment on the ground... after we returned from our helicopter tour, there was the part of the weekend that everyone was waiting for: The STOL competition! STOL stands for Short Take-Offs and Landings, and these are important skills for Alaska bush pilots to have as there aren't always formal runways to land on/take off from. People really get into it! Some planes take off quickly but can't stop quickly, while others take awhile to get off the ground but can stop in a very short distance. So there's a line on the runway, and the front wheels of the plane have to start behind that line. When the official says to go, the pilot takes off as fast as possible. Where the front wheels first leave the ground, the officials measure that distance from the starting line. Then the pilot flies around in a circle and comes in for a landing. The front wheels must first touch the ground behind the starting line, and the officials measure the distance from where they first touch down to where they come to a complete stop. Then they add the two distances together and compare to all the other competitors.

Some of the pilots come in so gradually that it looks like they'll surely disqualify themselves. Quite entertaining!

JUST leaving the ground...

Perhaps a video of this would be helpful. Still photos just aren't capturing it. So here's an example of a takeoff:

And here's an example of a landing:

One plane landing and the next one queued up ready to go.

Alaska. :)

It was neat to see all the different types of planes and wheels and everything. I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience this very Alaskan event, even though I don't share the camaraderie that all these pilots (and most of the attendees other than us) share. 'Til next time...

Driving In To The Valdez Fly-In - Part 1

This is something I've wanted to get to since I first heard about it on my vacation here in 2010. As we were driving along the Richardson Highway toward Valdez on that trip, we met a woman at one of the overlooks who told us about the Fly-In, and it sounded like a great typically Alaskan event. It turned out this year I (and a friend) had a long weekend off from work at the time of the Fly-In, so we drove to Valdez and enjoyed the event (since we didn't have a plane to fly in ourselves!). This year we've had a very late spring, with snow still falling in mid-May. So the views were extra snowy the whole way!

Since I took way too many photos on this trip, I'm going to break this into two posts. The first will be the sites along the drive, and the second will be photos from the Fly-In itself. So without further ado... our trip to the Valdez Fly-In!

Just beyond Matanuska Glacier...

The view of Mt. Drum driving east through the Copper River Basin

More of the Wrangell Mountains

This is still quite a bit of snow left for mid-May!

Remember these? There are still a few around Alaska! Not sure how current the phone book is though...

Thompson Pass... It's all downhill to Valdez from here!

Beyond Thompson Pass, you drive through Keystone Canyon, where there are two pretty neat waterfalls. The first is Bridal Veil Falls, which we found to be completely frozen still! No water was flowing (that we could see) at all. Impressive!

The other waterfall is Horsetail Falls, which still had a fair amount of snow/ice on it but was definitely flowing.

An adolescent bald eagle

At the small boat harbor, the snow piles were still taller than me! Valdez gets hundreds of inches of snowfall each winter, so this isn't an unusual amount of snow for them, but it is unusual how much is still left at this point!

These two eagles were a challenge to photograph with the lights on, but a sign helped me out. :)

We ended up staying at Robe Lake Lodge, which is on Robe Lake (I know, that's shocking!). Trust me... there's a lake there!

Such pretty views!

A video panoramic of the view. Just stunning! I can only imagine what it must look like here in the summer with everything lush and green. And listen to the birds singing away, especially toward the end. Makes it feel like spring despite so much snow remaining.

This is the lodge itself.

Downtown Valdez

I think I'd enjoy living here, actually! I would supplement my shovel with a snow blower though... as much as I enjoy shoveling snow I think this would do me in in that respect. Otherwise, bring it on!

Some migratory waterfowl. This is a Common Goldeneye.

A mixture of water fowl.

Northern Pintail

Mallards

The road to the fish hatchery (the blue buildings are the hatchery)

So regal!

Got a bit of melting left to do!

Matanuska Glacier

The Matanuska River

Livin' life on the edge... I'm told that wasn't like that a year ago!

The Matanuska River has been in the news lately because it is changing its course (as it naturally does) and is causing homes to fall into the river. Without getting into the details, I thought it was interesting to see this one that fell in last summer still sitting out there in the middle.

And upon zooming in, it's easier to see what's on the roof: "THANKS MSB" (MSB is Matanuska-Susitna Borough, who is according to some responsible for but not helping people who are losing their homes).

And on that note, we've made it to the end of the "other" photos from the Valdez Fly-In. In order to end on a happier note... let's see a prettier photo to conclude this post! Here's a preview of the next post:

'Til next time...