Leaving Valdez and driving to Palmer on the Glen Highway

Leaving Valdez and driving to Palmer on the Glen Highway

The drive out of Valdez was even better than the drive in. The waterfalls and Thompson pass are breathtaking. The trip up over Thompson Pass showed us the largeness of the mountains and the smallness of ourselves. The road coming out of Valdez was just as bad as the trip down until we reached the Glen Highway. The Glen Highway is a good road so we could enjoy the ride over the Chugach Mountains. The road was narrow in spots and the vertical drop was awesome looking down into the Matanuska River. We got our first look at the Matanuska Glacier and the other Glaciers that flowed down from the Chugach Mountains. It is so large and the views are huge. The road gets narrow with more turns as you reach the west side getting closer to Palmer.  Beautiful drive.

As we approached Palmer, there was a sign clearly showing where to turn to arrive at Mountain View campground.  By the end of a drive, it is less stressful to have easily read signs. We had made plans to spend a week here so as to get off the road for the fourth of July weekend. Our experience has always been if you don’t make a plan for the holiday, you could be out of luck. The campground is very easy to get in and out, with magnificent views next to the mountains.  Our home for a week is on the grass.  Very comfortable.  Our neighbors are doing the same; looking for a few days off the road during the holiday.

Visiting with our neighbors is always interesting as we all share great information. This day we received information regarding our next destination going south to Seward and Homer.  We shared our experience and information about Valdez.

Our first outing, after cruising around town on shopping at Fred Meyer, was to climb the Bodenburg Butte. We had read about it but were unsure where to go. We drove around the indicated area from the brochure and found a spot that allowed parking.  We climbed the first half of the trail nearly straight up.  It is a well-worn trail with a mixture of loose dirt, rocks, and gravel.  This trail is moderate to strenuous.  The other half of the trail has many large boulders to navigate over and around.  We made it to the top with the reward of a huge view of the Matanuska Glacier and the river valley. The wind was growing colder so we figured we would take a bit of an easier path down.  We saw other people coming up and down a trail off to one side.  We figured it looked interesting and it would surly take us back to starting point. The walk down was through the wooded side with an improved and easy to navigate the trail. There were steps over the steep parts and it was a beautiful walk.  As we walked we said to each other it seemed as though this was the opposite direction from where we started. Approaching the gate, we realized we were not where we belonged and had no idea where to go. We looked at each other and said we’re in trouble. We stood by the gate studying the sign map thinking the next step was to call a cab out of Palmer.  Fortunately, two women and a young boy came down the path.  We said to them “Help, we are lost”.  Never thought those words would be said.   They told us about the Butte and said it would be easier to climb back over the mountain than the hike to our vehicle.  We had managed to end up on the opposite side of the Bodenburg Butte where we had parked.  It was 5 or more miles to walk the roads to the parking lot.  I guess our faces said it all.  One of the women volunteered to take us back to the parking lot. Without any hesitation we accepted, and she drove us back to the car.  After driving and turning several times around the mountains, we arrived at the parking lot.  Alaskans are friendly and seem to understand living here means you better help each other out. We thanked her several times for the ride.

Oh, did we tell you about shopping and coming out of Fred Meyer and finding a big puddle around the truck. We looked things over figuring out it was our leak.  Brad went back to the store and bought some bottled water filling the radiator.  We began to think about what we should do.  We found a Ford Dealer in Wasilla, 10 miles away, and decided to go there for the repair work.  We didn’t get very far as the engine was overheating. We called Good Sam Towing for help to get the truck to the Dealer. The radiator had split with water flowing out. We always get good service as the dealer had a replacement radiator.  We left the truck for them to service.  We also were able to obtain a rental vehicle.  This was good.  As the truck was being winched onto the flatbed truck, we noticed a small fuel leak and put that on our repair list. The dealership installed the radiator.   We also added an oil change and replacing the fuel filters.  In the process of replacing the fuel filters, the master diesel technician noticed some metal flicks in the tank and got real serious about the problem. We were returning from Anchorage and got the call. We drove to the Dealership to have a look to see what they were talking about.  It did not make sense since our truck had been serviced before we left Florida.  However, we thought maybe we had picked up some bad diesel along the way.  Further investigation revealed the fuel filters had done their job and no metal was seen in the filter. The fuel tank would need to be cleaned. The cost to replace the fuel system parts would have been a serious setback.  We are confident we have dodged a bullet.  Since we have a rental car, we were able to set off to see what we could see not confining us for the holiday weekend.