Valdez sits at the head of a fjord in Prince William Sound, shut in by mountains so steep and so high that the town gets some of the heaviest snowfall in Alaska. Sit on the harbour wall and glaciers hang on the peaks all around, with fishing boats, sea otters and the odd bald eagle in front of you. It is a small town of under four thousand people, but it has real weight, since it is the southern end of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, where the oil pumped from the North Slope is loaded onto tankers.
The history here is dramatic. In 1964 the Good Friday earthquake, one of the strongest ever recorded, shook the harbour so violently that a section of waterfront slid into the sea and a tsunami killed more than thirty people. The old town was so damaged that it was rebuilt a few kilometres away on firmer ground, and you can still see the original site. In 1989 the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in the Sound, spilling a huge amount of oil, an event that changed the way the world thought about tanker traffic.
The road out is the Richardson Highway, which began life as a trail for gold seekers and soldiers and became the first road in Alaska. It runs through Keystone Canyon, where Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetail Falls drop beside the asphalt, then climbs to Thompson Pass at about 2,678 feet, among the snowiest places in the state. Beside it, the Worthington Glacier shows its blue-white tongue, a short walk from the car park. Weather can change in minutes, with fog, rain and snow even in summer, so carry full waterproofs.
The road is generally good, with long climbs, rolling bends and a sense of scale that makes distances feel greater than they are. Frost heaves are a hazard, since the ground freezes and buckles the asphalt in places, so keep an eye ahead for dips.
There is fuel in Valdez, and it is wise to fill up, since the next real supplies are far up the highway near Glennallen. Seafood here is the thing: halibut, salmon and crab are the staples, and the fishing charters are a local obsession. Summer is the season, with very long days from June into July, while winter closes much of the town in snow.