Since this was our second trip to Alaska, we wanted to do something a little different on this trip.  One of the changes we made was adding Copper River to our land tour which took us deeper into Alaska.  We stayed at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge near the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the United States.  Copper River is home to Copper River red salmon.

We took a largely unpaved road to the lodge – it was about a nine hour trip, including a stop for lunch.  You might think this was an awful trip – a bus on an unpaved road for that long – but there were many opportunities to see wildlife, especially caribou and moose.  Our driver was very good at spotting animals and would stop so we could watch them and/or take pictures of them from the bus.  It was actually a very enjoyable trip.  So while we didn’t see much wildlife in Denali, this day made up for it.  For safety reasons, we could not get out of the bus when we encountered wildlife so my pictures aren’t crystal clear but you will certainly get a sense of what we saw – and the views were actually pretty good!

The first picture below was taken out of the front window of our bus and will give you an appreciation for the road we traveled.  The next three pictures are some of the views from the bus.  These are followed by pictures of moose we saw during the ride.  Moose are members of the deer family.  Males can weight up to 1,500 pounds and females can weigh almost 800 pounds.

We also saw a lot of caribou.  Caribou are also members of the deer family and are sometimes called reindeer.  Both the males and females can have antlers.  Males weigh about 375 pounds and females about 200 pounds.

We stopped at the MacLaren Summit for lunch.  At 4,086 feet, it is the second highest highway pass in Alaska.  We had great views of an ice fall, the MacLaren Glacier, the MacLaren River and several mountains.  There were paved roads in this area as well as some that were not paved.  There was a lady on her ATV with her dog at the lodge where we had lunch.  I thought the picture speaks to the independent nature of Alaskans.

We reached the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge around dinner.  These are some pictures from a lounge and a patio at the lodge.  There were beautiful views of the mountains the tallest of which was Mt. Drum, just over 12,000 feet.  There was also a fish wheel on the grounds – this is put in the water and anchored to shore with guy wires.  The current turns it, trapping salmon and moving them through a shoot to a box near the shore. These can only be used by Alaskans and require a special permit.  The Alaska pipeline also runs through this area and a picture of the pipe carrying oil is pictured here.

We had booked an excursion to Prince William Sound for the next day.  We drove by bus to Valdez where we caught a small excursion boat for the day.  It was a beautiful drive to Valdez.  Once aboard, one of the first things we saw was the Alaskan Pipeline and Terminal.  The pipeline runs 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.  At the time of our trip (2012), an average of 52 tankers docked at Valdez every month and shipped oil to American ports.

Wildlife was abundant.  We saw several sea otters (first picture).  They eat approximately 25% of their weight daily.  When not eating, they rest, floating on their backs.  We also saw sea lions.  They generally eat at night and enjoy sunning themselves on rocks during the day.  Sea lions are massive – females weigh up to 650 pounds and males can weigh up to 1,200 pounds.

We also saw eagles.  In the early part of the trip, they were perched in trees.  Later, we saw several in flight.  I started snapping pictures – hoping for the best – and was pleased to get some of the shots I did.

We also saw whales and dolphins.  They performed right beside our boat.  I did get some pictures of the whales, but the dolphins were too fast and I was unable to get pictures of them.  Whales eat approximately one ton of food per day.  They average 45 feet in length and weigh 35 to 40 tons.  They migrate 6,000 miles to reach their summer feeding grounds in Alaska.  They put on quite the show for us!

While the whales and dolphins were very entertaining, the scenery was also beautiful.  We slowly approached the Columbia Glacier.  As we did, there was more and more ice in the water.  Columbia Glacier is a tidewater glacier, meaning it has periods of advancing and retreating.  It began retreating in 1978 and by 2002, had retreated 7 1/2 miles.  There is another 18 miles to go before it would reach the shore.

At the end of an exciting day, it was time to return to our hotel.  We were once again treated to incredible beauty as we drove through the Thompson Pass.  Thompson Pass is at an elevation of about 2,800 feet and is a gap in the Chugach Mountains.  It is the snowiest area in Alaska, averaging 551 inches of snow per year.  I would highly recommend a trip to Prince William Sound – it was one of the highlights of our trip to Alaska.