Valdez

Valdez sits at the head of a long fjord in Prince William Sound, surrounded by the Chugach Mountains. The town is the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which carries oil 1,300 kilometres from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic coast. The pipeline terminal is visible from the harbour. Valdez was completely destroyed by the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and tsunami, and the current town was rebuilt on higher ground four kilometres from the original site. The Valdez Museum covers both the earthquake and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, which happened in Prince William Sound. Columbia Glacier, one of the fastest-moving tidewater glaciers in the world, is accessible by boat from the harbour. Kayaking among the icebergs calved from the glacier is a popular excursion. Worthington Glacier, about 45 minutes east on the Richardson Highway, is reachable by road and you can walk right up to the ice face. The scenery is dramatic in every direction.