Cordova, Alaska

Cordova is located about 120 miles east of Anchorage Alaska, and is an exceptionally small town. It's no wonder they never repaired the road. It's even smaller than Valdez, although it feels bigger due to being spread out over more land. At the same time, since it's not tourism oriented, downtown feels much smaller than Skagway, a town with half the population.

Since 1790 when it was named by the Spanish, the population has exploded to 2,300 people.. But the real population explosion didn't start until high grade copper was discovered many miles away at Kennecott Mine. A railroad was built, and Cordova began shipping out millions of tons of copper ore until 1938. Before the copper faded Cordova became the Razor Clam Capital of the World. That industry ended for good when the 1964 earthquake caused critical areas of the sea floor to rise above the water, exposing the already over harvested clam beds. Cordova was hit again, and hard, by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Even with all the hardships of recent times today Cordova is still undoubtedly a fishing town and a proud one at that.

We had heard there was an abandoned cannery to explore, but the only one we found had been partially converted into a hotel. The largest building also had things going on inside it. I think it may become some sort of museum. The beach and surrounding areas still had a lot to offer in terms of interesting ruins.

 Between the ferry terminal and the old cannery is small area full of beached, rusted out boats. Relics from times past, some looked like they were being worked on for future use. The middle picture here is actually part of the Million Dollar Bridge, not the boats.

The Cordova Museum has  a small room jam packed full of historic relics and antiquities. It was in the museum that we learned of a distant ghost town called Katalla. Reachable only by sea or air, Katalla was the site of Alaska's first oil wells, way back in 1902! I had never heard of it.

More photogenic boat carcases can be found on the east side of town.

Getting to Cordova we took the fast ferry from Whittier. They are not kidding when they say fast ferry. That thing can go almost 50 miles an hour! Loaded full of cars and trucks the whole trip, including loading/unloading takes 3 hours for a 100 mile sea voyage. It was a bluebird day when we went and the scenery alone is worth the trip. It's also the nicest ferry i've been on. It blows away the ferries down in Washington.

Mt. Gilbert is possibly the most visible mountain in Prince William Sound. It rises some 3,000 meters out of Hariman Fjord, behind the foreground mountains.

This is my favorite island in the sound. Just two trees and a bit of grass on a rock.

Cordova approaches.

Our hotel lobby was a little crowded.

Downtown Cordova late at night in early summer.

I was surprised how non-touristy Cordova is, although that seems to be changing. The town is in a fantastic location for tourism with unlimited mountain wilderness. It's covered by incredibly lush rainforest that i haven't seen anywhere else to such a degree, except maybe Olympic National Park. That's because it rains for 125 days. After that it snows 127 inches. But, being more oriented to the fishing industry we ran into a few minor problems.

The town does not have a good selection of hotels to stay in. Our hotel was rather poor but even the "good" ones were lacking, so don't expect a luxury lodge when you go. Additionally, a large number of stores and restaurants close on the weekend. If you aren't prepared, finding food when you want it can be challenging.

Cordova has the oldest working ski lift in North America. I guess that means there is no money to upgrade it, but still, it's pretty awesome to have a ski lift in such a tiny town. It's reachable in about a 3 minute drive from downtown. We walked up the slopes a bit that morning for a nice view of the surroundings.

The morning of our first full day the clouds were doing crazy things on the mountains. These were pouring over the tops at a high speed all morning.

With that said, i had a great time in Cordova. We did find some exceptionally good Mexican food in a bus shack. All the people we met were friendly and helpful.  The mountain scenery is gorgeous, and there is a lot of history to find in the area. Outlying lands offer unlimited hiking and and adventure. We were very busy for the 3 days we were in town, and it seemed like we just scratched the surface.

This is another museum but it was closed on the weekend.

Wooded neighborhoods watch over the harbor.

As ice melts in the Arctic, more Polar Bears will be forced on land to forage for food, like this one, emerging from the water after a long swim.

A high and rotten bridge.

After dinner one night Maree started laughing when i was making fun of this guys rusted out truckbed. I thought i was funny but she was laughing at a Raven. It had taken a net float out of a storage box and carried it up to the top of a rusty shack. Once on the apex it looked like it tried to throw it off the top but dropped it. It was awkward looking and very strange behavior. But the bird did it again, and again, until i was astonished to realize the bird was playing with a found toy.

Unfortunately by the time i got my camera ready the game had it's final run. The float bounced the wrong way, as pictured below, and fell into a pile of rubble and bushes where the Raven couldn't get at it. It wasn't to sad about the turn of events though. Withing seconds, another Raven who had been watching from a distance, came over and partnered with the game player. Then went back to that storage box (on the side of an empty boat trailer) and started rummaging through it together so see what other treasure they could find in there.

This was a great piece of property for sale above Eyak Lake. The edge of this lot was literally the boundary of the National Forest. From here it was a short walk to a hanging valley full of meadows and waterfalls. On the other hand you can expect snow in your yard until after Memorial Day.

An easy to miss falls on the side of Eyak Lake.