Valdez To Anchorage

Our original plan had been to take the car ferry to Whittier, but in April it only runs once a week. So we retraced our route toward Glennallen—the same road we had battled through in a blizzard just a week earlier. But the locals told us, the road from Valdez to Anchorage isn’t just a drive—it feels like slipping into a living postcard that refuses to sit still.

We left Valdez under blue skies, but within minutes the road began to climb, carving its way into the dramatic spine of the Chugach Mountains. At Thompson Pass, the landscape opened into a vast, windswept expanse. Further along, Worthington Glacier came into view, though heavy snowfall and lingering storm conditions the week prior had closed off access. As we joined the Richardson Highway and later the Glenn Highway, the scenery softened—from stark, icy drama to rolling valleys and braided rivers. The Matanuska River wound alongside us, its silty, glacial water glowing an otherworldly gray-blue.

By the time Anchorage appeared, framed by distant peaks, we knew we’d made the right choice. In the end, we were glad we took the road instead of the ferry.