To day we spent much of the day driving, what appears to me to be, one of the iconic sections of the Alaskan Highway; namely the Glenn Highway through the valley of Matanuska River and past the Matanuska glacier to the junction with the Richardson Highway. We also passed the Musk Ox farm - which we did not visit this time.

Much of the Glen highway is narrow and winding as it follows the Matanuska River. The demands of driving this road made it difficult to admire the splendid views of the river and the Chugach Mountains to the south. Fortunately there are many scenic turnouts and some patches of newer wider and straighter road that make viewing possible.

There can be no doubt that the high point of this section of road is the Matanuska Glacier. The huge white mass of the glacier can be seen for miles, and it is only when one gets closer that the true scale of it can be seen as much of the lower part of the glacier is covered in rock rubble and looks black. But none the less it is still ice, just it's covered by rock and rubble.

The previous time when Nina, Richard and I came to Alaska we camped near the foot of this glacier and went for a walk over a small part of its lower reaches.

Just south of the Matanuska Glacier there is a rock peak that from some vantage points along the road seems to stand directly at the end of the road. This is an image I have seen in many publications about the Alaska Highway.

At the junction with the Richardson Highway we turned south towards Valdez, where we are headed tomorrow. We stopped at Squirrel Creek campground, but unfortunately it is closed so we are parked outside on the gravel verge. So much for summer being close. I guess that's only true near Anchorage.