Page 123 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

PRINCE WILLIA M SOUND  121

Hiking the challenging trail up to the face of Worthington Glacier
} Keystone Canyon of the canyon into an alpine fingers that extend to within
Mile 12.8–Mile 15.9 on the landscape beneath the ice- 430 yards (400 m) of the road.
Richardson Highway. sculpted spires of the eastern Visitors can admire the scene
This canyon was named after reaches of the Chugach Range. from below or follow the
the Keystone State (Pennsylvania) challenging Ridge Trail up the
by Captain William Ralph } Worthington Glacier glacier’s lateral moraine and right
Abercrombie, following a Mile 28.7 on the Richardson Highway . to its face. There is an inform-
failed 1884 expe dition to sail up =  ∑ dnr.alaska.gov/parks/ ation desk and a small shop,
the Copper River to the Yukon. aspunits which also provides shelter.
Keystone Canyon contains both The Worthington Glacier, The Blueberry Lake State
the Richardson Highway, one of protected in the Worthington Recreation Site, 4 miles
Alaska’s most scenic highways Glacier State Recreation Site, (7 km) south of the glacier,
and buried stretches of the flows steeply down the icy peak makes a great stop. North of
Alaska Pipeline. of the 6,130-ft- (1,840-m-) high the campground is Thompson
East of Valdez, at Mile 13, two Girls Mountain in a series of Pass, Alaska’s snowiest spot.
great waterfalls spill down the
slopes into the slate-gray Lowe Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
River. A paved turnout provides
access to Horsetail Falls, north On March 23, 1989, the tanker
of the highway. A bit farther Exxon Valdez, under the com mand
along, the lovely Bridal Veil of Captain Joseph Hazelwood,
Falls tumble down into a deep, was forced to change course to
rainbow-flanked pool. Farther avoid an iceberg near the mouth
east, the highway climbs out of Columbia Bay. The ship struck
Bligh Reef and started leaking oil.
As much as 11 million gallons (42
million liters) of oil spilled into the
sound. Clean-up crews were slow
to respond, and although disper-
sants were eventu ally applied, the
weather was too calm for them
to be effective. Even a week later,
only a few skimmer vessels had Cleaning an oil-covered bird after the
been deployed. The oil contamin- oil spill
ated 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of
coastline, killing fish, whales, seals, sea otters, and birds. Nearly 10,000
workers were employed to count dead wildlife and clean up the
sound and sur round ing areas, often wiping the black sludge off
rocks by hand. The effort cost Exxon $1.25 billion. In 1991, the State
of Alaska and the federal government reached an out-of-court
settlement, requiring Exxon to pay $1 billion in restitution. In 1994, a
class-action suit awarded $5.2 billion in damages but Exxon appealed
Spectacular cascade of Horsetail Falls, and a much smaller settlement of $507m was granted in 2009.
Keystone Canyon

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