Escapees Gold Rush Hangout

Escapees Gold Rush Hangout is coming to Eagle's Rest RV Park in Valdez, AK!

Explore the heart of Prince William Sound

Located on Prince William Sound and surrounded by some of the world’s tallest coastal mountains, the Alaskan port town of Valdez is an outdoor paradise for hikers and anglers. You’ll get to know the area well during the seven-night Gold Rush Hangout, hosted by Lifetime Members Laura and Rob Kernodle SKP# 131897.

On a six-hour guided Columbia Glacier Cruise, you’ll sail the Prince William Sound visiting the Columbia Glacier, whose magnificent aqua, deep indigo and frigid white ice sparkles in the bright northern sun. You’ll view history in the making as the glacier retreats back into the Chugach Mountains, and have the chance to see some of the abundant wildlife species that call the Sound home.

You’ll have a blast celebrating Gold Rush Days like a local in this annual five-day festival honoring the past, present, and future of Valdez. Enjoy the parade, watch the Crooked Creek Pioneer Pastimes demonstration, feast on a pancake breakfast, join the bail and jail warrants, strut your stuff in the Wine Walk, run or walk the Gold Rush 5K, shop the open-air marketplace, and more.

During a visit to the Solomon Gulch Hatchery, you’ll learn about the life cycle of salmon and the importance of the fishing industry to the area. Here, hatchery staff will demonstrate the detailed process of how salmon are spawned and raised throughout the year.

On a guided walking tour of Old Town, the original Valdez townsite located about four miles outside of present-day Valdez, you’ll discover how the entire city was relocated after the devastating magnitude 9.2 earthquake of 1964. Today, Old Town has been preserved as a historic memorial to the residents lost in the disaster and a testament to Alaskan resilience.

Valdez offers so many exciting outdoor activities that it’s impossible to include them all in one week. So instead, we’ll have a day for you to Choose Your Own Adventure! Select from a menu of suggested activities–ranging from professionally-outfitted expeditions and tours to free hikes–that we’ll provide to you before the Hangout.

And on the last night of the Hangout, you’ll laugh and cry your way through That’s Valdez, an outdoor dinner theater experience that includes a four-course farm-to-table dinner and a colorful vaudeville-like show portraying the many booms and busts of Valdez’s history.

All of these activities, as well as a visit to a museum of Native Alaskan art and artifacts, scenic hikes, viewing dramatic Worthington Glacier, a pizza dinner and “pub-luck” wine and beer tasting, trivia games, and more await you during the Gold Rush Hangout!