Kennicott

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We left Valdez made a short stop at the information center. It was open this time, and they have explanations on the process of fish raising at the hatchery. Now we understand what we saw yesterday. They also had some animal skins and the kids wore bear skins.

We made the long drive to Chitina, with an emergency gas stop along the way at a tiny gas station with one pump in the middle of nowhere. We went on our way uneventfully and got to the Chitina airstrip, and within a few minutes our plane came for us, a tiny one propeller plane with just enough room for the four of us and the pilot. Tamar got to be the copilot, and Ethan will co-fly the plane back.

That was a fun flight! A bit bumpy, but our pilot flew us around, showing us the scenery and pointing out the interesting things. He showed us the large mountains in the area (Mt. Wrangell and Mt. Blackburn), the glaciers, including Root glacier where we'll go climbing tomorrow, and the Kennicott mines from above.

We landed safely at McCarthy and a shuttle brought us to Kennicott, to our room.

The hotel, the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, is very nice, and the views are stunning! We sat out on the balcony in rocking chairs and had a snack while we waited for our tour of the mines.

The tour was very informative and interesting. Our guide showed us the workers' lodges, the upper management homes and facilities, the copper mill and how it worked, and the power plant and boilers. The copper mines and the mill were active from 1911 to 1938, and made a huge profit while they worked. But the copper ran out and the Great War was over, so prices went down and the mine closed.

Still, some people still live here to cater for the tourists, mostly in Summer. Between 15 and 20 people live here and in McCarthy all year round.

We had a very nice dinner of salad, salmon and risotto at the lodge. Then, at the end of the meal the manager of the place introduced the chef to us and made a few announcements (“Those who are booked for the 10 o'clock tour, your tour will leave at 9:30. Don't be late!”). There was a slideshow afterwards by the St. Elias Mountain Guides company.

Thus ended our day. Take a peek:

Tomorrow we're off ice climbing on Root Glacier!

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