Day Seventeen - Cantwell, AK

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Brunch day! Back to McKinley Creekside Cafe for a late morning feast. Again, the portions were plentiful and delicious. All of us were curious about the hundreds and hundreds of acres of dead trees in what should have been a beautiful green forest. They hadn't been burned by forest fires past. We asked our server if he happened to know the cause. He did. He said the spruce beetle began killing off trees in Seward and has been making its way north. A little research shows the spruce beetle is native to Alaska and outbreaks are a regular occurrence. Air temperatures and snow levels affect the life cycle of the beetle. The current outbreak is located in south-central Alaska (southern Denali National Park, Cantwell, Carlo Creek and McKinley Village).

Our bellies full, we went back to the campground and discussed what to do next. When we were planning our trip and tossing out ideas of what looked interesting at each stopping point, Dave had mentioned Igloo City. We decided to go check it out. Teri wasn't particularly interested and opted to enjoy a day off from going and doing.

It was a short drive up the highway and the only way you would miss it would be if you were asleep. When we arrived and squeezed between the large concrete barriers at one of the entrances to the "parking lot" there was one other car there, but they left shortly after our arrival. Igloo City consisted of a large domed structure and a smaller pitched roofed outbuilding. The smaller building had a broken sign attached at a right angle above the door that read, "RV Park, Grocery, Showers, Laundry, Gas." In front of the convenience store was what looked to be where gas pumps once (or would have) stood. None of us did much exploring around the smaller building. Our curiosity was focused on the would-be hotel. It stood three (maybe four?) stories high with dormer windows between approximately eight and fifteen feet apart. Some in pairs, others in sets of three, single dormers inserted here and there. There were two entrances opposite each other that were barricaded with the same large concrete blocks. You could see the inner layers of the structure where the outer plaster had fallen away. It was a wood framed building with a spray foam insulation layer enclosed in a plaster shell. Most of the windows had been boarded up from the inside and the glass had all been broken. Some of the window frames hung awkwardly from their hinges. the dome was covered in graffiti large and small. Someone had even made it up to the second floor to make their presence known. Dave and I both wanted to go inside and take a look around. I handed Charlie off to Mike and scooted past the barrier into the darkness within. Mike put Charlie in the truck and joined us. It was at least 15 degrees cooler inside. The floor was smooth concrete littered with shattered glass and what looked like broken pieces of sheetrock. Enough light shone through the one or two uncovered windows and the gaps in the doorways to allow us to see the framing of the interior. There were stairways leading to the second and third floors that had been boarded off. Individual rooms hand doorways had been framed in, but nothing was completed beyond that. Joe, the owner of the RV park said someone had bought the property and was going to try to make the dream a reality.

After an hour or so of poking around the abandoned would-be hotel we drove back to camp to relax. I used my time to try getting caught up on the blog. The WiFi here keeps disconnecting which makes it difficult and frustrating. lately I've been giving up and going to bed early (11:00). I sure hope our next stop has more reliable WiFi.

Elemental research on Igloo City brought up the following: It was the dream of an Alaska Railroad worker in the early 1970's. He wanted to build a unique hotel and resort. He built the igloo himself using reclaimed lumber from old railroad camps. He also ran the gas station on the property but was hurt in a fall and never realized his vision. He sold it to owner number two sometime in the 1990s. Number two wanted to continue the project and kept the gas station open. There's no electricity on the property, everything was powered by a generator. Fuel prices increased to the point he was barely breaking even and the gas station closed in 2010. In the late '90s or early 2000s he got an estimate of the cost to fix up the interior, addressing stabilization issues and fire code violations. The estimate was more than he could afford, even doing it little by little. Owners number three are a woman and her uncle. They are currently leasing the property with intent to purchase it. They plan to turn it into a whiskey distillery, starting with the convenience store. The uncle is an experienced distiller of whiskies, bourbons and brandies, using prohibition-era family recipes. While the booze is being made and aged, they will work on the interior of the igloo. I hope they're able to realize their dream. It would be nice to see the unique building finally in operation, even if it's not what the builder had envisioned.

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