McCarthy, AK

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Saturday July 28, 2007 We got an early start on the McCarty Rd. We didn’t expect much traffic, but since it is a one lane road with no guard rails, we wanted to get going. The road is billed as part of the “adventure” of going to Kennecott/McCarthy. To us it seemed more of an endurance test! The road is 59 miles long and it took us 5 hours to get to the McCarthy footbridge (can’t drive your car across Kennecott River; have to take shuttle 5 miles to Kennecott. McCarthy is about ½ mile from bridge.), but we did it with no mishaps, even if 17miles/hr was our top speed. The scenery is ok, but when you go that slowly it doesn’t keep your interest. One car stopped us on the road; the driver saw our Virginia plates and told us he was from Newport News. He was visiting his daughter who lives In Anchorage.
After we got settled at a camping site, We took the shuttle to Kennecott. I was surprised how many people were there; lots of Europeans esp. from the Netherlands. It appears this is one of the hot out of the way places to go. I guess it’s more manageable and less expensive than the North Slope. A lot of visitors fly in from Chitina (guess they have an airstrip too). There are lodges and B&B’s to stay in the area.
The Kennecott mill town is located in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. W-St.E is the country’s largest national park. It’s larger than New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island combined and 3 times larger than Yellowstone. Something like 10 of the 16 highest peaks in North America are located there and so are the greatest concentration of glaciers.
Many of the buildings in town are privately owned. The organization that owned Kennecott before it became a np had subdivided much of the land and buildings and sold it off.
We joined a ranger led walk and heard how global warming is damaging Alaska. She even went so far to say that polar bears were drowning because the polar ice cap is melting. I have to say, she was the first one we’ve heard from the park service that really talked in extremes. I took into account the area we were in (residents who live in this remote place have no electricity or running water).
Our guided tour of the mill started in the late afternoon. A young woman was our guide and this was the second year she had worked at Kennecott. She was knowledgeable about the town and gave details about the buildings as we walked to the mill. The mill was where the ore was sent from the mines to be graded, crushed and sacked and then loaded on the train for Cordova. The town is in various stages of disrepair and restoration. The Park Service is restoring buildings slowly. We didn’t realize that the tour was actually going into the mill (it looks pretty dilapidated from the outside). The mill is the tallest wooden structure in the U. S. - 14 stories. The open walls, plank floors with occasion holes and narrow backless stairs make it interesting if you don’t like heights ( like me)! Frank, however, was in heaven! All the old equipment, construction and processing details really got him excited. The tour guide knew a lot about the processing of the ore and the two of them had a great time going into all the details about what went on at the mill from 1911 to 1938. Much of the equipment is still in place (how were they going to get it out of these mountains?) and Frank couldn’t believe it.
Needless to say that 2.5 hour tour made the 5 hour road trip worth it for Frank.
I happened to look out the window around 9:15 pm and saw a beautiful double rainbow over the mountain. What a blessing! Got some nice photos.

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Photos

Tressel Bridge on McCarhy Rd.
Not so long ago this bridge didn't have guard rails and planks were missing. Today it's not as exciting.