Jerry and Dee's "Ramblings": McCarthy Road

View of the Matanuska Glacier from the Glenn Highway

We left Palmer heading to Valdez. But we got sidetracked a few times.

The drive across the Glenn Highway was beautiful.

We boondocked at a convenient roadside pull-off near Glennallen. The next day we turned south on the Richardson Highway. Soon we stopped at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve Visitor Center. We had never heard of it, but we were amazed at what we saw and learned from the Rangers. Nine of the sixteen tallest peaks in North America are in the ark. It is the largest National Park in the country with over 12 million acres. Most of the park is very remote and inaccessible to mere mortals. We learned about the Edgerton Highway and McCarthy Road that leads deep into the park, so off we went. We camped at the Kenny Lake Trading Post and took off from there in the Jeep. Here are photos from that 12 hour drive.

The first 33 miles were on the paved Edgerton Highway, to the town of Chitina.

We passed a Yak farm, animals ideally suited to the Alaskan climate. We saw very few in the state.

Two Mile Lake

Liberty Falls and Creek and Us. Jaxon took the shot!

Welcome to Chitina, pop. 105.

Used car lot, all in mint condition…..

And, they have a WiFi hotspot!

And a hotel….

The Copper River runs near Chitina. It is known as the dip-netting capital of Alaska. Each year during the salmon runs, Alaskans come to this spot to dip salmon from the waters. You must be an Alaskan to partake in this form of sustenance fishing. There are also many fish wheels set up in the river to scoop the fish out of the water.

The McCarthy Road starts at Chitina. This 59 mile gravel road ends at the Kennicott River. Rental car contracts prohibit use on this road. It was a long, but fun drive with some neat things to see along the way. here are some photos Dee took along the way…

This moose was chowing down in a pond right next to the road. We watched him for 10 minutes.

Kuskulana River Bridge. Built in 1910 as a railroad bridge, it is 525 feet long and 238 feet above the river.

The Kennicott Glacier at the end of the McCarthy Road

From here you walk across a bridge and up a gravel road for 1/2 of a mile to the “town” of McCarthy, pop. 51. This is remote, with no electric, water or sewer systems.

We took a van ride about 5 miles to the old Kennicutt Mine site. I took a tour of the site while Dee walked Jaxon all around and saw most of the same things.

Most of the buildings are now owned by the Park Service and many are in excellent shape.

The mine closed in 1938.

It was almost 6pm when we walked back across the bridge to the Jeep. And we still had that long gravel road to travel. But we made it just fine. It was another great day in Alaska.