Alaska - The Last Frontier

 Many of you may have watched the TV show "Edge of Alaska" on the Discovery channel set in an remote area where living off grid was the way of life. Well we did and after watching the show we always said it would be neat to visit the little town of McCarthy, Alaska and explore the nearby Kennicott Mine and ghost town. So, we left pavement behind and drove the 62 mile remote stretch of the gravel McCarthy road to the end where the McCarthy footbridge awaits crossing the Kennecott River into town.  This road not only leads to McCarthy/Kennicott it is the only road that travels inside the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the United States, consisting of 13.2 million acres of scenic wilderness. We saw only a small portion of the Park.

Liberty Falls on the road to McCarthy

We saw many eagles in the area

This road originated in 1909 as a railway to support the Kennicott Copper Mines. When mining ended in 1938 the track was not needed and most of the rails were taken for scrap iron. As we drove the road we could see remnants of the railroad ties peaking out of the road bed and we have heard an occasional spike can show up but we didn't spot any.

Along our way we cross the Kuskulana Bridge (Mile 17). This bridge was a narrow, single-lane which was the former railroad bridge from 1910. As we crossed it, we looked down some 250 feet to see the canyon walls and the Kuskulana River. Built in the winter of 1910 at -50 degrees F, this 545 foot long steel bridge was pushed to be completed in only two months of construction.

Kuskuland Bridge

What made us stop in our 'tracks' was the old Gilahina Trestle at mile 29. The trestle was build after the completion of the Kuskulana bridge in January of 1911 with winter temperatures around -65 degrees F they used wood instead of steel because of problems found during the Kuskulana bridge of working steel in the extreme cold.  This curved wood trestle is 90 feet tall and 880 feet long and was completed in just eight days and a number of trestle sections are still standing after 115 years.  It was getting late in the day and we would not make it to the McCarthy footbridge until late so we elected to camp near the trestle. We were able to drive under a section of the trestle and found a great camping spot by the Gilahina River with the trestle view out our windows.   

Gilahina Trestle over Gilahina River

Gilahina Trestle

At the roads end... we cross the footbridge and grabbed a shuttle into town. It did not take long to walk through the entire town of McCarthy. It is fun to see the small town charm of history mixed with refurbished attractions like the hotel and bar.  From there we board our shuttle once again to the  Kennicott Mill / Mine town and Tour. 

McCarthy footbridge from parking area

Original old buildings of McCarthy

Refurbished Hotel. You can book a stay. 

Established in 1903 as a bustling copper mining camp but the ore ran out and the copper prices dropped, and by 1938 Kennicott was a ghost town. We were able to tour the inside of many of the existing buildings including the iconic red mill building and learn about how the mill worked. Kennicott is now a National Historic Landmark District and part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  This park contains nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the US (Mount St. Elias is #2), a third of the park is ice covered with the largest glacier and the longest tidewater (touches the ocean) glacier. Mt. Wrangell is the largest active volcano in North America. 

Kennicott Mill and other structures in town

Beyond the building you can see the Root glacier (under the dirt) which is covered with ground up rock powder call 'moraine' or 'till'. We saw old photos of the mine that showed the glacier taller than the buildings but it has melted back over the years but under the loose moraine/till dirt cover, there is still ice that is over a thousand feet deep.

Kennicott Mill - The tour started at the top and went down many flights of stairs and ladders until we reached the bottom.  Every level has a purpose during the milling process and used gravity for the ease of moving rock down through the mill.

As we make our way back to paved roads we have our sights on the coast.  Valdez to be exact.  But before we reach our destination we are amazed at the amount of waterfalls through the Keystone Canyon and glaciers within the mountain tops along the way. 

Just about a month ago we first experienced a couple of glaciers in Glacier NP and also the glacier in the Banff Icefields. Little did we know that those were just the beginning to our glacier experience. As we drive through Alaska we are granted with seeing a glacier and sometimes multiple glaciers within that day's travel. 

Worthington Glacier

Bridal Veil Falls - 600 ft waterfall - Tallest roadside
waterfall in the Alaska

Horsetail Falls - 300 ft cliff falls

Valdez was established in the late 1890's as a port of entry for gold seekers bound for the Klondike goldfields. Modern day Valdez is known for being the end port for the 800-mile-long oil pipeline that begins at Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean.  As we arrived into town there was some clouds but we are still in awe of the surroundings mountains and the boat harbor setting. Smelling the salt water breeze and feeling the crisp snow capped- mountain wind we know we are at the coast. We are now at sea level elevation.

It was recommended to us to take a wildlife/ocean glacier boat cruise if possible. So in celebration of the 4th of July we signed up with Lu-Lu Belle Cruises and had a fun and relaxing time where we spent most of the day on the water (yes we took our Dramamine just in case).  Our experience included seeing Puffins, Humpback whales, Columbia Glacier, ice bergs, sea lions, sea otters and beautiful coastal mountains and coves. Two thumbs up on the cruise.

The LuLu Belle - our vessel for the day

Sea Lions

The cutest sea otters

Humpback Whale Tail

Humpback

A Humpback whales feeding on a school of small fish.

West arm of the Columbia Glacier

Iceberg Straight Ahead Captain ! 

After 27 days on the road, 8 days in Alaska and only 500 Alaskan miles we have only touched a small part of the Alaskan scenery and cultural. So join us next time for more play time in Alaska.

We will leave you with the Alaska term:  Sourdough

We noticed that the word sourdough is used a lot on business names, information boards and in discussions, etc.  It  is a term for someone who has lived in Alaska long enough to know how to survive its harsh winters and this term originates from the Klondike Gold Rush era.  In talking with Alaskans not everyone in Alaska is a 'sourdough' and there's no official documentation but you definitely have to earn the title sourdough.