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We left Valdez on Friday, August 24 with plans to spend the night at Kenny Lake Mercantile and RV Park. The drive east and north from Valdez is really steep, climbing from sea level to 2,674 feet in a short distance. But, Bubba made it without a hitch. When we arrived at Kenny Lake, we found that they were overbooked and there were no sites with hookups. We opted for a dry site and surprisingly, it was one of the best of the trip. We were tucked into a grove of trees offering privacy and a fire pit and, even though we had the chance to move to a site with water and electricity on our second night, we opted to stay where we were.

Saturday morning, we drove to Chitina (pronounced CHIT-nuh) where we boarded a bush plane for our flight to the old town of McCarthy, deep within the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. There is a road that goes to McCarthy but it includes a grueling 60 miles, one way, of dirt road built atop an old railroad bed, guaranteeing at least one flat tire per trip as spikes still work their way to the top of the roadbed. The estimated drive time for that 60 miles is 3 hours. So, we opted to fly which would not only be quicker and easier but would provide us with a better view of America’s largest and newest national park. Established in 1980, the park spans 13.2 million acres, larger than the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined! It is home to 9 of the 16 tallest peaks in North America, including Mt. Logan which, at 19,580 feet, is second only to McKinley. Five and one-half million acres of the park are glaciated, leaving the remaining 7.7 million acres to towering peaks, expansive braided rivers, spectacular sparkling lakes and lots of terrain for the park’s large wildlife population.

We had a wonderful flight with Wrangell Mountain Air. Our pilot, Bill, shared a lot about the park and the landscape below us during our flight and the day was glorious with bright sunshine and clear skies. Our only disappointment was that we didn’t see any wildlife.

McCarthy is a tiny hamlet, trying to survive on the national park traffic. There are a couple of hotels, a restaurant, a saloon, a liquor store, a mercantile and a couple of outfitter/guide businesses. We noticed that electricity is provided to McCarthy businesses and residents by a central generator. There is, surprisingly, a pay phone. There is a shuttle van from McCarthy to Kennecott, a distance of 4½ miles, because automobiles cannot get across the Kennicott River. After roaming around McCarthy for a while, we hopped the shuttle to Kennecott.

To explain McCarthy’s existence, we have to start with Kennecott. The Kennicott Glacier (no, I didn’t misspell it) was named for a mentor of the geologist who discovered it. In 1900, miners ‘Tarantula Jack’ Smith and Clarence Warner went searching for copper in this area. What they found were some of the richest copper deposits ever uncovered. In the lower 48, mines were digging up ore that contained 2% copper. Here, the veins would yield as much as 70% copper. Steven Birch, a young mining engineer, purchased the existing stakes from the two original miners. He secured financial backing from the famed Morgans and Guggenheims and dubbed the company the Alaska Syndicate. In 1915, they changed the name to Kennecott Copper Corporation. The company was named after the Kennicott Glacier. However, a clerk misspelled the name Kennecott, with an "e", resulting in spelling debates that continue today.

The investors spent $23 million to build a railroad – 196 miles of track through the wilderness – that was completed in 1911. They also built the town of Kennecott, a sprawling red complex that included offices, crushing mills, bunkhouses for the workers, company stores, a rec hall, wooden tennis courts, a hospital, and a school – all perched on a mountainside above the Kennicott Glacier. From 1911 to 1938, the mines operated around the clock, producing 591,000 tons of copper and reporting a net profit of more than $100 million. Kennecott was a model town with a state of the art hospital. In fact, it had the first x-ray machine in Alaska.

Kennecott was a company town – self-contained and serious. McCarthy, on the other hand, was created in the early 1900s for miners as a place of "wine, women and song". It had several saloons, restaurants and a red-light district.

By 1938, most of the rich ore in the Kennecott mines had been exhausted and, in November of that year, the mine closed permanently. Without the mines, McCarthy became a ghost town, too. Interestingly, in the 60s, a group of dentists from Anchorage bought the surface rights to the land around Kennecott with the intent to re-mine the tailings but they were unsuccessful. Kennecott then sold some of the land to individuals but retained the mineral rights. In 1998, the National Park Service purchased the mill, power plant and many of the buildings from private owners as the first step in restoring them. They have been moving ahead with the project since then although some of their work involves what they call "arrested decay", i.e. preventing further decay but not really doing restorative work.

With the exception of a steam turbine and two large diesel engines, everything was left behind when Kennecott closed the mine in 1938 and the town became a perfectly preserved slice of U.S. mining history. Despite pillage by locals through the years, Kennecott remains a beautiful ruin. The mill, where the ore was crushed and the copper concentrated, towers above the surrounding buildings and still has tram cables leading up to the mountain mines. It is the tallest wooden structure in the U.S. The rest of the buildings, including bunkhouses, workers’ cottages, the train depot and power plant, still perch on the hillside.

We joined a guide from St. Elias Alpine Guides for a trip inside the old mill. We climbed the hill to the top of the 14-story building and followed him inside as he unlocked the door and entered in spite of the sign that said "No Trespassing – Do Not Enter". We worked our way through each step of the milling process and down 14 flights of stairs. Surprisingly, the building still seems very stable and has much of the original equipment still intact. We enjoyed hearing the history of the mine and gaining insight into what life was like here during the town’s 27 years of existence.

Our return flight to Chitina was aboard a 1949 Beaver plane, serial number 34. We are told that this is quite a machine among aviation enthusiasts. It was a beautiful and uneventful flight and landing. We drove into the town of Chitina just to check it out and saw kids swimming in one of the lakes – it was 57 degrees! There are some hardy souls in this part of the country.

On Sunday, August 26, we left Kenny Lake heading for Tok via the Tok Cutoff. This may have been our worst paved road yet! At Tok, we again joined the Alaska Highway. We spent the night at Tok RV Village and left bright and early Monday morning for Destruction Bay. We had been warned that there would be much construction on this stretch so we were prepared. Interestingly, reports about the road came from folks who traversed this stretch in early June. Luckily, by the time we traveled the road in late August, most of the construction was completed but the road still had lots of frost heaves and we had to be very careful in our journey. It was a beautiful drive with clear skies and the Wrangell Mountains again in view, but this time from a different side and angle. As we drove further south and crossed into the Yukon Territory again, the mountains changed to become the St. Elias range, contained within Canada’s Kluane National Park which abuts our Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The St. Elias range contains Canada’s highest mountain, Mount Logan, at 19,545 plus six other peaks over 16,000 feet. Kluane National Park also contains the largest non-polar icefield in North America, extending over most of the park. The icefield is reportedly over 2,200 feet thick. We were especially thrilled to see two moose just outside Tok – a mama and her baby – but they were too quick for the photographer. I can speak from experience when I say that moose do not like to have their photos taken!

We spent Monday night at the Cottonwood RV Park on the banks of Kluane Lake. It was, by far, the prettiest campground we’ve had on the whole trip. The setting was beautiful, there were flowers everywhere and the grounds were immaculate. Our campsite was right on the banks of the lake and we enjoyed another campfire overlooking the water. We watched a beautiful sunset spread incredible colors across the snowcapped mountains. And then, there was the moonrise over the lake! Oh, my! How lucky we are to be here! Ahhhh – it is good to be touched by the simple beauties of our world.

Our trip to Haines Junction on Tuesday was uneventful, except for the fact that we saw our first wolf. With that, I will close. Until next time, happy trails to you . . . til we meet again!