2024 Alaska Road Trip (Day 40)
This journal posting chronicles Day 40 of a road trip to Alaska and back with Diane, Kenny and Deneen.
Day 40 - Thursday August 1st
Today we left the trailer at Wrangle View RV Park, and prepared the truck for rough travel, and headed out to McCarthy and the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark.
We drove a round trip of 131 miles/211 km.
The road was advertised as 60 miles of rough gravel road each way.
We left our campsite at 6 AM because we were not sure of how long it was going to take to even get out of the campground due to some road construction going on directly outside the campground, with the need to wait for a pilot car. As it turned out, we did a good job of leaving before they started working on the road so we were not in a hurry on the drive.
The road bed was originally the railway bed for the Copper River and Northwestern Railway between the Kennecott mines and Cordova, AK, to transport copper ore and supplies. The railway was in use from 1909 to 1938. At some point most of the rails were salvaged for scrap iron and in 1971 a new bridge was constructed over the Copper River, and the railway bed was covered in gravel making the McCarthy Road.
The hazards of driving the road are that occasionally railroad ties surface along with railroad spikes, which would be happy to inspect the inside of your tires (we heard that Alaska rental car rentals explicitly forbid you from driving the McCarthy Road). Fortunately we did not have any bad luck, but we did see evidence of old railway pilings directly under the road.
At the end of the Edgerton Highway, where the McCarthy highway started we were immediately confronted with a one lane passage through a rock outcropping which made it obvious that this was originally a railroad bed.
Beginning of McCarthy Road - McCarthy Road, Chitina, AK
The road started as advertised, i.e. a rough gravel road.
McCarthy Road, AK
However, not too far in the road turned into a paved, but still pretty rough road. But it did allow for faster travel.
McCarthy Road, AK
Leaving as early as we did meant that we did see more wildlife.
We saw a bear with her two “very” small cubs, but they ran off the road before we could get a good photo.
Not long after that we encountered this young bear who did not like our encounter at all and climbed a very steep hillside, very fast. I was actually worried it would fall, but it made it successfully to the top.
Bear - McCarthy Road, AK
One of the major sights along the drive is the single lane Kuskulana Bridge, which crosses over the Kuskulana River. There is a sign just before the bridge that told us that the bridge was originally built in 1910 for the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad, and that it spans 525 feet, and that the height above the river is 238 feet. Look below in this post for some more photos as we come back out.
Kuskulana Bridge - McCarthy Road, AK
I am glad the road diverged from the old rail bed at the point below, because this old trestle looks like it will fall down in the next heavy rain.
Gilanhina Trestle - McCarthy Road, AK
The public is not allowed to drive all the way to McCarthy, there is a private toll bridge a short distance down stream for the McCarthy residents (who current pay $300/year to use it), but we are required to pay for parking on the west side of the Kennicott River and walk across this foot bridge. You can look down through the grating of the bridge and see the river flowing fast below you, it was very cool.
Foot Bridge across the Kennicott River - McCarthy Road, McCarthy, AK
Once we were across the bridge there was a display of this old work truck, aptly named Rigor Mortis. Apparently a young man named Jim Edwards built this truck in 1953 out of used parts and used it for years after that.
At this point our options were to wait for one of two different, and infrequent, shuttles that for a few dollars would take us to McCarthy (half mile away) or Kennecott. We chose to walk to McCarthy.
Rigor Mortis - McCarthy Road, McCarthy, AK
Diane caught this cool photo of Kennecott from the McCarthy road on our walk from the footbridge up to the town of McCarthy.
Note that the mine area is called Kennecott, but the glacier and river are called Kennicott. We were told that this was the result of some very old typo.
Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark - McCarthy Road, McCarthy, AK
Also along the walk, Diane took this cool flower photo.
Mountain Avens - McCarthy Road, McCarthy, AK
Along our short walk there was lots of evidence of the old railroad.
Old Railroad Rail - McCarthy Road, McCarthy, AK
Since we left so early, we did not have breakfast, so once we reached McCarthy we found a very rustic restaurant called The Potato and while the rest of us had variations on a breakfast burrito, Kenny had a breakfast bowl with curly fries, sausage gravy, scrambled eggs and jalapeños. It was too bad we do not have a photo of his face when it arrived, fortunately we convinced him that he did not need to eat the entire thing.
Breakfast - The Potato, McCarthy, AK
Since we were early we walked through McCarthy. Some of the buildings have been renovated, but notice the condition of main street.
I thought this hotel and its antique car were nice.
McCarthy, AK
Then Kenny found even more antique cars.
McCarthy, AK
This old general store has not faired so well.
McCarthy, AK
This restaurant, the only other one, was a slightly more upscale place than The Potato, but we did not try it out so we don’t know for sure.
McCarthy, AK
While we were having breakfast the waitress told us that the year round population varies depending upon the year, but 20ish people is common. They would basically be cut off out here in the winter. Although there is a small airport which is probably serviceable by bush pilots year round.
This modern art fence seemed a little out of place, but it was still cool to look at.
Modern Art - McCarthy, AK
We had a guided tour booked in Kennecott for 11:30 AM, so eventually we flagged down (we probably had to wait 30 minutes, the schedule was very irregular) one of the shuttle vans ($5/person) to take us up the road to Kennecott.
Upon arriving we checked in with our tour guides and since we still had an hour or so, we walked through Kennecott to see the sights that were not planned for the guided tour.
The main sight in this mining town is the old mill building were copper ore was processed to become refined enough to ship off for further processing.
The mill building past the bridge below going up the hillside was the main place this ore processing happened.
Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
The image below is of the base of the mill building, and as you can see age has made the structure somewhat unstable. The National Park service is working to stabilize and renovate more and more of the buildings in town.
Foot of Mill Building - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
Just to the right of the above photo is a small creek with the old (and very bad shape) hospital building on the left and a partly renovated bunkhouse on the right.
Hospital & Bunkhouse - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
Here is a view of the mill building from the opposite side from above.
Mill Building - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
One of the buildings I thought was very cool, was the Power Plant. Below is a gallery of a series of photos of the inside of the building going from left to right.
Next to the base of the mill building was this very intriguing ladder going down a dark hole. It was very tempting look down the hole, except the sign just beyond it discouraged this by saying “WARNING Unstable Explosives Extreme Danger KEEP AWAY”.
Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
The guided tour we signed up for, months ago, was primarily a tour of the mill building.
After meeting our tour guide, we hiked up the hill to the top of the mill building.
Top of Mill Building - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
The Kennecott mining town is right next to the Kennicott Glacier. It is a little hard to tell the difference between mine tailings, near to the town, and glacial rocks, farther out.
At the time the mining town was developed the Kennicott Glacier was 300 feet taller, and towered over portions of the town down below. Now you look down on the glacier from the town. While it all looks like rock, most of what you see in the photo below has glacial ice under it. While we don’t have a good photo of it, there is a new iceberg in the glacial lake off to the left of the photo below.
Kennicott Glacier - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
We started the tour at the top of the mill building, and the first order of business was to fit us all with hardhats. The park service has been working very hard at stabilizing many of the buildings, including the mill building, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Our tour guide started the tour out by pointing out that one of the reasons the buildings are even still standing is that much of the original construction was very good.
Top Floor of Mill Building - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
Below is a gallery of some of the photos we took during our tour through the building.
It was a gravity fed system where copper ore came from actual mines in the hillsides above the mill building and started it’s decent through the mill building going different paths depending upon how high grade the copper ore was. The highest grade copper ore bypassed most of the building and was bagged to be shipped off for further processing. The lower grade ore was crushed in grinders and send off through various wooden chutes, with water to help it flow, to more crushers/grinders and shaker tables until it reached a sufficient state to justify it being bagged and shipped off for further processing.
After the mill building our tour went into the Leaching Plant which used ammonia to further concentrate some of the ore.
Leaching Plant - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
After the tour was completed, Diane took a photo of Kenny, myself and Deneen to celebrate. The tour through the building included a lot of very steep steps, some of which were not much more than ladders, and it was difficult for some of our group.
3/4 Group Photo - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
Since it was still early in the day, we spent some time exploring more of the publicly available buildings. The mill building can only be toured as part of a guided tour.
The General Store, shown below, has been very realistically restored.
General Store - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, AK
We finally caught the shuttle back to the footbridge so we could start the long drive back to our campground.
Along the way we stopped at the Kuskulana bridge so Diane could take a picture under it. This is the single lane bridge that was formerly a train trestle.
Kuskulana Bridge - McCarthy Road, AK
As you can see, the river is far below the bridge.
Kuskulana River (under bridge) - McCarthy Road, AK
Just before we reached all the way back to Chitina and a good paved road again, the photo below shows a great example of a very large braid river plain where the Katsina River flows into the Copper River.
Confluence of Katsina and Copper Rivers - McCarthy Road, Chitina, AK
Since it was a long day, we had leftovers for dinner, from last night’s dinner.
Dinner (Leftovers from yesterday) - Wrangle View RV Park, Chitina, AK