Wrangell- St. Elias National Park

Wrangell-St. EliasNational Park

This is the largest National Park in the United States and one of the most difficult to travel into. Established in 1980 it is 13.2 million acres of wilderness. It is separated into two districts; the Nabesna District and the Kennecott District.

July 26th

We had heard much about the bad roads into the park, but we had also heard from the woman at the Visitor Center in Tok that the Nabesna Road into the park was gravel,  but not too bad and that there was a nice campground at mile 26. Off we went from our roadside campsite to Nabesna Road. We stopped at the Ranger Station there and was assured that the road was fine and we would have no trouble getting to the campground and "what a nice place to camp!"

Fine is a relative term! If we were driving a four wheel jeep, it might have been "fine" but we have a 28 foot motor home towing a Honda Fit for goodness sakes! They knew that and yet seemed confident that we would be okay. Technically, we were okay, but once the paved road (full of pot holes) turned into gravel with even more potholes the farther we got on it, the ride was no longer fun. The Campground at the 26 mile mark was ridiculous. It was all gravel and probably newly placed gravel, but it was all built up and very soft. We could just see us backing in and sinking 2 feet into the stones! Not to mention the swarming of mosquitoes! More mud and dust as well.

We turned around and made the long drive back over the same "fine" road, found a car wash and went to a campground in Glenallen for the night.

July 27th

We left the campground early to find the National Park Visitor Center in Copper Center. Drizzly Rain has begun again making everything even more muddy than it was yesterday. We decided to go to Chitina (pronounced CHIT NA) and then take a shuttle up the McCarthy Road to McCarthy and then to Kennecot. These are bush towns and the McCarthy Road is supposed to be very bad, but the road to Chitina was supposed to be a paved road to the campground. However, the first 19 miles of it were under construction and the final 2 miles were as well. Again, we were mud spattered by the time we arrived there. Becoming the norm I guess.

Moose along the highway

Chitina is very small with a hotel, a bar, a store, a few homes, a  private campground, and a ranger station. The State campground was after the town and was hard to find. No sign, but Don and Marcia had told us how to get to it..just after the bridge over the Chitina River on the right. This was free camping and we can see why. The sites were hard to identify. You basically, found a spot and turned off your engine! All kinds of trucks and ATVs from the fishermen doing sustenance fishing on both sides of the river.  On the far side of the river, there were many fish wheels. We were told by the Ranger, that, usually, more than one person owns the fish wheel and they take turns taking the fish from it..like a co-op it seems. We were fortunate to find a place to roost for a few days. Other RVs kept coming in and turning around to go back to Chitina to the private campground there.

We checked out the fish wheels  and the folks under the bridge fishing with dip nets. These are nets on long poles that they drag through the water and scoop up the fish. Again, this is for sustenance fishing and not legal for Tim..just locals.

Fish Netting

Fish Wheels in Copper River

July 28th

We had made arrangements with the Kennicott Shuttle Service to pick us up at the campground entrance at 7am. We boarded the van and immediately were on McCarthy Road. This road orignated in 1909 as a railway constructed to support the Kennecott Copper Mines. When the mining ended in 1938, most of the rails were salvaged for scrap iron and in 1971, a new bridge was constructed over the Copper River and the rail bed was covered with gravel creating the current McCarthy road. There are lots of flat tires out here due to resurfacing rail spikes and really bad ruts and pot holes.

It was a 2 hour journey on a gravel, bumpy road to the Base Camp for Root Glacier and the first of 2 footbridges to McCarthy. Once across the 2 bridges, we could get on another shuttle to Kennecott or walk to McCarthy (about 3/4 mile) first and then shuttle to Kennecott which is another four miles away. We chose the walk to McCarthy only and then shuttle to Kennecott.
Note: 2 different spellings for Kennecott versus Kennicott. The mountain is spelled Kennicott, but the town and mill spelling were changed to Kennecott when they built the mill at the copper mine.

Town of McCarthy

Town of Kennecott

Hotel in McCarthy

We had an interesting day there at these 2 bush towns. Both of these towns are powered exclusively by generators and the population dwindles extensively during the off seasons. During the summer months, there are tour companies to take folks to the Root Glacier to hike and other trips for rafting the Copper River as well as other bicycling and hiking and ice climbing opportunities. We chose the more sedate tourist approach (for a change) and simply toured the towns, the mill area and talked to the locals whom we found to be lovely people. We lunched at the Kennecott Lodge, took pictures of all we surveyed and walked back to the foot bridges and base camp to pick up our shuttle.

The history of  the Kennecott mine is interesting. Copper was discovered here in 1900 by prospectors Clarence Warner and Jack "Tarantula" Smith. This turned out to be the richest concentrations of chlacocite, a high grade copper ore. Then, the Guggenheim and the Morgan families joined forces with Stephen Birch and backed the Alaska Syndicate which quickly gained a monopoly over the mining operation in this area. Mining it was one thing, but they had to build the  mill to refine what they processed and took out of the mine. So, they built the Kennecott Mill which is being refurbished today by the National Park Service. The mining was extremely successful until they stripped the mine and, by 1938, the mine and mill closed. Any supplies needed were brought up the Copper River from Cordova and by rail. In its heyday, both of these towns were thriving little communities even as remote as they were.

Kennecott Mill

Main Street Attractions in Kennecott

McCarthy Store sign

Pizza Parlor in Kennecott

Root Glacier 

Astonishingly, in 1910, they built a bridge 238 feet above the Kuskalana River for the railway.  It was built in the middle of winter in 50 degree below zero weather in a very short time frame. It was made of steel and still stands today as a single lane bridge.

Arriving back at the Base Camp to pick up our Shuttle Van at 4:30, we discovered that the van had a flat tire! Kim, the driver, had told us that it not an unusual occurrence and assured us that if we did get one along the way that she had tires stashed at different locations along the way. You never travel this road with less than 1 spare tire and some carry two. She has a cache of tires, so she is never without back ups.

The Tire Guy's Garage

She changed the tire and we dropped the damaged one off at her local "tire guy" just down the road a ways.

Trumpeter swans graced us with their presence along the way. Beautiful creatures. Other than that, it was an uneventful trip back to the campground. Another long but memorable day in Alaska.