As with the previous mornings, I was up and around earlier
than David. The morning greeted us with
bright sunny skies; the RV was a balmy 62F.
I say “balmy” because during our time in Denali National Park, we woke
up to morning temps in the range of 50 to 54F.
While comfortable for sleeping (under mountains of blankets), we did
have to turn on the heat in order to take showers and get dressed. Our routine was basically that once I was up
for a while, I would turn on the heat to knock the cold out of the air before
David got up. In Denali we couldn’t
start the generator until 8am, which timed things pretty well in terms of
starting the hot water heater. Cooking
didn’t require the generator, so we could have breakfast while the hot water
heated up for showers.
One of the nice things about camping is that you don’t
really have to take a full shower every day.
Cool days and nights, made it possible to go a couple of days between
showers. I know some people who feel
they must fully bathe every day, but thankfully, growing up camping and
enjoying it well into my adult life, I’m not one of those people. I have also found as I have aged, that my
hair is much better off when I only wash it every other day.
We pulled out of the Matanuska State Recreation Area heading
east on the Glenn Highway, with plans for our next stop at the Wrangell-St
Elias National Park visitor center on the Richardson Highway. The drive east on the Richardson Highway was
outstanding. The sky was accented with puffy
clouds off in the distance, framing the beautiful Wrangell Mountain Range The snow-topped peaks could be seen for the
entire length of the sky.
When we arrived, we took the obligatory photo with the park
sign and our Timeshare Users Group – TUG banner. We’ve been taking the TUG banner on timeshare
related vacations for nearly ten years, and we’ve enjoyed the timeshare stories
that come from bartering our timeshare in Hawaii for use of the Winnebago in
Alaska.
After spending some time checking out the cultural exhibits
and viewing a short 22 minute video, we climbed back into the RV and continued
on towards Chitina, our final destination for the evening. The Edgerton Highway connects the Richardson
to Chitina and beyond to McCarthy. The Edgerton was under significant
construction as they were completely repaving the road. Our 2009 edition of “The Milepost” forewarned
of severe road damage from heaves. We
had joked that hopefully by now they had fixed that. Apparently not, as that seem to be the
project in progress. It took us a little
over an hour to traverse the 33 miles to Chitina.
 |
| Boondocking near Chitina |
We opted to not take the RV beyond Chitina, as the remaining
66 to McCarthy is along an old railroad trail.
Many vehicles have had tires ruined by railroad spike punctures, so that
was a risk we were not willing to take with someone else’s vehicle. In Chitina, we turned around and drove in
front of the US Park Service’s ranger station for the Wrangell-St Elias
National Park. In the drive leading up
to their rustic log cabin, was a large pile of what looked to be relatively
fresh bear scat.
The following morning we were scheduled to take the 9:05am
Wrangell Air flight from Chitina to McCarthy in order to visit the old mining
town of Kennecott. So rather than
staying in town, we headed back towards the Chitina Airport with plans to boondock
with the RV at the Three Mile Lake, located in the canyon.
Our view was serene as the winds whipped through the
canyon. I frequently glanced out the big
window of the living around of the RV, in hopes of seeing some wildlife. We
settled in for a dinner of turkey sandwiches and movies on the laptop. By 9:00pm it was time for bed. It was another great day in the Alaskan
wilderness, with picture perfect weather, warm enough for shorts and a tee-shirt!
The canyon had an insulating effect, keeping the day’s
warmth in its valley. When we woke up on
Saturday morning it was a very comfortable 62F.
We had been waking up around 6:30 to 7:00am and this day was no
different. We ate a light breakfast in
preparation for our 9:00am flight from Chitina to McCarthy. The skies were crystal blue, with very few
clouds around the snow covered mountains in the distance. It was going to be a perfect day for
flightseeing over the glacier fields of Wrangell St. Elias National Park.
At the Chitina Airport we watched our Wrangell Mountain Air
plane arrive with the day’s first passengers returning from their overnight
stay in Kennicott/McCarthy. Actually two
planes arrived within minutes of one another.
The larger of the two, seating five passengers, arrive first, followed
by a smaller four seater. Awaiting
flights into McCarthy there were eight of us, David & me; plus two groups
of three. We were easily divided up and
ready to load.
David got to sit up front in the co-pilot’s chair. His only instruction to David was “If it
looks important, don’t touch it.” I was
seated on the opposite side of the plane, with a wonderful view of the
mountains and glaciers. Our pilot Bill
did a nice narration of what we were seeing, and because of the extra nice
flying conditions, provided a bit more in terms of flying time around the
glaciers with a historical overview of the area and scientific explanation
about the formation and current condition of the glaciers. It was very interesting. The scenery was spectacular as was the
overall flying conditions.
Upon arrival in McCarthy, we were met by the
Kennecott-McCarthy Shuttle who would get us down into the town of
McCarthy. There we were able to get a
short orientation of the two towns, Kennecott and McCarthy plus pick up our
shuttle tickets for the van service that would get it over to the neighboring
ghost town of Kennecott and the Kennecott Copper Mill and at the end of the
day, down to the footbridge across the river where we’d pick up our 4:30pm
scheduled van shuttle back to Chitina.
McCarthy was a small place with about as many friendly dogs
seen around town as people. There was a
hotel in the center of town, a saloon and art gallery. On the way into town, we passed the McCarthy-Kennicott
Historical Museum which looked interesting so we walked the quarter-mile to the
town entrance and the museum.
Located in the restored train depot, many artifacts from the
early 20th century were on display.
Also preserved for visitors were a number of historical photographs
telling the story of life in this small mining community. It was amazing to me that so many people
simply abandoned their homes and belonging when the Kennecott Mill closed in
1938.
There was a very neat “Milwaukee connection” to McCarthy and
the copper mining industry in the area.
Industrial giant Allis Chalmers manufactured all sorts of equipment used
in the mill processing the copper ore.
In front of the McCarthy-Kennicott Historial Museum was a large “Fine
Reduction Gyrotory Crusher” which was used to build canals through rock. The one on display had a US Patent issued in
1900, with a production date stamp of January 14, 1902.
Inside the museum, the curator had a mint condition “1928
Keystone Catalogue”; the equipment sales catalogue that was produced as a
compilation equipment catalogues available from a number of different heavy
machinery manufacturers from around the United States. In addition to Allis-Chalmers, several other
Wisconsin companies were represented.
Given the state of Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry today, it is easy
to forget her place in history and the industrialization of America.
After spending around an hour in the museum, we headed to
the meeting point to take the five mile shuttle ride up to Kennecott Town, the
abandoned mill town that was built just to harvest the copper ore from the
mountains and then left when the main ore vein was believed to be tapped out in
1938.
When you think of it, it’s unbelievable that a company would
be formed for just one purpose in one location and then left as it was. At the US National Park Service Visitor
Center, there is a short 12 minute video that tells the history of the mill and
its process. Prominent industrialists
Rockefeller and Guggenheim founded the Kennecott Mill Company in 1906 and made
millions harvesting the copper ore which was transported to Tacoma, Washington for
smelting and sale.
When the company ceased operations in Kennecott, they left
behind nearly everything as did the citizens who also departed the mill town
when their work disappeared. As we
walked the abandoned town, many remnants of their life was left for future
generations to find. Many of the
buildings fell in disrepair, but some had been restored by private citizens
prior to the area becoming a national park in 1986.
Tours are available inside the 14 story mill building from
St. Elias Alpine Guides, the only concessionaire authorized access inside the
old mill. Due to my asthma and gimpy knees we took a pass on the actually tour,
instead opting for the self-guided walking tour of the town that included
several restored buildings.
During our visit to Kennecott, we enjoyed lunch at the
Kennicott Glacier Lodge, the 25 room hotel located in the center of town. We had the chef’s special, homemade meat loaf
with potatoes au gratin, vegetables and accompanied by our choice of soup or
salad. At $15, we it was a good value
for a hearty home-cooked meal.
As good as our meal was, I enjoyed wandering the first floor of the hotel,
checking out some of the old documents and artifacts of the area. Invoices from companies like Sears, Roebuck
& Company; National Biscuit Company (later to become Nabisco) and Hills
Bros Coffee were on display for visitors to see. In the family sitting area were the personal
belongings of some of the town’s residents back in the day.
With our day in Kennecott complete, we took the shuttle to
the footbridge to meet our van service back to Chitina. Our driver was Anika who was a lovely Swedish
lady who have moved to the United States many years ago, but had settled into a
life in Alaska some 30 years ago.
The ride to town over the 66 miles of old railroad trail was
bumpy and slow. There were a number of
waysides with vault toilets which made the two and a half hour trip a little
more bearable. Stopping to stretch our
legs or to take a photo or two was a welcomed break along our journey. For much of the trip, the view was of thick
spruce forest. In some areas we crossed
pretty alpine meadows with small ponds and lakes, or along the silty glacier
rivers that provided opportunities for recreation (rafting) and fishing. We were told silver salmon were running at
near Chitina we could see locals out dip net fishing or operating large fishing
wheels on the river. (Only residents
fishing for sustenance can fish using these two techniques.)
Once back in Chitina, Anika returned us to our parked RV at
the airport. It had been a bright, sunny
day and the inside of the motorhome was a sweltering 86F. We decided to boondock back at the Three Mile
Lake again, since we found it to be convenient and comfortable. Having had a large lunch earlier in the
afternoon, we settled back in the RV with some microwave popcorn and beer.
