July 2, Thursday.
Chitina, AK, at the edge of the Wrangell St Alias. We are having lunch in a restored, false front hotel on our way into the Wrangell St Elias. From here we travel on 50 miles of dirt road and cross a foot bridge to get to the town of McCarthy (pop 51) and Kennecott, an old copper mining operation.
July 3rd Friday
It was brief but memorable. McCarthy reminded me of Terlingua, TX, and a bit of Stanley, ID in the winter. Hard scrabble folks making hay while the sun is shining, and shine it did. The wall of mosquitoes we hit two nights ago somehow moved camp somewhere else (an Alaskan had told us the mosquitoes we were experiencing were 'pikers' or amateurs compared to McCarthy mosquitoes). With the exception of the predominance of ATVs the whole scene made me want to move. Or revisit my youth. We had a drink at the Golden Saloon the evening we got in which involved crossing a footbridge and riding bikes a half mile to McCarthy. McCarthy is only a few buildings but people flock there in the summer to support tourism. River rafting, mountain and glacial guiding, air and land shuttles, the merc, the saloon, the hotel. I imagine all these kids having the time of their lives. Living in tents down by the river, the backs of their trucks, not knowing or caring where they will go when the snow starts to fly. It is a beautiful time of life.
We explored Kennecott today which sits above the Kennicott glacier (yes it is spelled differently thanks to some yahoo a long time ago). It is the weird looking moonscape, in the background. In 1911 when the mine started the glacier looked down on town. I power hiked until becoming bear wary and joining Rich and the kids for a tour of the town and copper mill. As I have stated, the folks back then were cut from a different cloth than we are today. The manual labor and hard work continues to impress me. The Wrangell St Elias is definitely somewhere I would like to revisit with a backpack and at least a week to explore. Mt Blackburn, in the background is the sixth highest mountain in the states. We were lucky to see it as it usually wears a cloud around it's shoulders.
But this time we are headed out, and judging by the traffic coming in, none too soon. Looks like McCarthy and Kennecott will be packed. No fireworks up here though, much too dry.
We are headed to Valdez to see if the kids can catch some 'pinks' the smallest of the salmon family. Wish us luck!
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