Where I Live

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Where I Live

The following slideshow is of the lodge, downtown Kennicott, the bunkhouse where I live and other stuff. Thought some of you might be interested. Hope you enjoy. More to come soon. Happy Trails! Sandy

Flightseeing in the Wrangell's

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The Ice Climb

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The McCarthy Road

My journey here was interesting, but I want to tell you about the last 59 miles of the trip. The road is called the McCarthy Road and it is gravel, it is part of the old railroad bed for the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad that carried copper mined and milled in Kennicott 196 miles to the port of Cordova to be shipped to Tacoma Washington for smelting. The railway was constructed between 1908 and 1911 and the railroad operated for 27 years. The last train pulled into Cordova on November 11, 1938. The rails and ties were removed for salvage and culverts were set in place and the road graded in the 1960’s. This road is known statewide and a “rough” road and even though it has slowly been upgraded over the years, it is still dirt, narrow in places and requires caution. Oh ya, and from time to time old railroad spikes surface, so make sure you have a good spare! Facilities along the road are minimal and on a good day it only takes you 2 to 2 ½ hours to make it to the end. This is a beautiful drive, seeing all sorts of wildlife, mountains, you cross the Kuskulana River Gorge on a bridge built in 1911 that spans 283 feet across the gorge and you make a gradual climb from 500 feet at Chitina to 1500 feet at McCarthy. There are several lakes along the way for good Salmon and Trout fishing. When you get to the end of this road, you can cross the Kennicott River, but you have to by foot. Visitors are not allowed to bring their cars across. The footbridge was constructed by the state DOT in 1997, before that you got across on a cabled tram that stretched across the river. We make sure when guests make reservations and say they are driving to McCarthy that we explain to them how long the trip will take and what to do when they get here. You see, as of this y ear the lodge now has a parking lot a ¼ of a mile from the footbridge that our guests can park in, then an attendant calls us at the lodge, takes the guests to the footbridge, they cross the bridge and then after about 20 minutes (that’s how long it takes us to drive there) we pick the up on the other side and drive them to the lodge. So even though it is well worth it, it is a JOURNEY to get here!

About the Wrangell -St. Elias National Park

You must see Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve to believe it. The largest U.S. national park at 13 million acres, it equals six Yellowstones, with peaks upon peaks and glaciers after glaciers. The park lets you sample Alaska wildlife as well as historic mining sites. Hike its mountains, float its rivers, ski its glaciers, or fly over this landscape and you witness living geology. You sense discovery, the feeling you might be the first to see such sights. Roads are few, so this means many travelers will not enter the park itself, but major peaks – Blackburn, Sanford, Drum, and Wrangell – are seen from nearby highways. Four major mountain ranges meet in the park, which includes nine of the 16 highest peaks in the United States. The Wrangells huddle in the northern interior. The Chugach guard the southern coast. The Saint Elias Mountains rise abruptly from the Gulf of Alaska to thrust northward past the Chugach on toward the Wrangells. The eastern end of the Alaska Range-mapped as the Nutzotin and Mentasta mountains-forms part of the preserve’s northern boundary.

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