McCarthy Road Adventure to Kennecott Mine

Copper Center, Alaska (52 degrees, grey skies)

Kennecott Mill

Cooper River

Visiting the Kennecott Mines National Historical Landmark had been recommend to us by many people who had traveled to Alaska. It's accessed by traveling a rugged 59 mile road from  Chitna to McCarthy. 

Fish Wheel

The road had recently been graded and wasn't as rough as we had imagined. It's important  to take your time and hope you don't pick up a rail spike. This road at one time was the rail line  which led to the mine. It was very scenic and located within the largest but least visited National Park (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve).

Walking bridge to shuttle

The road ends at a parking lot and from there you walk across a bridge and catch a shuttle van to McCarthy. It's a small, dirt road town with just a few full time residents who want to keep it that way. There is a bridge you can drive over to the town but it requires a key to open the gate and costs about $1200 annually for access. The van was free. Works for us.

"Bergie Bits" flowing down river broken off from glacier

Downtown McCarthy

Kennecott in the distance

Tip: After walking around the small town we had a delicious and surprising reasonable lunch at Roadside Potatohead.

From here we took another van  for $5 each to the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark.  The mine is not located here nor can it be accessed. However, you can tour the restored buildings and visitor center. The park also offers a guided tour of the mill for $28/person. We did not take this tour due to there being 14 flights of uneven stairs in a dark building. Some of our friends did and enjoyed it. 

We strolled around the many buildings and restored area. The construction of this mine was a massive undertaking. A railroad had to be built spanning rivers, mountains, and even a glacier from the coast to this remote area. It was completed in only four years. Everything had to be transported including miners, food  and equipment. The railroad was used to bring all supplies in and take the copper ore out. Families were not allowed to live here. At the height of the operation over 800 people lived here.  This was a an extremely profitable mine and over the 27 years of operation $200 million was extracted. It closed in 1938.

We did have a brief encounter with a black bear as we were hiking around the mill. Due to so many people being around we did not have our bear spray. Suddenly around the corner of the trail John spotted the bear not very far away from us. We immediately backed up and I reminded John not to turn his back on him. He started to follow us.  Gulp!  We both yelled out "Hey Bear" and clapped our hands and stomped our feet. Luckily for us he shot up and over the hill out of site.  Took me a little while to regroup but all was well. Note to self...always bring your bear spray.

We enjoyed the day very much and were glad we made the trip out here to see it. Saw a female moose on the way back. Life is good!

There is a glacier field you can hike out to (2 miles each direction) and take guided tours or go on your own across the glacier. We did not have enough time but it sure sounded interesting. 

Root Glacier

Campground Review:  Kenny Lake RV Park and Mercantile, 2 stars, gravel, pull through sites, electric only, dump on site, WiFi did not work, difficult entrance to access sites, primitive sites looked much better, $45/night, too over priced for what you received. Good sandwich and coffee shop on premises. We would stay in Chitna next time