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Alaska's Pioneer
Town
Visiting Kennicott and McCarthy is
like stepping back in time into
less-traveled country that is just
opening its doors to tourism. McCarthy
still has its pioneering-heyday
boisterousness. Kennicott, the
once-staid mining camp just five
miles away, is now Alaska's most
fascinating ghost town.
Saloons, shops, and bordellos still
stand in the ghost town of Kennicott
and boisterous nearby McCarthy. History
hangs thick in the air here, and
visiting is like stepping into towns
that are just opening their doors
to tourism-you can even find green
copper nuggets in the hills above
Kennicott. And the present is just
as alive: McCarthy is also the gateway
to America's
largest national park, Wrangell-St.
Elias, an untamed wilderness of 17,000-foot
peaks and Dall sheep-covered mountainsides.
One of the many glaciers, Root Glacier,
spills over a 6,000-foot headwall
into the heart of town.
Getting
Here
These aren't exactly towns on the interstate:
the way here is via the 61-mile
dirt-covered McCarthy Road, which
follows an old mining-town railroad bed
over rivers and ravines-the most famous
being 283-foot-high Kuskulana Bridge,
Alaska's highest. The raging Kennicott
River marks the end of the road,
with a footbridge leading you across
to McCarthy; Kennicott is five miles
up the hill.
In McCarthy-Kennicott
Once here, you can explore the McCarthy-Kennicott
Historical Museum, stop by the newly renovated,
landmark McCarthy Lodge (907-554-4402),
and ask the friendly locals what it's like to live
in a town with no post office or school.
But McCarthy is mostly about communing with nature.
Great walking trails lead
to the banks of the river and through woods to the
toe of the Kennicott Glacier.
Talk with Kelly or Natalie at Wrangell Mountain Air
[operator page] about flightseeing.
Little-developed Wrangell St. Elias National Park sets
an awesome backdrop for gorgeous, glacier-filled fly-overs.
Just minutes from town, you'll fly along the famous
vertical limestone cliffs of the Chitistone
Canyon, past rare rock glaciers, above towering
waterfalls, and over immense glaciers that fall off
some of the least-climbed big mountains in Alaska.
Bob Jacobs at St. Elias Alpine Guides [operator page]
can outfit you with crampons and an ice axe for a glacier
trek on the Root Glacier or take you on other
hiking adventures. The glacial runoff from the nearby
peaks makes for outrageous rafting all
summer long. Contact Copper Oar [operator page] for
a day trip on the Kennicott that splashes through whitewater
and floats past wide-open country-plus a scenic flightseeing
tour to get back to base.
Ghost Crossing
Then walk the trail or take a shuttle with McCarthy-Kennicott Shuttle (907-554-4411) to Kennicott and
tour the ghost town; give yourself plenty of time to
get lost in the fascinating details. Many of the buildings
are too rickety to enter on your own, so hook up with
a guided tour (St.
Elias Alpine Guides) for an in-depth
exploration and explanation. Hiking
trails lead up the hillsides above Kennicott
where you can still find those green copper nuggets
lying all around. One do-it-yourself trek goes 3,000
feet above and beyond the ghost town to the old Bonanza
Mine and bunkhouses.
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