McCarthy Kennicott Alaska

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 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 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 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.