Gateway to Bliss

Great Alaskan Adventure – Part II

See Part I here.

After leaving the Nabesna Road, we skirted the perimeter of the Wrangell-St. Elias Park heading toward our next destination: the infamous McCarthy Road.

The McCarthy road is about 60 miles of twisting, bumpy, unpaved track in miserable condition through spectacular scenery.

- Adventure Guide to the Alaska Highway, Ed Readicker-Henderson & Lynn Readicker-Henderson

We entered the road on a gorgeous day.

Right from the beginning, the road to McCarthy is bumpy, rough and rocky.  It’s heavily washboarded, and there are deep holes ready to swallow your car, as well as huge rocks just waiting to rip your oil pan.  Don’t take this road at more than 20 mph, and don’t let your attention wander.  The nearest oil pan for whatever car you’re driving is a long way off.  Readicker-Henderson.    

Staying steady 20 mph, we set out on “the road.”

Just out of Chitina, we crossed the great Copper River.  As we crossed, we were astounded to see the dozens upon dozens of fishing platforms (and RVs) lining the river’s edge.  (You can just make out the platforms in the lower portion of the above picture.)

From there, our surroundings just got more and more beautiful.

The road is hazardous in part because it was built directly on top of an old railroad track – old spikes have been known to puncture tires.  The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (now defunct), was built by the Kennecott Corporation between 1907 and 1911 to take copper ore from Kennecott, Alaska to Cordova, Alaska, a distance of 196 miles.  The Copper River and Northwestern Railway reached McCarthy in 1911.

We made it to the end of the road in one piece and with all four tires still fully inflated.  (Truthfully, we found the Nabesna road just as bad, if not worse.)  At the end of the road we were greeted by panoramic  mountain views and a magnificent glacier descending towards us.

Is there a more scenic campsite on earth?

The road ends at the Kennecott River.  We parked our car in a little lot and toted our gear across a footbridge.

McCarthy

The McCarthy Road leads to the tiny, quirky town of McCarthy, which sits at the convergence of three of the four Wrangell-St. Elias mountain ranges.

The town’s population was 28 in the 2012 census.  In the early 1900s, however, it was a booming little town where miners from the nearby Kennecott came for booze and fun.  (Alcoholic beverages and prostitution were forbidden in Kennecott, thus McCarthy became the only place that provided illicit services in the entire area)  It grew quickly into a major town with a gymnasium, a hospital, a school, a bar, and a brothel.  Many of the original buildings remain today.

True to form, we landed in McCarthy because of food.  Just before we moved to Alaska, I read a Sunset Magazine article touting the McCarthy Lodge as one of the top “four star meals worth the schlep.”  The Lodge itself looked intriguing, so we decided to treat ourselves to a new nights at “Ma Johnson’s Hotel” while we explored the area.

Well, because of a certain furry traveling companion, we were housed in the “annex,” i.e. the old brothel.

It was charming and I loved all of the old photos and historic relics that still remain in the hotel.

After a breathtaking hike up to the Root Glacier, we were more than eager for our dinner at the McCarthy Lodge’s “fine dining” restaurant.  I made our dinner and lodging reservations back in March, which made our stay in McCarthy the focal point of our trip – more or less.  Nonetheless, when we arrived, they had no record of our reservation and were “fully booked” both nights of our stay.  After a bit of pleading, however, and the prompt attention by the hotel’s charming owner Neil Darish, we were squeezed in for an early dinner on Wednesday night.

After eating gorp and string cheese all week, I was thrilled to see two unique, artfully described salads on the menu.  Normally indecisive, I pointed out my salad right away to Will and exclaimed, “Oooh, I know what I’m having!”  Consistent with McCarthy’s little quirks we were discovering, the waiter came over to tell me that they were “out of greens.  All greens.”  A bit upset that this fantastic restaurant had no greens, whatsoever, I soon reminded myself that we were in the middle of absolute nowhere and it was likely occurrence for fresh produce to not arrive regularly.  (Will and I found it a bit strange, though, given that the restaurant prides itself on growing much of its own food, even offering tours of its greenhouse.)

Enough complaining.  Overall, we had a lovely dinner and laughed at the little oddities throughout our stay.

It doesn’t get more locally sourced than Copper River salmon from just down the road!

Kennecott

One of the highlights of our trip was exploring the town of Kennecott, 4.5 miles up the road from McCarthy.

Copper was discovered between the Kennecott Glacier and McCarthy Creek in 1900, after which Kennecott mines, the Kennecott Mining Company, and the company town of Kennecott were created.

Somewhat ironically, the glacier was named after Robert Kennecott, a naturalist who explored in Alaska in the mid-1800s.  Wonder how he’d feel about a massive Copper mine being built on the cusp of the glacier…

Kennecott Glacier

 

In 1901, Stephen Birch was sent to the Kennecott area to confirm the claims of two local prospectors, and assess the capital it would take to extract it.  In the end, he managed to convince the Guggenheim family and J.P. Morgan to support his endeavors, thus the Kennecott Copper Corporation was founded.

 

The company town of Kennecott sprang up, complete with a hospital, a grade school, a dentist’s office, and even a dairy.  At its peak operation, more than 800 people lived in Kennecott.

 

Worker bunkhouse

 

Within twenty years, the strike proved to be the richest concentration of copper ore in the world, and by 1911 the Kennecott Copper Corporation constructed a railroad through 196 miles of wilderness to the tidewaters of Cordova to remove the copper ore.  The ore was then loaded onto ships and taken to smelters in Tacoma, Washington.

 

We took a fascinating (but a bit terrifying) tour of the original 14-story mill building where copper ore was processed for shipment.

 

 

 

The mine proved to be highly lucrative in a short period of time.  On April 8, 1911, the first ore train hauled $250,000 worth of copper ore to cordova.  In 1916, the peak year of production, the mines produced ore valued at $32.4 million.

 

Once the high-grade ore panned out, however, the corporation boarded up the mine and closed its operations in 1938.  Kennecott became a ghost town overnight.  All of its equipment, furnishings, and buildings were left behind, and most remian today.  Reportedly, the miners were given such little notice of the mine’s closure that many had no time to pack their belongings, much less  dispose of the meals they ate just before scurrying to the last departing train out of town. (All told, the miners had 48 hours notice to pack up and leave by rail)

 

 

With the mine closed, the railroad had nowhere to go and it instantly shut down.  Although the rail line was donated to the federal government in 1941, the government never built a road along its right of way.  Instead, the land ended up protected in the park.  It took a pro-development ex-governor to construct the road along the path of the railroad.  Hence, the infamous McCarthy road.

 

 

In 1986, Congress recognized Kennecott as a National Historic Landmark, and the Park Service slowly started to preserve the site.  In 1998, the National Park Service acquired the Kennecott National Historic Landmark, including many of the mine’s historic buildings.

 

Between the captivating setting and the its unique history, Kennecott is definitely worth a visit!

 

Next post: our kayaking trip to the Columbia Glacier in Valdez!