After our boat tour to the Columbia Glacier, we made ourselves some dinner and then headed on inlands towards Wrangell St. Elias National Park. We only started driving at 10 pm, so we wouldn’t get that far. At Pippin Lake, we stopped at a turnout and camped for the night.
Next morning we had a couple of miles left until we reached the National Parks visitor center. After a park video and a quick introduction of road conditions to McCarthy we were on the road again. Wrangells St. Elias is the largest US National Park. It is bigger than Switzerland and hosts 9 of the highest 15 peaks in North America. And only Himalaya can top it with the amount of glaciers per area. The park itself is not as accessible as other National Parks. There is a road in the south leading to McCarthy – and another one in the north of the park. The rest is remote wilderness (including the adjacent Canadian Kluane National Park).
We decided to drive to McCarthy for several reasons, starting that the road to McCarthy is quite an experience. McCarthy is a small town originating from supporting the Kennecott Copper Mines, which again were constructed during 1905 and then closed 1940. In order to get the copper to the sea, the company built a railroad which was finished in 1911. After 1940 of course the railroad wasn’t used anymore as well and both Kennicott and McCarthy have been abandoned.
Then, Wrangell St. Elias was declared a National Park, including the Kennecott Copper mines. National Park Service started buying several Mill buildings (which were by now in a desolate state) and started renovating them. With that, McCarthy got alive as well m – hosting hotels, restaurant and other amenities for tourists.
The gravel road leading to McCarthy is built on the former railway bed. Old railway tracks, wooden parts and collapsing bridges can still be seen along the road. At one point, we even drove over an original railway bridge that is now in use for the road. Unfortunately, a couple of years ago a railing has been added to the sides 😉.
When we arrived, we had to leave our car at the campground on one side of the river. McCarthy and the mines are only accessible by foot and shuttle. We headed straight up to the Kennecott Mill and checked out the exhibitions in the buildings open to the public. The mill site itself was a little city including a store, a school, living quarters and of course the copper ore processing plants. The mines themselves were located higher up in the mountains and connected by air trams. Most of the miners lived in buildings at the mountain side just right next to the mine entrances. Also impressive were the three glaciers covert by dirt in the valley of the mill. Until 40 years ago, they used to be as high as the mill side iself!
After this sightseeing, we headed back down to check out McCarthy as well as to book yet another flightseeing tour for the next day!
