Road to McCarthy

Hi Blog!

On Monday, July 11, 2016, after a good night's sleep in Chitina, we continued our road trip into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. There are only two roads that lead into the park, Nabesna Road (on the northwest corner of the park) and McCarthy Road (on the southern edge of the park). Nabesna offers several waysides and primitive campsites, but no services. McCarthy Road leads to the town of McCarthy (made famous by the Discovery Channel series, "Edge of Alaska"), where you can catch a shuttle to the Kennecott Mines National Historic Site and the Root Glacier. We chose to take McCarthy Road. However, after reading up on how rough the road can be, we decided to leave the driving to someone else. We arranged for a shuttle van to pick us up at the Chitina Hotel. Great White got a few days off while we explored Kennecott and McCarthy.

McCarthy Road follows the old rail bed of the now defunct Copper River and Northwestern Railway. The CR&NW brought the copper ore from the Kennecott Mill down to Cordova on the coast where it was shipped to a smelter in Washington. The CR&NW earned the nick name "Can't Run Never Will" as it was often wiped out by floodwaters and rock slides. McCarthy Road starts with a narrow single lane road cut. It was once a tunnel, but the roof kept falling in, so the railroad blasted the roof away.

Within a few miles, we crossed over the Copper River. There were a number of RV's lining the banks of the river. Several industrious fisherman braved the swift currents with large dip nets hoping to catch their limit of red and king salmon. Once we reached the far bank, the road became rough and washboarded for about three miles. Once we hit the recent chip seal, the traveling became a little easier.

After bumping along for 17 miles, we got out and stretched our legs at the amazing Kuskulana Bridge.  This bridge was originally built in 1910.  It is over 775 feet long. Folks used to drive along the old railroad bridge on boards laid down across the old railroad ties. Lucky for us, the Alaskan Highway Department added new decking and guard rails.

As we walked across the bridge, we peeked over the edge. We were 238 feet above the Kuskulana River!

The shuttle van picked us up on the far side of the bridge and we continued our journey. We kept a watchful eye out for moose and bear, but no luck. At mile 29, we stopped at the Gilahina River bridge. A young couple were changing a flat tire. The shuttle driver offered to lend them a hand, but they were almost finished. We took the opportunity to take some photos of the old Gilahina Trestle.
Part of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway route, this bridge illustrates the ingenuity and drive of the railroad builders. Built during the winter of 1911 in only eleven days, this 180 foot long, 90 foot high curved timber trestle was the last and most difficult wooden bridge built between Chitina and Kennecott.  Half has now fallen away, and what is left is listing to starboard:

After our rest stop, we were back on the road to McCarthy. Then we heard it - thump, thump, thump - flat tire! Lucky for us, our shuttle driver came prepared. Just as she was finishing, the young couple, whom she originally offered to help, stopped to return the favor. That's the way it goes on the backroads of Alaska. Not needed.  This lady knows how to take care of business.  In just a few short minutes, our driver had us back on the road.

But not before we got this really cool picture of Moose Lake. Try as we might, we did not spot any moose on Moose Lake.

However, we did spot this bathing beauty on the way back to Chitina a few days later:

The rest of our trip went by quickly. We had one more stop to see a bull moose in Long Lake. As we approached the end of McCarthy Road, there were a number of paid parking lots along with some primitive camping sites. All had great views of the Kennicott and Root Glaciers.

End of the road - the McCarthy Footbridge:

From here we walked across the Kennicott River and met our shuttle from the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. We planned to stay a couple nights to give us plenty of time to explore McCarthy, tour the Kennecott Mine Historic Site and hike the Root Glacier.

As we walked across the footbridge, we could see all the way to Mount Blackburn and the Kennicott Glacier on the left and Regal Mountain and the Root Glacier on the right.

We dropped our packs off at the Lodge and took a shuttle back down to McCarthy for a look-see. More on McCarthy in the next blog.

While there were rough spots along our route and we did get a flat tire, we felt that the 60-mile McCarthy Road was not terrible. It is definitely doable if you have a spare tire and know how to change it. Dozens of folks drove in that day without a problem. This is Alaska after all!