0018 23rd May - Wrangell St E to McCarthy

Very cold when we woke up, so it took a while to have our breakfast and get going !!  We then went for a walk around the area, and the pretty lake with lots of ducks on that was right beside the camp site.  This Wrangell St Elias National Park is enormous

and very undeveloped from a tourist point of view – In fact, it makes Denali look a bit like a Butlin’s holiday camp !!  With only two access rough dirt roads (this one to Nebesna and another further west to McCarthy), motorhomes and caravans just can’t easily get in, and even 4 WD’s are not that common,  mainly because there are very few facilities in the park, so people who want hot showers and flushing toilets really are not going there !  But I had heard so much about it, and was not able to get in 2 years ago in the Lotus, so when we had met Chris and Katheryn on the ferry coming up a few days ago and they were going to work there,  and now the weather was fine, we had decided to go for it.  And were very happy that we did – this Nebesna road was great.  Nebesna was originally a gold mine site, and had been abandoned in about the 1940’s, although the mine is still privately owned and worked on a small scale.  Other people come in here for the hunting and the fishing, which is apparently some of the best in the world. 

Additionally, the Ranger at the park entrance had given us an excellent free CD to play in the car, which told us all about the road, the places of interest along the way, and the history.  We were most impressed with this presentation, as we are with all US National Parks – They do this so well. 

However, surprisingly, we saw little wildlife apart from birds.  Maybe the park is just so big that the bears and moose rarely cross human trails, especially since there are only two of them !  They are there, but we just never saw them this time.  About the biggest we saw was some Trumpeter Swans who are passing through, heading north for the summer. 

 Once we got out of the Park, we turned SW again on the Tok cut off road, and decided that since the Nebesna excursion had been so good, and while the goo wether is still holding, we would go into the same Park again on the other road, in through Chitina to McCarthy and the site of the Kennecott Cooper Mine. We visited yet another Visitor Centre on the road that we had been told was good, and once

again it was, with a wealth of information about everything you can think of in the area.  After the information centre we stopped for lunch in a deserted lay by overlooking the massive Cooper River, and were just making our wraps in the back of the van when……..a 40 seater tour coach pulled up right beside us, and all the passengers got out to admire the view !!!  But it seemed they were more interested in us !!  Half of them were Australian, with some from the Gold Coast, so for about half an hour we had a hilarious time chatting to them all !   We tried to offer them sandwiches at $25 each, but got no takers !!  I was chatting in particular to a lady from New Zealand who was most interested in our trip – Freda Aldridge  - Hope you have a wonderful trip and cruise, Freda, it was good talking with you.

Once we had managed to eat our lunch and got going again, not 5 minutes down the road we were stopped for roadworks at Gakona by a girl with a stop sign – And wearing a Mexican sombrero !!  It looked so funny, out in the middle of nowhere, but when we got chatting, it turned out that Anna was from the area(Glenallen), and wore it just for that reason – For a laugh !! Great chatting with you Anna – Hope you have a good summer, and everything works out for you !!

After that, the road circled round the imposing 12,000 ft Mount Drum, and not long after Glenallen,  heading down the Valdez road, we turned South East towards Chitina and McCarthy.  The road to Chitina was tarmac and very pretty, with lakes and mountains all around. Then suddenly at Chitina, a funny little town that used to be a rail head for the copper ore trains from McCarthy, it all changed.  We went through a narrow and steep sided cutting, and when we got through, we were suddenly on this incredibly wide river bed, crossing it on a long bridge.  Below us we people preparing for the spawning salmon onslaught, and there

were lots of idle salmon traps all along the side of the river.  These clever contraptions were designed by the Indians, and sit in the water ‘s edge and have two big scoops which turn with the water flow of the river.  Any salmon passing into the trap is scooped out of the water and slides down and angled arm into the arms of the fisherman !! Too easy !  I am going to have to come back some time in August /September to see the other end of the season, and all

the salmon activity.  We then climbed steeply on a rough and narrow road with mud slides both below and above us,  with breathtaking views out over the river.  Before long we came to an incredible bridge over the river – the Kuskulana Bridge, with a span of 525 feet, and 238 feet above the river below.  It is a one lane bridge and is really quite exciting to drive over it – We stopped on the other side and walked back over to get some photos – The side wire is probably only about 4 ft up – You wouldn’t want to swerve in your car, or you could fall off that bridge rather too easily !!

After that we came to a wooden trestle bridge at Gilahina, originally built in 1910 for the railway that took the copper from the mine at McCarthy 180 odd miles to the port of Cordova where it was exported.  Everything in this area is linked to the Copper that was mined from 1910 to about the 1940’s, and this railway had to have 237 trestle bridges built, the longest of which was the Gilahina bridge that was 90 ft tall and 880 ft long, and was built in just 8 days with temperatures of -67 deg F !!  An amazing structure.

The road continued, over other bridges, and then we saw a moose over to the left.  Moose often run away into the bush as soon as they see you, but this one stayed around for a while, so we had a good look at him. 

Eventually we reached McCarthy – And what a weird place !!  At the end of the road, the bridge over the river is only a foot bridge, so no public vehicles allowed into McCarthy – Although there is a separate bridge that can be used by people

working in McCarthy for the summer, as they have special permits.  The camp site is just stones on the side of the river, and virtually no facilities.  The toilet is almost tipping over into the river because it has been undermined by the river !  After looking around for options, of which there were none, we eventually camped on the stones right beside the river, and had a very pleasant evening.  The big Root glacier was behind us and very impressive, and in front of us were the 16000 foot peaks of the St Elias.  A stunning setting in which to camp, but in a really wild and off the map place.  Hmmmm – Not sure about this place !!  Exciting though !We will explore it a bit more in the morning as it has been a long day driving on dirt roads.

 

Pics are here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0018WrangellStEToMcCarthy?authkey=Gv1sRgCOnwuoHh0r2AkAE#