Two-in-Da-Woods: Wrangell

Our next destination was the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park. You may recall from my July blog posting, “Into the Interior”, that this national park is part of the largest protected natural area in the world and is, in fact, a World Heritage Site for that reason. Wrangell - St. Elias is the largest of our country’s national parks, 13.2 million acres in size, over twice the size of Denali, and over six times the size of Yellowstone! Four major mountain ranges meet within this park which includes the greatest collection of mountain peaks over 16,000 feet on the North American continent. This includes Mt. St. Elias, the second highest peak in the U.S. at 18,029 feet. Mt. Wrangell distinguishes itself for being an active volcano at the present time, and on clear days one can see steam rising from its flume.

Topo map of the Wrangell - St. Elias and Glacier Bay Parks in green,
neighboring (brown) Kluane Nat'l Park over the border with Canada

We were really excited about visiting this place, dreaming about it for well over a year back in Wisconsin as we planned this trip! We had hoped to leave Valdez a day ahead of our eventual departure to get here and spend the night on Thompson’s Pass, but there was a “wind advisory” in effect. How does 70 mph grab ya??!! Needless to say, we hunkered down one more night on Robe Lake. When we started out next morning north on the Richardson Hwy, we looked up and noted there was new snow on the tallest mountain peaks all along the way. There had been many signs for the last couple weeks that fall had arrived, but now it appeared winter was knocking on our door, too, and that was exciting!

"Is that new snow up there on those peaks?" Sure is!!

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So our drive to Wrangell - St. Elias Park followed the Copper River—yes, the same as that from which we get our “Copper River Wild Caught Salmon” back home! In fact, the Copper River originates in the Wrangell Mts and flows south to an enormous delta east of Valdez, a mecca of sorts for salmon fishermen! Historically, it was along the Copper River where all those stampeders coming up from Valdez were told they’d find GOLD as described in my previous blog entry. Instead, they found such harsh conditions that had it not been for the help of the indigenous Ahtna Athabascans, they would in all likelihood have perished. We enjoyed learning about the Ahtna at a cultural center along the way and seeing evidence that their culture is still alive.

Chugach Mts of Copper River country in interior of Alaska

Copper River with Wrangell Mountains in background

Full of glacial "flour", the river is braided and continually changing course

Ahtna Athabascan people at the time of contact acted as guides and packers
for the stampeders. Dogs are commonly used as pack animals by Athabascan peoples.

Fish wheel not invented by the Athabascans but used extensively by that culture. It is a river current-propelled
device that catches salmon as it moves downstream with rotating baskets.

Numerous Ahtna fish wheels on the Copper River. Mount Drum in the background.

We were incredibly fortunate to have glorious blue skies and great views of the mountains for the days driving to and from the Park, as well as for much of our time in it, as these photos testify. The mountains were absolutely breathtaking—every bit as impressive as what we saw in Denali Park. Wrangell - St. Elias Park is very, very different from Denali, however. The number of visitors here is a small fraction of Denali’s. There are absolutely no big hotels, restaurants, or tourist attractions in this area, and no tour busses full of people arriving from Anchorage or cruise ships on the coast. The only way to access the park by road, in fact, is via a couple narrow gravel roads, the "McCarthy" and the “Nabesna”, and drivers are encouraged to bring “at least one spare tire” when they drive either of them. You bet, we drove them both, and enjoyed knock-your-socks-off stunning views all along the way!

Mount Wrangell--14,163 feet.

Mount Drum--12,010 feet

Mount Sanford--16,237 feet
(As viewed at sunset from our campsite!)

The McCarthy Road is accessed off of AK Hwy 10 at a town called Chitina. In 1910 it was a booming metropolis, serving as a supply center for the new railway running through it hauling copper from the Kennecott mine. When the mine stopped operation, Chitina became a near-ghost town overnight.

Scene from near-ghost town of Chitina

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The folks that still live here take the "ghost town" thing in stride, actually
painting ghosts on a few of the remaining buildings!

The Kennecott Copper Mine had operated from 1911 to 1938, and worked an ore deposit of a quality unequalled anywhere in the world—80% pure!! A 196 mile long railroad was built to carry the ore from the mine deep in the Wrangell Mts to Cordova in Prince William Sound, and was then transported by steamship to Tacoma, Washington. When, after 25+ years of operation, profits could not be sustained, the mine closed.

Kennecott Copper Mine in the Wrangell Mountains
Owned by the Nat'l Park Service, available for tour--if you can get there!

Huge hunk of copper from Kennicott, now on display in Fairbanks museum, flanked by
the men who actually discovered the deposit ca. 1900.

Copper River and Northwestern Railway ca. 1909

Steamship carrying Kennecott copper ore to Tacoma, Washington ca. 1910

The McCarthy Road is 62 miles in length, extends from Chitina to Kennicott. It was built on the old railroad bed and in time the mine became the property of the U.S. Park Service. We were rather enthralled with the whole story if only because it involved railroads, and were eager to see it! We’d heard the road could be “challenging”, and were checking throughout our travels in Alaska with people who made the trip, asking what the road was like. It sounded like we were going to be able to reach our goal until “D-Day” arrived, when we walked into the Chitina Ranger Station and were told, “I’ve got some terrible news for you guys”!!

Ranger Station for the Wrangell - St Elias Park in Chitina, AK

Bernie getting the "bad news" about McCarthy Road conditions from the ranger

About three weeks prior to our visit, heavy rains fell in the area, and this, coupled with big motorhomes using the waterlogged road as well as the seasonal end of road grader use to maintain the road, left it a heavily rutted, pot-holed mess! We decided to make an attempt to drive it anyway, just to see if this was just an exaggeration—it wasn’t!

Can't say we weren't warned!!

Dramatic entrance to McCarthy Road, blasted through mountain to make railroad bed

Lily encounters a landslide just a few miles down the McCarthy Road--and
road maintenance has stopped for the season!

We continue on dusty, windy, rocky road...

18 inch deep potholes...

...and no way to get around them!

It took us fully three hours to drive just 25 miles of the 62 mile road—and what a hair-raising 25 miles it was, with Lily rocking back and forth like a demon, putting the teacups and wine bottles inside at risk! So we turned around, defeated and disappointed! After we licked our wounds, though—and cleaned up the breakage in the camper kitchen—we were grateful to have seen the sights along those 25 miles of the McCarthy Road that we had, and said to each other, “there’s always next time….”

At mile 16, we encountered narrow, three-span Kuskulana River Bridge built in 1910 for the railroad

The 600 foot long bridge sits 400 feet above the river--truly an adrenaline-pumping
experience to drive! Yes, that is the guardrail you see there, added in
just the last few years!!

Rough roads couldn't detract from beautiful scenery along the McCarthy Road

Fall colors very much in evidence here!!

The other road from which one can access Wrangell-St. Elias Park is the Nabesna Road, which intersects with AK Hwy 1. This one is 42 miles long and does not have an attraction like the Kennecott Copper Mine at the end. As a result, very, very few people use it, and therefore the gravel is in great condition compared to the McCarthy! This road was built over the road used to access the Nabesna Gold Mine, which operated from 1925 to 1945. It was neat to see the old “corduroy” logs of the historic road peaking through the current surface. The only thing challenging about driving the Nabesna Road was that it has four places where creeks run over it. The water comes directly off of the surrounding mountains and glaciers, and as such can get really wild at times and continually changes its course. For that reason, culverts cannot practically be used to control the flow. So, instead, Lily had to make like a cowgirl and ford the streams to get us to our destinations!

Nabesna Road into Wrangell - St Elias Park in much, much better condition than the McCarthy!

Four streams cross the 45 mile long road at various points

Glacial run-off on the road not to be "tamed" by culverts

It was actually quite fun to cross them--ever so much better than those potholes on the McCarthy Road!

And what destinations we had! The hiking was great here as these photos show. One hike was to a U.S. Park Service cabin—of which there are numerous in the Park, all available for use free-of-charge—following a creek between the mountains. Another, at the end of the Nabesna Road (yes—we made it!!) was to an abandoned gold mine, the Rambler Mine, waaay up on a mountainside. And the third was up to a volcano, the Skookum Volcano, which had last erupted about 8 million years ago. The old lava beds and rock formations along the trail were a lesson in geology. We saw beautiful mushrooms, two moose beside the road, and a big black bear stuffing himself with berries on the alpine hillside. It was more than a little unnerving to have him stand up on his hind legs to get a better view of us as we hiked past him, despite knowing what I do about the risk of bear attacks on hikers—minimal. You’ll note we had ice and snow to contend with on these hikes, and indeed, the temperature dropped to 27 degrees every night with a high of 40 daytimes. BRRR! We were very grateful to have a warm camper to sleep in!

Lava "rocks" everywhere testify to the volcanic history of this area

Hiking up Caribou Creek Trail

Caribou Creek. Did I mention it was getting mighty cold here?

Nat'l Park Service Caribou Creek Cabin with bunks and wood stove--available free of charge.

Ice on the Caribou Creek trail...

...was nothing compared to hiking in snow on the Rambler Mine Trail next day

Old abandoned Rambler Mine at the end of Nabesna Road

Old mine buildings

View from the mine, waaay up in the mountains

Start of the Skookum Volcano Trail

Following the creek bed "trail" to Skookum Volcano

Crossing streams along the "trail"

With only hiker-made inukshuks to guide us, like this one...

...and this.

Indeed, the Wrangell - St Elias Park is breathtakingly beautiful!

View from campsite!

Our last night in Wrangell - St Elias Park was spent along peaceful, but very cold Rufus Creek

So, full of great memories of our time in the Wrangell - St. Elias Park, we headed to the town of Tok, Alaska, and a celebration of Bernie’s birthday! How lucky, lucky, lucky I was to have met this lovely man 17 years ago and somehow persuade him to marry me! Our Fast Eddy’s birthday pizza was huge and yummy, fit for the KING that Bernie is to me!!