About 30 miles south of Glenallen is the McCarthy Road 30 miles of pavement will get you to Chitina, AK. Chitina was a supply town for the Kennecott Mine and the Copper River Northwestern Railway when the mine closed down so did the town.
We needed a few supplies for dinner that night so we stopped at the local grocery store which was (my best guess) a cargo storage container. It does not look like much from the outside but the inside was clean and neat with a very friendly clerk.
Yes, paid quite a bit for some cheese and a bell pepper but to be expected considering where I'm at.
The picture to the right is the view of downtown Chitina. The building on the left is the Hotel and the blue building on the right is Spirit Mountain Artwork.
There is another building to the left of the hotel across the street which is there local wifi. I didn't stop and try it but I assume it is a pay as you go type.
This is actually a picture from the return trip as you can see the town of Chitina in the background but this marks the gravel road portion of the trip. The road is narrow in places and slippery when wet. They say the rails have long been removed but as you drive you can see where some rails are still just under the gravel and in other places you can see the rails laying along the road.
Always share the road.
The gravel portion is about 60 miles long, no service stations and very few homes.
This is the Kennecott Mine. The mine was supposed to be named after the town and the glacier which was named after Robert Kennicott, an early Alaskan explorer, but the company name was misspelled.In 1900 the original claim belonged to Jack Smith and Clarence Warner, two prospectors who spotted a large green spot on the mountain. What looked like a green patch of grass turned out to be one of the richest deposits of copper ore ever found.
Really did not plan this one just driving and lets see what is here but if I were to plan this one down I would plan on spending at least one night at the glacier. Fantastic camp sites just off the glacier so we had just enough time to hike back, climb up on top of the glacier and then head back down. Didn't even bring the crampons so the walk on the glacier was slick!
With only about 20 minutes to spare, just enough time to get a cold beer from the Kennicott Hotel and then catch the taxi/van back down to McCarthy which is pictured to the left.
It was now almost 8pm and not looking forward to finding a camp site and making dinner when we found The Golden Saloon! I paid $16 for a very good chicken sandwich and fires here, now some would say that this was an expensive sandwich but I have paid $12 for a hamburger and and fires in Anchorage and they didn't have to haul all there supplies in 100 miles from the main road, 180 miles from Valdez! So I didn't think it was a bad price at all!
The rail road played a big part in this historic town so I should mention a little about it because without the rail road 200 million dollars worth of copper ore would have never been mined here. The rail road was called the CR & NW but was nick named "Can't Run and Never Will" Guess they were wrong!
The mine operated until 1938 when they could no longer compete with the falling prices of copper and the last train service was later in the year when it transported out most of the remaining residents. In 1941 the mining company voluntarily gave the CR & NW right-of-way to the federal government for the purpose of creating a public highway to McCarthy. Today Kennicott and McCarthy are privately owned and surrounded by the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, established in 1980
The taxi had quit running for the day so it was about a two mile walk downhill and across two bridges back to the car and about an hour drive before we found a good campsite for the night. Long day for sure but I'm sure glad we decided to take this "little" Alaskan side trip off the main road.
To be continued, Part 2 in Valdez. More glaciers, Moose, Brown Bears, Black Bears with cubs, salmon and yes more!
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