June 2018

This park definitely makes my top 5! We loved it. With over 13 million acres this is the largest national park (six times the size of Yellowstone NP!). There are only two roads that provide park access, Nabesna Road and McCarthy Road. We did a day trip down each of these roads.

Our first entrance was on 42-mile Nabesna Road, starting from the Hart D Ranch in the town of Slana where we camped for two nights. This was a gravel road that led into the park with some beautiful vistas. We stopped for lunch and spotted a moose across the lake with the binoculars but otherwise we saw no wildlife, other than lots of rabbits.

 

Our second entrance into the park was on McCarthy Road. For this part of the trip we stayed in the town of Chitina which is located right outside of the park. We saw a black bear as we were leaving the campground to head to the park so that was exciting.

The abandoned mining town of Kennicott can be accessed via the McCarthy Road and this was our ultimate destination. But first you have to travel almost 60 miles along a gravel road. We were a bit intimidated by the description of the road…”watch for sharp rocks, railroad spikes, no shoulder, narrow sections of road, potholes, washboard and a few “roller-coaster” curves”. Yikes, sounded like a flat tire waiting to happen! It turned out to be not so bad and we encountered no problems and little traffic along the way.

There is no vehicle access to McCarthy/Kennicott so you have to park and cross the Kennicott River via a footbridge.

Vans then transport passengers to either McCarthy (1/2 mile away) or to Kennicott (5 miles) for $5. The vans come every 1/2 hour or so. We timed it perfectly and got right into a van after we crossed the footbridge. We decided not to stop in McCarthy and went straight to the main attraction of Kennicott which is a huge complex of barn-red buildings that make up the Kennecott Mine mill town, now a National Historic Landmark. The main feature is a 14-story mill and concentrator building towering over the town. The mill was built in 1907 by the Kennecott Copper Mining Company and operated from 1911 to 1938. (The town is spelled Kennicott while the mining company is spelled Kennecott due to an early day misspelling). Many of the buildings have been restored and it is one of the coolest places I have every seen. We were fortunate to have a beautiful day and very light crowds. Here are some of the awesome sights.

We ate a delicious lunch at the Meatza Wagon food truck and then I headed off for a hike to Root Glacier. It was a 4-mile hike to the glacier and back and the views were spectacular. The first bridge I crossed was very nice and wide. When I came to the second one it was much higher and narrower and I had to walk right over a waterfall. As I hurried across I felt the water spray in my face, heart pounding. There were a few people camping by the glacier and some people hiking the glacier with crampons. Next time I’ll bring my crampons and visit the ice caves!

 

On the drive back home we were very fortunate to see two moose, one with two babies. So cute!

What a great day we had!!! I would highly recommend this trip but you might check your spare tire before taking off 🙂