A few days after Ethan and I got back from the Lower 48, we packed up and headed out on another trip - this time staying in Alaska to explore the eastern portion of the state. The Wrangell-St Elias National Park is the largest in the nation, and combined with the park on the other side of the border in Canada, it is the largest preserved area of land in the world. Only a small portion of this area is accessible by car (only two 60 mile dirt roads in the park) and much of it is covered by massive glaciers and towering mountains. We were excited to spend some time enjoying the little bit of the park that is easily accessible.
The drive over was 6 hours total and we took our time, stopping to see and explore things along the way and enjoying the sunny day (luckily we did because it was on of the few sunny ones we got!). The drive from Anchorage east is absolutely gorgeous - ok the whole state is, but this drive is really nice! Lots of green on the mountains, blue blue lakes and of course lots of glaciers.
We stopped and played on the banks of the Copper River, which is one of the big three rivers that people fish in the state. People set up huge fish wheels, pictured above, to catch salmon as they swim up river...completely takes the sport out of catching fish, but it does fill the freezer.
The drive into the park was a 60 mile gravel road through mountains and over 300 ft bridges, a very cool drive. So much of the the park is inaccessible by roads or trails, but many people fly in and get dropped off to explore the backcountry wilderness.
At the end of the road are two small little townsites left over from the mining days of the 20's and 30's. Kennecott is a completely deserted town, all that is left is the pretty red mine buildings and the views.
The other is a little community called McCarthy, with about 40 residents that make their living supporting the tourists that come through the park. They have preserved the old buildings to look like they did at the height of the town. We spent a night in the old hotel and ate at the saloon. It was fun to see and feel the history of an old mining town.
We spent some time wandering the old towns and hiking the trails in the area. With an infant and a dog, we obviously didn't fly into the backcountry to see more of the park. What we did see was gorgeous and a lot of fun to check out.
Kennecott sits at the base of Root Glacier and Kennicott Glacier (yes, the town and the glacier are spelled different...). We took a hike out along the glacier through the forest and then down to walk on the ice. The first two days we were there were so cloudy, the clouds hanging so low they were on top of us and we couldn't see the icewall the glacier formed up the mountainside.
When the sun came out the next day we were amazed at how much we couldn't see in the clouds! The brown hills at the end of the white ice are actually part of the glacier, but the ice is covered in rocks that it picked up as it moved down the mountains.
We went out on the ice and walked on the glacier - it was awesome! We were at the point where the white ice turned to brown rocks mixed with ice. As the ice turned to pure white with no rocks, it became too slick for us to walk on without crampons or spikes on our shoes so we couldn't go out too far.
It was neat to see details in the ice up close. Like the little rivers the water was making as it melted, ran down the ice, and formed the Kennicott River. We could also hear the cracks and creaks the glacier was making as it slowly, slowly moved down the mountain. Awesome to walk across it.
The other big hike we did in the park was up a mountain to see the Bonanza Mine. It was nine mile round trip with 3800ft elevation gain. The first half mile out was flat, which meant that we went up almost 4000ft in four miles. We didn't get the luxury of lots of switch backs so it was pretty much straight up the whole way.
Aaron did this with Ethan, plus a few pounds, on his back!! Ethan is not a light child - this was an amazing feat. It was also why Aaron now refers to this hike as the Bonanza Death March. I thought it was only fair that he carried one child while I carried the other. It's just unfortunate for him that the one I carried weighed about 8oz at the time while Ethan was 26lb. :)
Of course our luck had it that it was rainy all day so the views were not as spectacular as they could have been. But the low clouds added a bit of mystery when we made it to the top and explored the deserted mine. We were all alone up there and it was eery, we could almost feel the ghosts of the men of the past.
Even with all the rain and clouds and the strain of the hike, it was all smiles at the end!
We celebrated the 4th of July in McCarthy and had a great time watching the town wake up and fill with people. I have no idea where everyone came from, but it was a fun celebration in the sun. There was a parade and games and bbq and fireworks. Ethan enjoyed playing in the puddles with sticks the most.
Ethan decided his made up games with rocks and milk crates was lots more fun than the silly group games everyone else in the town was doing.
After spending several days camping and hiking with just Mom, Dad and Malley, he had a great time watching and running around all the people. He even got excited when the crowd cheered and celebrated.
Spending time in the town was fun, but E also loved camping outside for several nights and playing in the trees and rocks.
A few more pics from the visit:
Running around the streets of McCarthy, yelling and playing.
Chilling with Dad on the walk from the camp to McCarthy.
Following Dad through the streets of Kennecot.
Dad relaxing on the hotel porch, soaking up the sun.
The end of the Death March, whew.
