Wrangell - St. Elias National Park

June 18

Continuing along the Alaska Highway we left the Yukon and passed into the United States. The terrain continued to be a carpet of Black Spruce trees interrupted by a mosaic of small boreal ponds and lakes.

Black Spruce Forest and Boreal Ponds

Tok Visitor Center

Weaving our way through the ponds and potholes of the northern boreal forest we arrived at the small village of Tok, Alaska about 5:00 p.m. The Visitor Center was a clean modern looking log cabin with a friendly and helpful receptionist. Emma needed wifi for some work related projects so we spent the night at the premier RV park in Tok. It was quite nice and quite expensive at $50 American per night.

 Mind you we each got a free peanut butter cookie when we registered. This took some of the financial sting out as we love peanut butter cookies.

At this time of year, it was light for 24 hours a day in Alaska This can present a novel set of challenges as was demonstrated by some local clown who was still working away with his chainsaw after midnight.

 Mount Stanford

June 19
In the morning, we gassed up at a run down station that had no store or attendant then headed South around the northwest perimeter of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

As we headed down the Tok Cut-Off, the scenery from the distant mountains and nearby boreal lakes was magnificent.

Boreal Lake

Naturally, I wanted to stop frequently to appreciate and photograph the glorious ambience of the Alaskan wilderness. I'm all about the journey and less focused on the destination.
My more task oriented and results focused partner was much more inclined to emphasize the destination. "Are we there yet" was heard frequently to which I always replied "of course".

Trumpeter Swan

June 19
I routinely factor in an early morning hike before a long RV ride but today I had erred. 
Emma needed regular strenuous morning exercise to get her daily endorphin fix otherwise she was severely challenged by long sedentary rides. My frequent photo stops were creating a skism between us which was quickly growing from a fissure to a canyon.

Nabesna Ranger Station

We stopped briefly at the Slana Ranger Station to stretch our legs and get in a short, but much needed, walk. Onward we drove toward Glennallen as I continued to indulge in a few photo stops along the way. There were too few stops for my liking but way to many for Emma's taste. Given our polarities I think we achieved a nice compromise.

Copper River

Past Glennallen we took Highway 4 toward the main entrance into Wrangell- St. Elias National Park.

Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center

This visitor centre was large and well laid out with interesting displays and two short hiking trails.

Copper River Bluff Trail

The half-mile Copper Bluff Trail wound through a large aspen grove to a nice overlook of the Copper River and the Wrangell Mountains beyond. 

Copper River Bluffs

The half-mile Boreal Forest Trail provided a nice opportunity to walk through the middle of a densely packed Black Spruce forest. Mind you, we had to run the last few hundred metres as the mosquitoes were dive bombing us pretty good.

Boreal Forest Trail

Emma got her cardio respite and was transformed from a hungry grizzly to a contented Koala for the rest of the day.

By early evening, we were headed down the Edgerton Highway toward Chitina. It was a bumpy ride as the road twisted and turned while we navigated around the frequent potholes. Some were quite large and potentially dangerous if the RV hit them at pace.

We proceeded slowly. It was much too slow a pace for me but, based on Emma's frequent interjections, it was not nearly slow enough for her. Suffice to say we made it.

We spent the night in a First Nations campground with good wifi. As we ate a late supper, we looked out on a beautiful sunset view of Mount Wrangell.

 Mount Wrangell at Dusk

June 20
Over a leisurely breakfast, we booked a tour for tomorrow that would take us down the McCarthy Kennicot Road and into the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. For today, we started with a morning stroll through the small ghost town of Chitina.

Emma and Sonaa at the Chitina Emporium

Can't say we've been to many emporiums. It would have been fun to visit this one in its heyday.

Trail to Liberty Falls

Time for more strenuous sport so we chose the nearby hike up to Liberty Falls. It was a steep, but short two kilometre trail up through a Black Spruce forest. Our strenuous uphill slog was rewarded with a nice overlook of the Copper River Valley.

Liberty Falls

Tempted by curiosity we decided to drive our RV a very short distance down the McCarthy Kennicot Road to check out the Copper River campground. We already had tickets for a tour ride down this gravel road for tomorrow but what harm could a little exploration do?

 McCarthy Road to Kennecott Mines

The narrow entrance into the park should have been a tip-off that road conditions would be challenging. However, what we lack in forethought we make up for with fearlessness.

 Copper River

The bridge over the Copper River was good but the road on either side was bad. It started as gravel with some potholes and quickly changed to potholes with some gravel. The old RV was shaking like a hula dancer while Emma and I bounced up and down like Jack in the Boxes. The precipitous cliff into the rushing Copper River was also not helpful. To heighten the experience, there were several RVs floating or stuck in the raging river below.

Emma was shouting for an immediate retreat but the road was not wide enough for a VW to turn around on, let alone a 28 ft. RV. We charged onward for several kilometres until we found a slightly wider stretch of road, and after several back and forth maneuvers, got the RV turned around.

 Oops

The return trip to Chitina was every bit as much fun as the drive into the park. Emma had stopped talking and was looking rigidly straight ahead with a fixed stare.  Not good!
Even Sonaa was eyeballing me with a quizzical expression.

Reflecting on the experience that evening. We realized that the submerged RVs must have been staying in the riverside campground that we were looking for. A flash flood had overwhelmed the sleeping campers and they had to run for their lives while leaving their RVs to the raging torrent.

Our appreciation for our hilltop campsite went up considerably as did our opinion that the $200 for tomorrow's bus tour was money well spent.

 Mount Blackburn

June 21
At 7:30 a.m., we were waiting by the Chitina Ranger Station for our tour van to take us on a 100 kilometre ride deep into the middle of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Turned out that our cell phones had not switched over to Alaskan time so we were an hour early. No problem. We had a relaxed breakfast in our RV as we waited and scratched the usual collection of mosquito bites from the night before.

Promptly at 7:30 a.m., our tour van arrived. Through the narrow railway tunnel opening we drove then up and over the Copper River. We again marvelled at all the submerged RVs that were caught by the rising waters.

What followed was mile after mile of bumpy twisty potholed gravel road. It was a brutal but surprisingly enjoyable ride with Sonaa sitting stoically on the van floor at my feet.
Yes indeed, Alaskans knew how to treat their dogs. For $200, Sonaa got to join us on the trip.

 Kuskulana River

Ten miles in and the driver stopped the van so we could take our time walking across the Kuskulane River Bridge. I'm not sure whether he did that so we could enjoy the view as we walked across the bridge or because he just wanted to reduce the weight of the van before venturing across the bridge himself.

 Gilahina Trestle Bridge

Our next stop was beside an old Kennecott Railway trestle bridge. We were following the original train tracks to the Kennecott Mine and the Gilahina Bridge was the last one standing of the dozens of  trestle bridges that brought the copper ore to market.  

 Showy Jacob's Ladder

Our long drive ended at a parking lot beside the Kennicott River. All six passengers and Sonaa headed across the wooden walking bridge to the waiting commuter van that would take us the rest of the way to the Kennicott mine site.

 Kennecott River

First, we stopped briefly at the picturesque little village of McCarthy. Each of the dozen little buildings in the village was brightly painted with verandas festooned with flowers. It took special people to want to live 100 miles into the Alaskan bush. The buildings of the community reflected the joyous independence of these hearty folks.

Town of McCarthy

A quick ten minute drive got us to the entrance to the world famous Kennicott mine. It was closed in 1938 as copper ore concentrations decreased to non-commercial levels. However, at it peak this mine produced hundreds of millions of tons of concentrated copper ore. The slowly deteriorating historic buildings told the tale of a once great operation. 

 Kennecott Mines

After the long car ride, our first priority was lunch so we chowed down at the Meatza Wagon. The food was great, the ambiance rustic and the view amazing.

Lunch from the Meatza Wagon

The nearby raven was also interested in our lunch and hovered nearby as we consumed our

meatball sub and salmon paddies. Sonaa considered it her duty to patrol the area and kept the frisky raven at bay.

 Common Raven

The primary Kennecott facility was the huge gravity fed concentration building. Copper ore from further up the mountain was transported down by rail cart to the top of the concentration building.

As the ore flowed down through the building the copper was concentrated then transported by rail to the coast where ships carried the ore to a smelter in Tacoma Washington.

Kennecott Mine

The entire mine site overlooked the Kennecott Glacier. At this elevation, most of the glacier ice was hidden by a thin layer of silt and soil. 

 Kennecott Glacier

Fed and refreshed we headed along the Root Glacier Trail. The round trip was an eight kilometre hike with great scenery and a few tricky sections. Emma bounced jauntily over the narrow foot bridges. Well, mostly she did. On this occasion, Sonaa was not as eager. Emma had to go back and negotiate with the dog before we could proceed.

 Emma and Sonaa on the Root Glacier Trail

 Wilson's Warbler

Finally, we arrived at the foot of the Root Glacier. Emma and Sonaa were pretty much played out by this time and chose a nice overlook to watch me scramble up and about the glacier.

 Root Glacier

 Root Glacier

Scrambling about the glacier was a lot of fun. The key imperative was not to fall down any fissures or into any caverns.

 Rappelling down the Root Glacier

An enterprising group had found a nice cavern and were offering opportunities for folks to rappel down the side. It would have been a spectacular shot if I could have gotten Emma to rappel part way down the cliff.
However, on this day I saw no point in pressing my luck with my muse. Instead, I opted for a slow stroll with Emma back to the Kennecott Mine then out of the park.