July 28, Got up early at 5 am and headed out to McCarthy and Kennecott, which are the southern entrance towns to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Kennecott was established in 1900, expanded in stages until the 20’s, as mining increased, camp needs grew. By 1938, there were more than 100 buildings in camp. But with the limited supply of ore and dropping prices, Kennecott closed that year after producing 200-300 million dollars worth of copper and silver. They say if you drive, it will take about 4 hours, 30 mile paved road and then 60 mile long gravel road very bumpy, this road follows the old railroad track, crossing over an old railroad bridge, Kuskulana Bridge, it’s 525 feet long and 238 feet above the river gorge, and saw an abandoned wooden railroad trestle. We arrived a little after 10 am, walked across the Kennecott River Footbridge, 1/2 mile walk, and got a shuttle for McCarthy and Kennecott, where they mined for copper and silver, decided to stay on bus to try and catch the 11:30 tour of the mine, but it was full, so we had to wait until 1:30 tour. Walked a little through town, got something to eat and just waited. The tour of the mine was about 2 - 2 1/2 hours long, very interesting, with a lot of stairs to go up and down. The National Park service is restoring some of the buildings, some are too far gone. We got the shuttle and went to McCarthy, just a few buildings in town, hotel, golden saloon, bistro, bakery and jewelry store, and a few other homes, got the shuttle back to the walking bridge, got in truck and drove another 4 hours back, getting back to camp at 10:30 pm, what a long day but it was really worth it.
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