Back to Life

        I just want to start by saying that Kennecott, McCarthy and the whole damn Wrangell-St. Elias Park and Preserve has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have been to in this entire state.  Sorry Kenai/Soldota/Homer...you all are cute but nothing rivals the idyllic beauty of the barely touched land in the Wrangell area, at least in my opinion.

        The moment we crossed the bridge over the Copper River and started heading down McCarthy road, traffic was sparse.  And by sparse, I mean we didn't even see another car until we got 10 miles in, to Strelna and Silver Lake.  McCarthy road, for anyone curious, is a 58 mile long stretch of bumpy gravel road.  At times it was so narrow that we would have to pull over half into the bushes to let another car pass, which was hardly ever.  Sure, people live on McCarthy road, i.e. Papa Pilgrim (caution, his story is disturbing) and clan, but cabins and houses along this road were really few and far between, which I guess is why Pilgrim picked that particular location.  Most of the houses in that area looked like they had accompanying outhouses and sheds just stacked full of wood for the winter.  I get the feeling that a lot of people live subsistence style on that road.
        The first stop we came to was the Kuskulana Bridge.  I'm not all that fond of heights, and something about being in a car on the bridge made me nervous, so driving over the one lane bridge 238 feet above the river was not on my fun list of things to do.  Then my crazy ass decided it would be a great time to go walk along the metal grating underneath the bridge, which was still 210 feet above the river.  Go figure...in the car, it's scary; out of the car, it's fine! Why is that?

Our friend stopped his camper on the bridge so I could get a shot of him on it.

~210 miles straight down, and all that was between me and open air was that grating.

I did have fun though, I would do it again tomorrow if I could.

    
         I'm actually surprised I've never heard of people bungee jumping off of it, or something like that.  Although I'm not any kind of expert on bungee jumping, maybe it's too low? Who knows.  It was fun and exciting, that's all I know.  After a quick lunch, we got back in the car and continued our *slow* path down McCarthy Road.
        I want to point out right here, that after hearing all kinds of horror stories about how McCarthy road was just so terrible and people just had so many tales of getting flat tires and getting stuck or whatnot, the road really wasn't that bad.  I can see how it would be, if you were flying down the road at 60 mph, but we were going about 20-30, and it really wasn't that bad.
Our next stop was the Gilahina Trestle.  Awesome.  I don't think my husband or our friend really wanted to stop, but I thought it was neat, so we stopped.  Here it is:

Gilahina Trestle: Leftover old world beauty

        On we go.  About 4 hours and many pictures later, we arrived at the Kennecott River, the end of the main road.  There was a little campground, and the only way to get across the river to the little town of McCarthy is a small footbridge.  It used to be a hand tram and people would have to slowly pull themselves across, part of the hand tram is still there, sitting broken and dilapidated. Farther on to the very end of the road is the town of Kennecott.  It was 5 miles, and luckily we brought our bikes, otherwise the walk to Kennecott would have been slow going.
        The campground at the end of the road was just beautiful, but also full of hippies. Lots and lots of hippies.  On a scale of places I like to hang out, a crowd of hippies rates about the same as in a truck on a 238 foot high bridge.  It's not that I think "They're bad people!" or anything, it's just not my vibe.  I think it there was a 4th of July hippie-fest in going on in McCarthy, but maybe that's the usual crowd.  There was a live band that night at "The Potato" (the main area of downtown, I'm guessing), and fireworks.  The view from the campground had a roaring river in front of us, mountains on all sides, and off in the distance we could see the old abandoned town of Kennecott nestled in the the base of the mountain.

Kennecott, all tucked in for the night.  Or something.

Freya exploring the campground.  She's not a big fan of the outdoors.

Main Street McCarthy, it's a happenin' place!

          We biked up to Kennecott the next day, and took our sweet lab/husky mix, Deshka. She had a fun 10 mile run that day. She could have run forever if I let her, but I kept stopping to make sure she was doing okay and not going to collapse. Kennecott has an interesting history about it.  It was founded in 1911 and in 27 years managed to profit about $100 million.  In 1938 it was very quickly abandoned, and a lot of things were left behind because the company didn't feel it was that important to cart back out.  It's currently a huge tourist trap, and looks like it's in the process of being restored. Although it's considered "abandoned" I think about 12 families live in the Kennecott-McCarthy area year round.  That's gotta be rough.

         I still can't believe our 5 day road trip was over in the blink of an eye.  It went by so fast I feel like I barely had time to think, and before I knew it we were back in Anchorage.  I could literally feel a heavy net of depression settling over all of us in the truck as we turned down our street and headed home. Yes, even our dogs were pretty sad that our long trip was over.  Back to the daily grind, back to working most of the day and having about 3 hours left to do anything at all afterwards. Back to being constantly nitpicked and told I'm doing things wrong, wrong, wrong, and being hassled every hour of every day of my frickin life.

The Mill

I think this was the old hospital and the schoolhouse(?)

Inside the factory

Climbed up on the dam to enjoy the view!

Inside the old General Store

      

        So damn you, Wrangell-St. Elias, McCarthy and Kennecott for being so damn beautiful that I just want to leave behind the city, throw away the confines of everyday life and embrace my inner hippie.  I want to frolick through the forest wearing flowy dresses and flowers in my hair and live off the land, not ever worrying about the daily grind ever again.
        Alaska, why are you so gorgeous! Kennecott, you are definitely getting a spot inside one of my books.  Maybe this coming weekend I can get back out there and be in the peacefulness of nature again.  Maybe not.  Even in this state full of unbridled wilderness, it's hard to find a place quite like Wrangell-St. Elias.

        Join me for my next adventure when I travel with my friends back inside the Buckner Building in Whittier next month.  Because for some strange reason, we are obsessed with that place.