[McCarthy, AK, Jul 30, 2025]

I had booked our stay at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge inside Wrangell-St Elias national park more than 10 months ago. Even so, availability was spotty and I just picked some days that were available at the end of July. It just so happened that those days coincided perfectly with Copper Valley Air’s schedule. The company flies the mail in and out of the park twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Copper Valley Air was also cheaper than its competitor and had a bigger baggage allowance, so it was a no-brainer!

Copper Valley Air flies out of the Gulkana airport in Glenallen, which is why we spent the night there. Our flight got moved up a little earlier, to 8 am instead of 11 am. We didn’t mind, as that gave us extra time in McCarthy and Kennecott to explore. The plane was a 6 seater, the tiniest plane I’ve been on aside from the one I took skydiving many years ago.

Our flight was very smooth though and the views were indescribable! In the beginning, it was mostly muddy glacier rivers and alluvial fans, fan-shaped deposits of sediments that formed when fast-flowing glacier melt emerged from a narrow canyon.

Then it was more mountains and more glaciers. There aren’t the best photos since I had to zoom in and all of this was on the other side of my seat, but you get the idea.

We saw another peak in the distance and many glaciers right below us. The view from the other side of the plane looked like Hawaii – the green slopes reminded me of the Napali coast on Kauai.

And here is Mt Blackburn, the tallest one in the range, from different angles as we made our way around it.

I loved the contrast between the green and the snow in this section of our flight. Then it was on to 4th of July pass before our approach to McCarthy.

After the pass, more views awaited us… we were now on the southern side of Mt Wrangell and the numerous glaciers that come off it. This includes the fast-moving Kennicott glacier and the Root glacier, which we will be going on tomorrow!

Shortly after we arrived, the lodge shuttle picked us up and got us to the lodge in no time. We dropped off our luggage at the front desk and took a quick walk around Kennecott. We knew we would spend more time here later, so we just took a quick walk around while waiting for the shuttle to take us to McCarthy.

Kennecott is a former mining town that became part of the national park in 1998. Copper and gold was discovered here in the early 1900s and the town grew. The camp, mill, mines and railway were constructed over the next decade and the mine opened in 1911.

The costs to open the mine were enormous due to its remoteness. The railroad to Kennecott alone, the Copper River & Northwestern Railway (CRNW), cost $25 million. Building it took several years and there were so many problems with it that people joked CRNW stood for Can’t Run, Never Will. But the copper deposits were huge and profits from the mine were upwards of $200 million. However, by 1938, the copper was depleted and the mine closed. In the decades between then and 1980, when the national park was established, Kennecott was abandoned. Once the park service took over, it restored some of the buildings, while others have been left to time. Today, Kennecott is the best preserved example of early 20th century copper mining technology in the country.

While the mining took place in Kennecott, all the recreation took place in the nearby town of McCarthy, just 5 miles down the road. These days, anywhere from 25 to 100 people live here year round. Visitors are not allowed to bring their own cars to McCarthy, so even if we drove here, we would have had to leave our car on the other side of the river and walk over. Since we didn’t have a car, we relied on the shuttle that runs between Kennecott and McCarthy every 30 minutes or so.

Our first stop was the McCarthy General Store for some much needed coffee. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we enjoyed our beverages on the deck with views of the Wrangell mountains. Then we took a walk around town, which didn’t take much time given the size of the place!

The Ma Johnson Historical Hotel offered a glimpse of McCarthy as it used to be. The former boarding house, which opened in the early 1900s, has been restored with period pieces.

The Potato was a must for lunch. The curly fries were the star of the show, but I loved my salmon salad sandwich as well!

Across the street was the Copper Nugget, the only dispensary inside a national park! They carried some cute McCarthy merch, too.

At the McCathy-Kennicott Historical Museum, we immersed ourselves into the history of this amazing place even more. The museum is housed in the former CRNW railroad depot. It preserves and displays a wealth of fascinating photos, documents, and artifacts as well as a miniature model of historic McCarthy and a diorama of the Bonanza mine.

There is a cozy reading room full of books, papers, and DVD videos about the area. The museum also sells T-shirts, books, postcards, and other unique souvenirs. This is where I discovered Alaska writer Tom Kizzia. One of his books, Pilgrim’s Wilderness, took place largely here in McCarthy. The short description of the book from the website is quite apt: “Into the Wild meets Helter Skelter in this riveting true story of a modern-day homesteading family in the deepest reaches of the Alaskan wilderness—and the chilling secrets of its maniacal, spellbinding patriarch.” I read it once I returned and it is indeed a page turner!

Because the mine was abruptly abandoned over just a couple of days, pretty much everything was left behind – paperwork, tools, you named it. This census of mine workers and their home countries in the 1900s lists 8 Bulgarians workers here in 1918!

This textile mural was one of our favorite pieces. The sun rises on the left and sets on the right with the center documenting the ever present ice and snow. Other patchwork pieces reference the mining days and the community value of living together in the remote Alaska wilderness.

Finally, I popped into the Wrangell Mountains Center while waiting for the shuttle back to Kennecott. It connects people to wilderness through education and science. There were many more books on Alaska here, merch, and a schedule of events. There was donation-only yoga back at Kennecott, a story telling festival in a couple of weekends, and a lot of other fun things. It seemed that despite McCarthy’s size, its sense of community was quite deep!

Back the the Kennecott Glacier Lodge, we checked in and had some downtime. I needed to get my steps in, so we took another walk around Kennecott. We marveled at the buildings, many of which have not been restored and will remain as they are until nature reclaims them.

We did pop into the yoga class, but couldn’t stay the whole time because we had a set time for dinner at the lodge. Nevertheless, it was nice to meet some locals and get some stretching in. The yoga class took place in the Kennecott Recreation Hall, right across the street from the lodge. Besides yoga, it hosts movie screenings, weddings, retreats and other community events throughout the summer.

We had dinner at the lodge at a communal table with about 6 other people. One retired couple was on a roll, having visited 33 national parks this year alone! Another couple was from France. They also came from Seward just like us. Once we compared our schedules, we realized we were actually on the Harding ice field trail at the same time! Not only that, I had actually talked to them on the trail! As I had set out across the snow fields after Olivia decided to stay behind, I had seen them descending and asked them how far up they had made it. It took us a little while to recognize each other – people look different when they clean up!

It was so nice to have extra free time here today! The remote nature of this place and its two tiny towns make it easy to settle into a relaxed pace and just enjoy the beautiful mountains we are surrounded by. There is no phone or TV in our room, and the even though we have our cell phones, the outside world feels very far away, indeed.