July 8 – McCarthy – Seeing North America

All roads lead to McCarthy. In truth, only one road leads to McCarthy. McCarthy is at the end of a 77 mile gravel road. McCarthy is the town and the Kennecott Copper Mile is two miles out of town. The existence of the town is due to the copper found in the area. Known by the natives for many year and the mining began in 1917 and closed in 1938. The coper ore found at the mine was roughly 70% pure copper. The mine closed since the ore remaining contained roughly 4% copper. With today’s technology copper can be mined at a profit with less than 1% copper. This area is no longer mined since it became part of the Wrangle-St. Elias National Park, the largest of all our National Parks.

Let’s start with the road. The road was built mostly on the old rail bed built to haul the copper ore to ships. It’s remote, rugged land and it’s hard to image living in McCarty, but some do. Some over winter in town but they are hardy souls. The highway, when open, provides some access to the outside world as does an airstrip. In the summer it’s home to National Parks personnel, local artisans, and ones supporting the influx of tourists wishing to experience the area.

The town includes a few eateries including The Potato, which we can now highly recommend. There are a few places with rooms as well as a large Inn. There are a couple of art related places as well as guiding services. The area is the starting point for those wishing to access the park via backpacking into the back country.

Once one arrives near the town there is a parking lot to leave your car. To get to town one walks across the foot bridge over the river then has two choices. Walk the half mile to town or take the shuttle running every half hour. There also is a shuttle from McCarthy to the Kennecott Mine 2 ½ miles further away.

After exploring Kennecott Mile and McCarthy we walk back to the bridge and pile into our truck. It’s a long and beautiful drive back to our camper where we boondock for the night.

Along the McCarthy Road

Most of the McCarthy Road was built upon an old railroad bed. Here’s one place where the road was rerouted to follow the contours of the land where it would bee too steep for a train. I’m glad we are on solid ground!