23 July 2006
Day 7: McCarthy, Alaska
Today was an easier driving day, with only about 4 hours of actual driving, though the last two hours (60 miles) were on the dirt/gravel McCarthy road. The road dust seems to be starting to get into everything in my car!
McCarthy is a town located within the boundary of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park — the largest national park in the United States, by far. The region is immediately adjacent to Kluane National Park in Canada, and these two parks combined contain seven (? from memory) of the ten largest peaks in North America (one is in Mexico, the other two — of course including #1, Mt. McKinley — are in the Alaska Range to the northwest). The tallest peaks within Wrangell-St. Elias include Mt. Wrangell and Mt. St. Elias (in the extreme southeast corner of the park). Mt. Logan, Canada’s highest peak, and the second-highest peak in North America, lies a short distance away, within the borders of Kluane.
The vast majority of Wrangel-St. Elias is completely inaccessible by car; there are only two roads into the park, one in the north, and one in the south, the McCarthy road. Near McCarthy lies the ruins of the town of Kennicott, a former copper-mining town whose heyday was in the early twentieth century.
Today, I rode the shuttle bus up to Kennicott, photographed many of the buildings, then hiked up to Kennicott Glacier (not quite a 3 mile hike each way). I had scheduled a flight-seeing flight with Wrangell Air, joining a couple who were going on a custom-designed two hour flight (normal flights are 35-90 minutes and follow set paths; they require a minimum of two passengers, and a maximum of three or more, depending on the plane). Unfortunately, the couple, who were on a trip in the back-country today, decided they didn’t want to go up today, so they postponed… Hopefully, I will still be able to go up tomorrow. Who knows whether I’ll be able to shoot through an open window/door — probably not, but I’ll ask.
The clouds that were mostly concealing the mountains yesterday were mostly gone this morning. They started to come back as the afternoon wore on, but I’m optimistic that conditions will be better in the morning — and maybe a bit less hazy.
Spotted today:
• rabbits
• bald eagles
• annoying, chattering squirrels that didn’t let up until 11:30 PM last night, and resumed promptly this morning at 4:30 AM.
• an owl… I think. I need to consult my bird field guide to identify it. Did not get a clear look at its face (it was flying away), so I need to go by the feathers (a bit like a snowy owl, but with streaks of gray). I’m not 100% convinced it was an owl (after all, it was flying out in the open at midday), but it was definitely a bird of prey. The Alaskan birds of prey include the bald eagle, the great horned owl, the snowy owl, and … two others, which I do not remember. One of those may be my bird.
• a brown bear (grizzly) cub, near McCarthy, around 8 or 9 PM! No sign of the mother. Didn’t get a picture, though I had my camera with me… it wandered off while I was getting my camera out. I think it was taunting me.
Also, I forgot to mention it in previous entries, but several times in the Yukon a spotted a small mammal on the road, vaguely like a squirrel or chipmunk, but clearly neither. I now have a suspicion they were lemmings.
My cell phone still isn’t getting reception. I may not get it until I reach Anchorage (late tomorrow or Tuesday).
The morning started quite cool, but by midday it was getting quite hot.
Tomorrow, I will try again for flight-seeing. I’m considering another, longer hike to one of the old mines above Kennicott, but if it is as sunny and hot as today, I think I may pass. Either way, I will probably leave McCarthy before evening to start the next stage of my journey, to Anchorage.
Departed Glenallen, Alaska (Dry Creek campground) about 9 AM ADTArrived McCarthy, Alaska (61°26'N, 142°57'W) about 1:45 PM ADT
Elevation: 1,430'
Sun: 4:32 AM - 10:38 PM
Daytime temperatures: 55°F to toasty-hot
Distance to Seattle: 1,332 miles
view routeDistance driven: 127 miles
Total driven: 2,834 miles
23 July 9:30 PM ADT