Although I’ve never been disappointed with scenery on a road trip in Alaska so far, this one really stunned us! I think due to the expectation that we would be driving down a long dirt road, I sort of assumed the views would be ugly too. Above is a view from one of the pull-offs!
First stop in the park. We got to hit up the visitor center and acquire our park collectible items 🙂
Here is a picture of the mountains we got to admire on the horizon as we approached. The rounded one on the right is Mt. Wrangell – a huge shield volcano.
Here was our darling cabin!! This was the first time I got to stay in a dry cabin. No running water and no electricity – so it did have an outhouse! Had to get a small taste of the true Alaskan experience.
The next day we had our glacier hiking tour. It was time for me to scratch off another item from my bucket list – glacier hiking. The tour leaves from McCarthy, and somehow we missed the instructions for how to arrive… I was about 1 minute from accidentally driving across the locals bridge. Who knew you can’t actually drive into McCarthy?? We had to park the car at the visitor lot and then walk across this bridge; The town itself was about another mile walk from here, but luckily for us we got picked up by a shuttle!
The shuttle took us up to the abandoned mining town of Kennecott. This was the trail head to our hike but also the location of a crazy story. You’ll have to look it up for all the facts, but I did manage to grab a few cool photos.
Here is our hiking group during our descent to the glacier! Root glacier, was its name. It had a ton of moraine around it, but it was still beautiful to behold!
We sat down at the foot of the glacier to put on our spikes, and then climbed up the side. I loved the crunching sound of my spikes sinking into the ice beneath my feet.
Here was our view for our lunch break, and the source of our water refill! I can’t say the glacial water tasted very different than any other water I’ve tasted before, but it was still refreshing!
We met some friends on the tour – a couple who had hired a tour guide to take them all over Alaska for 3 weeks. Their tour guide – Amy – invited us to come grab dinner and drinks with them in the booming town of McCarthy! One stop town – we headed down to the saloon when we got back for beers and some great food. The two pictures below show the town of McCarthy and the only hotel in town. While eating and swapping stories Amy told us of the epic local party taking place that night – the Burning man! Mary and I were very interested in checking it out.
Here was the sign showing the entrance/turn-off to the town and also a small glimpse into the state of the road. The road to get to McCarthy is 65 miles long and riddled with potholes. It takes 2.5-3 hrs to drive it, and the whole time you’re tense, hoping to avoid the worst of the craters.
After dinner Mary and I made the mile long walk back to the footbridge to swing back to the cabin before coming back for the night’s excitement. Got some excellent views along the way.
When we came back just as the sun was setting we got to see the man they had constructed out of wood. McCarthy as a town only has about 40 or so year-round residents. They have larger population during the summer months when there are tour guides and seasonal employees support, and this was the end of season celebration.
They did get the man to light, but unfortunately they didn’t realize that the legs would collapse before the rest of him caught fire. Once the man collapsed they threw all the bits in the fire and then came the real show – the fire spinning. This was unexpected, but very entertaining. Mary and I joked that since 4 different people had this skill almost 10% of the population was into it!
The next part includes some of my favorite take-aways from this national park. I’ve never seen so many stars as I have each time I visit Alaska. Got some amazing pictures of the milky way after a few trial shots. Some of them even have shooting stars in them!
And now for the Grand Finale! We didn’t think we would be able to see the northern lights this far south but we did!! I took several hundred photos but have included just two of my favorites. Additionally I’ve included little photo videos I made showing 10-30 second exposures at 0.5 second intervals. Its a slow dance, but no less beautiful for it. Hands down one of my favorite things to photograph.
I don’t know if I’ll ever make it all the way back to McCarthy AK, but this visit was certainly worth the effort. Recommend everyone makes the trek at least once in their lives!! Also if you want to know more about the area there is a reality TV Show called – Edge of Alaska. Mary and I have started watching it together and I bet its going to continue to crack us up.
Kelsey's Climb to 59 (+4) 