DrewE's Alaska Trip Travelogue
I returned about a week ago from a marvelous ten-week trip to and through Alaska (and back) with my dear mother. I went in a 32' class C, actually about 35' overall with a bicycle rack on the back, w...
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August 20th -- After purchasing gas at the Hub of Alaska--which involved a fair bit of waiting in line--we headed south on the Richardson Highway. The next main destination was the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park, and more specifically Kennicott and McCarthy.
A couple of miles south of Glennallen is a turnoff to a good view of the Wrangell Mountains. The mountains and clouds tended to merge together for us, making the peaks somewhat indistinct and hard to make out, but it's still a very nice view across the Copper river.
Click For Full-Size Image.
I think this is Mt Drum, or at least its base.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Someone who had at least been to Hawaii had stopped at this viewpoint at some time and left a greeting.
Not much further down the road is the main visitor's center for the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This complex, spread out over several buildings, has the usual accouterments: an information desk, exhibit hall, theater with a video presentation, nice restrooms, picnic tables, gift shop, etc. There's also an Ahtna cultural center with displays.
The video presentation is impressively pretty. The narration, as seems standard for many of these films, was evidently written with frequent reference to a thesaurus.
Somewhat unusually, the visitor's center is not actually in the park proper.
A little further south is the turn for the Edgerton Highway (to Chitina) and McCarthy Road (from thence nearly to McCarthy). The former is in quite nice condition, all paved, and easily drivable. McCarthy road is rather rougher and slower going and has two small segments that are very narrow, only a single lane wide. Both stem from the fact that it's the converted roadbed from the Copper River and Northwestern railroad. The first of these segments is very close to Chitina, a deep cut through rock. The second is the bridge over the Kuskulana. There are a few other pretty narrow places and bridges, but they're not longer unbroken segments.
Click For Full-Size Image.
There are occasional impressive mountain views along this road.
Click For Full-Size Image.
The Kuskulana bridge, from underneath. The roadbed is on top of the upper chord of the bridge (and not the lower one with railings, which apparently is used as a maintenance catwalk). This impressive bridge was constructed for the railroad. The river is in a very deep chasm below the bridge; even from the bank here, it's impossible to see the river in the bottom of the canyon.
Click For Full-Size Image.
We were obliged to wait for ten or fifteen minutes while a couple of tour group vanfuls strolled leisurely across the one lane bridge, and for their vans to drive slowly across after them.
Click For Full-Size Image.
On the return trip, as nobody was coming or waiting, I quickly strolled across the bridge myself and attempted to get pictures showing how deep and narrow the canyon was. I'm not sure I succeeded too well in showing that.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Another view; this bridge would be very rough going for the acrophobic.
Somewhat further along are the fairly well-preserved remains of the Gilahina River trestle, the largest of the many trestles along the railroad. It was originally built in eight days in extremely cold conditions, a most impressive feat. (It was later rebuilt in ten days after it caught fire and burned down.)
Click For Full-Size Image.
The old Gilahina trestle, and the new and comparatively unimpressive Gilahina bridge.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Some of the trestle has collapsed, and portions of the rest looked fairly unsteady; many of the uprights are no longer sitting on their proper pilings.
The (privately owned) gravel bar at the end of the McCarthy road is rather grandly termed "Base Camp Root Glacier." From a rational point of view, spending the night here is rather expensive given the very limited amenities: space to park, a couple of vault toilets, some picnic tables, and stones that can be arranged into a fire pit cost $20 per night. However, I think the setting made up for it, at least in large part. The mountains surrounding the area are beautiful, and we chose a site quite near the river and could hear the flowing water even with the windows closed. Navigating around the rocks and dips safely took a little thought and care.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Click For Full-Size Image.
Our side of the camping area
Click For Full-Size Image.
The other side of the camping area
We stayed here for two nights. I would have liked to been able to stay another day (and hike to the Root Glacier), but the time we had available wasn't unlimited.
A couple of miles south of Glennallen is a turnoff to a good view of the Wrangell Mountains. The mountains and clouds tended to merge together for us, making the peaks somewhat indistinct and hard to make out, but it's still a very nice view across the Copper river.
I think this is Mt Drum, or at least its base.
Someone who had at least been to Hawaii had stopped at this viewpoint at some time and left a greeting.
Not much further down the road is the main visitor's center for the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This complex, spread out over several buildings, has the usual accouterments: an information desk, exhibit hall, theater with a video presentation, nice restrooms, picnic tables, gift shop, etc. There's also an Ahtna cultural center with displays.
The video presentation is impressively pretty. The narration, as seems standard for many of these films, was evidently written with frequent reference to a thesaurus.
Somewhat unusually, the visitor's center is not actually in the park proper.
A little further south is the turn for the Edgerton Highway (to Chitina) and McCarthy Road (from thence nearly to McCarthy). The former is in quite nice condition, all paved, and easily drivable. McCarthy road is rather rougher and slower going and has two small segments that are very narrow, only a single lane wide. Both stem from the fact that it's the converted roadbed from the Copper River and Northwestern railroad. The first of these segments is very close to Chitina, a deep cut through rock. The second is the bridge over the Kuskulana. There are a few other pretty narrow places and bridges, but they're not longer unbroken segments.
There are occasional impressive mountain views along this road.
The Kuskulana bridge, from underneath. The roadbed is on top of the upper chord of the bridge (and not the lower one with railings, which apparently is used as a maintenance catwalk). This impressive bridge was constructed for the railroad. The river is in a very deep chasm below the bridge; even from the bank here, it's impossible to see the river in the bottom of the canyon.
We were obliged to wait for ten or fifteen minutes while a couple of tour group vanfuls strolled leisurely across the one lane bridge, and for their vans to drive slowly across after them.
On the return trip, as nobody was coming or waiting, I quickly strolled across the bridge myself and attempted to get pictures showing how deep and narrow the canyon was. I'm not sure I succeeded too well in showing that.
Another view; this bridge would be very rough going for the acrophobic.
Somewhat further along are the fairly well-preserved remains of the Gilahina River trestle, the largest of the many trestles along the railroad. It was originally built in eight days in extremely cold conditions, a most impressive feat. (It was later rebuilt in ten days after it caught fire and burned down.)
The old Gilahina trestle, and the new and comparatively unimpressive Gilahina bridge.
Some of the trestle has collapsed, and portions of the rest looked fairly unsteady; many of the uprights are no longer sitting on their proper pilings.
The (privately owned) gravel bar at the end of the McCarthy road is rather grandly termed "Base Camp Root Glacier." From a rational point of view, spending the night here is rather expensive given the very limited amenities: space to park, a couple of vault toilets, some picnic tables, and stones that can be arranged into a fire pit cost $20 per night. However, I think the setting made up for it, at least in large part. The mountains surrounding the area are beautiful, and we chose a site quite near the river and could hear the flowing water even with the windows closed. Navigating around the rocks and dips safely took a little thought and care.
Our side of the camping area
The other side of the camping area
We stayed here for two nights. I would have liked to been able to stay another day (and hike to the Root Glacier), but the time we had available wasn't unlimited.
