RV-Dreams Journal

2019 Alaska Trip - Day 65 - Chores & More Klutina River Salmon Fishing, Copper Center, Alaska

It was another scorcher here at the Salmon Grove Campground on the Klutina River in Copper Center.

I spent the cool morning updating the Journal.

Linda headed out to fish. She foul hooked one that broke her line. Since my rod was ready to go, she used it before getting snagged and breaking off. That was the last of the pre-tied hooks and leaders I bought yesterday, and she really liked those, so I'll have to go get some more.

I don't think I mentioned that while we are "flossing" the red salmon (basically snagging in the mouth), all the folks around here say you can't just use a bare hook. Even the guides say there has to be something else, so people buy commercial flies (which aren't necessary since the fish aren't feeding) or you can just tie yarn to the line right where the hook is tied. The yarn and flies theoretically make the hook a little more bouyant, but so far I haven't seen that make any difference at all. A couple of the most successful fishermen here barely use any yarn, just enough to make them "legal".

Now, with all due respect to these local rules (which we've heard repeated in various locations), I can't find anything anywhere in the massive amount of Alaska fishing regulations that confirms this prohibition against completely bare hooks. In fact, many regulations in particular waters refer to using only an "artificial fly" (no "bait" allowed) and the state's definition of "artificial fly" includes "bare hook".

ARTIFICIAL FLY—a fly which is constructed by common methods known as fly tying, including a dry fly, wet fly, and nymph, or a bare single hook that is free of bait as defined in 5 AAC 75.995. 

So there we go. But, just so we don't make any waves, we use a little bit of yarn on our hooks or use the pre-tied hooks that have yarn. It certainly doesn't hurt.

Sorry about all the fishing talk, but for folks RVing to Alaska for a summer, fishing is often on the agenda, so the information will be helpful to at least a few. 

Anyway, before I could get into serious fishing myself today, I had some chores. The main things we needed to get done today were dump our gray tank and take on more fresh water.

We considered packing up the rig to go to the dump station, but it took us a while to get level when we got here, so we decided to stay put rather than having to re-set the blocks under our front wheels. I used the camp's blue boy and made a couple trips to empty our gray tank. The first trip rolling that filled tank around about did me in especially with the temps hovering around 90. I should have filled it half way each time.

After that was done, I hooked up 75 feet of hose to get to the nearest water spigot to fill the fresh tank.

We'll be here until July 3, so we should be good until then.

I finally got out to do some fishing when I saw my favorite spot was open. Sockeye salmon fishing isn't necessarily fun. It's tedious. Someone here said it's like playing a slot machine - you just keep doing the same thing over and over and over until you hit. And in the meantime, you're getting snagged, breaking off line, re-tying, and hoping.

You can have perfect technique, but if the salmon aren't coming through at the time you are fishing, you're wasting your time. Of course you don't know if the salmon are making a run until you catch one or see someone else catch one.

With the repetitive nature of this fishing, my right arm has felt like it's about to fall off since the first night. Instead of "tennis elbow", I have "Sockeye elbow".

So I flipped my "fly" over and over until I finally caught one. Then I caught another right after that, and the spots around me filled up. Then I caught my third. I was so happy to have finally "limited out" for a day. I made Linda come outside and take a picture.

 

 

It took me five days of learning, but I got 'em, and I've learned how to avoid getting snagged so much. Catching with reduced snags increases the fun.

Linda took this photo of Kory, right, Kyleigh, center, and Jack, left while I filleted the fish.

 

 

Kory and Jack are two of the best here at catching reds, and I haven't seen a day yet when they haven't caught their limit in a short period of time. They've been very helpful, as have Sara, Rob, and Kathy shown below.

 

 

We all help each other land fish and bonk them. By salmon standards, these fish aren't all that big, but they fight hard and actually getting them on shore or in a net is an accomplishment.

Linda vacuum sealed the fish, and I added them to our growing bag in the camper freezer. We now have fillets from eight fish. 

By the way, though we are fishing the Klutina River, it's a tributary of the Copper River. In fact, were only about a mile from the confluence. So, these are the famous "Copper River Salmon" that are supposed to have a bit more fat and flavor than other Sockeye. They are prized by fish markets, restaurants, and chefs.

For tonight, however, Linda was making pork belly for dinner in her Ninja Foodi. Delicious as always.

After dinner, I looked outside and saw Kyleigh bringing in a fish. Kathy had hooked it and handed the rod to Kyleigh, so I rushed out to get this great shot.

 

 

Not only have we enjoyed learning the fishing, but we've been embraced by the regulars making our stay here a lot of fun.

Tomorrow, the king salmon season opens on the Klutina, and I'm taking a charter to hopefully get one of those monsters. My luck with charters hasn't been very good so far, so hopefully that will change. We take off at 3:00 a.m., so it's an early night for me - off to bed at 9:00. Linda sat around the campfire chatting with the others until well after midnight again.

And thus ends the month of June. We've been in Alaska over a month and a half, and we still have two months to go. An epic adventure indeed.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 64 - More Klutina River Salmon Fishing, Copper Center, Alaska

After being up so late last night, we were in no rush to do anything today. And it was even hotter today than yesterday with temps reaching 90.

When we finally got going, I wandered around and took some pictures. They run half-day and full-day king salmon fishing charters out of this RV park - Salmon Grove Campground, and a charter had just returned with a couple of nice kings on the cleaning tables.

 

 

They are doing the king charters on the Gulkana River, as king season doesn't open on the Klutina until July 1. Since we'll be here, I signed up for a charter on opening day. I have a lot more confidence in this charter than the last one we did, but you never know.

Our new friends, Kathy & Steve, were in their favorite spots fishing for reds.

 

 

Steve said he was tired of cleaning fish and they were about out of freezer space, so he asked us if we wanted anything they caught. I think all my hours of fishing yesterday made him feel sorry for me. "Of course!" was our answer to his offer.

They caught two, and Linda grabbed them for me to clean.

 

 

I filleted them, and Linda vacuum sealed them. Then we took all our salmon from the last couple of days and put it in a marked bag in the camper freezer.

After that, I went to the tackle shop across the river to see if they had something other than what I had been using, and I ended up buying some hollow-core pencil weights, some leaders, and some pre-tied hooks with leader. I asked lots of questions, and a guy named Rick showed me how he rigged his line. I was told he catches more Sockeye on the Klutina than anyone, so I listened.

Back at the RV park, I set up my rod and Linda's rod with the new tackle.

Eventually, I saw that the good spots on the bank of the river were open, so I headed out.

I was by myself and hooked a big one that got off.

Then I broke off my line, but didn't want to lose my spot to the now-gathering fishermen, so I grabbed Linda's rod which was ready to go. Soon, I caught a nice Sockeye that put up quite a fight, and I could hear cheers from the regulars.

Then I hooked another that jumped and got off - another big one. And another that got away.

Then the non-regulars all around me that couldn't get anything had just watched me hook four, so they thought I knew what I was doing. That's what they said - "That guy knows what he's doing", and I chuckled. They were coming up to me asking about my tackle, my weights, the set-up, and the technique. It was quite amusing, since it was only my third day.

Then I hooked another huge red that took off, and I couldn't stop it. I had Linda's reel set with a lower drag so she could more easily strip line, and I forgot to set it back, and I also panicked too much to adjust it with the fish on. I reeled, and it took more line. I was told that they don't want to go downstream and they will eventually come back up. This one didn't.

Suddenly, the fish and every bit of line on the reel was gone. I got "spooled" as they say. So the guy that was supposed to know what he was doing clearly did not.

I set up my rod again, and hooked another one getting it about four feet from landing it before it got off. Well, at least I'm doing something right.

Kathy was trying to coach me with each fish, and I finally landed the second one. I got two on a stringer, and I really wanted to get my limit, my third, but it just wasn't happening. I hooked no more, and called it quits.

Linda was partying with the regulars and didn't fish at all today.

So, these two were much bigger than my others.

 

 

Nice fashion statement, too, huh?

I filleted them out, and Linda did her thing. 

 

 

Our bag of fish in the freezer is getting fuller.

We had leftover salmon cakes for dinner, and they were even better than last night. Wow, they were good.

After dinner, I fished a little more with no luck, and then we just sat out by the firepit with the others and enjoyed the very pleasant evening. Again, we watched in amazement as Kory and Jack caught their limits and then started over when the clock struck midnight. Amazing.

It's so strange that midnight looks like early evening, and we were again up quite late. I think we finally got to bed around 1:30. My charter on Monday morning starts at 3:00 a.m., so I think I'll just take an afternoon nap and stay up.

Tomorrow, it will be more of the same, and I hope Linda gets a fish .... and I get a couple more. Until next time.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 63 - Town Run, Business Stuff, & Late Night Salmon Fishing, Copper Center, Alaska

This is one of those rare days when I have no photos, and it's a very short post.

The plan for today included Linda making a run to Glenallen about 12 miles from here to do laundry and pick up some grocery items. And I needed to get some work done. 

We're getting ready to open registration for our 2020 Spring Rally, so there is some prep work that goes along with that. Hopefully, registration will be open on July 1.

Whew it was hot today with temps in the mid-80s. It didn't feel like Alaska weather.

I tried fishing off and on as it got too hot in the rig to work, but no luck.

When Linda got back, she put together some salmon cakes that I cooked up on the Blackstone. Pretty good.

After dinner, we fished .... and fished .... and fished without success. Then Kory and Jack started fishing and they both caught salmon pretty quickly. I just kept saying "How do they do that?"

Kory got his limit, and then asked if I wanted to try his fly rod. I tried it, and the difference in feel was pretty amazing. I caught my only fish of the day on his fly road around 11:30 p.m.

I fished for probably another hour after that before giving up.

So, I cleaned the fish and Linda vacuumed sealed the fillets. By the time we got showers and went to bed, it was 2:00 a.m.

It was a less successful day with the fishing, but we got some things accomplished. Hopefully, the fishing will be better tomorrow.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 62 - Salmon Fishing Success On The Klutina River, Copper Center, Alaska

We wandered out to the river around 10:00 a.m. to try some of the suggestions we got last night. And we learned a lot has to do with the spot you are fishing from so that your line drifts into the eddies and slow moving spots where the fish come through with the least resistance.

But you still have to have proper weights to bounce off the bottom so the line is presented to the fish swimming near the bottom. And you need some technique.

Of course, the biggest issue for me has been the snags. This river is fast and silty, so you can't see anything. And there is debris constantly coming downstream, so there may be a snag today in a place where there wasn't one yesterday.

It gets frustrating very quickly when you are getting snagged a lot, but it comes with the territory and you just have to learn to avoid them and learn to retrieve your hook without losing too much tackle. The other fishermen were encouraging though as they said "Snags lead to fish" referencing the fact that the fish will swim in behind the snags as it makes their travel easier (the snag blocks the current a little).

Before long, using some of my new information, I caught and landed my first Sockeye.

 

 

They are a beautiful pinkish silver, and they put up quite a fight for their size, although you don't play them too long because 1) it interferes with other fishermen, and 2) if the fish gets in a strong current, gettin' 'em in is a lot harder and the fish is more likely to get away. For most people out here, it's not about the sport of fishing as much as it's about getting fish in the freezer to eat.

Once I landed the fish, I knew there were other procedures, and I looked around for guidance. First, you bonk them hard on the head with .... well with anything from a rock to fish bonkers made just for that purpose .... to stun them. It may take several whacks. Then you either cut their gills or rip the gills with your fingers to bleed them out.

I didn't have a knife on me, so a spectator showed me that I could just rip through the gill on each side with my hand. That's a bloody mess, but it felt like the rugged, manly thing to do.

Next, I had to find my stringer. It was still in the package in my fishing gear backpack, so a wonderful lady, Kathy, assisted me. With the fish stunned and the gills cut, it dies pretty quickly, so it's not going anywhere, and I just found a place to hook the stringer where the fish stayed cold in the water.

So, I got my first non-guided red salmon, and now I know what to do if I get another.

Not long after that, I caught a second one. But it was hooked in the stomach and wasn't legal, so with some help from Stephanie, the campground owner/fishing guide, we released it.

Several people have been so kind and patient in helping us figure out the fishing.

Linda then gave it a try. I had rigged up a spin-casting rod for her because she doesn't like spinning reels. She hooked one, but it got off. Then she hooked another and it was doing a number on her reel before it broke the line. Yep, she's going to have to use her spinning rod and reel for these salmon.

Unfortunately, she didn't get another one. However, I caught my second legal fish and was thrilled that the first one wasn't just a complete fluke.

 

 

I didn't get my third to "limit out", but I was still pretty happy.

Then it came time to clean them. I had watched videos before, but forgot everything. So, I watched a couple other guys and tried to mirror their cuts. Fortunately, cleaning these salmon isn't too bad. And, hopefully, I'll get better with practice, but not bad for the first time.

 

 

After I got the fillets out, Linda went to work with her spoon.

 

 

Back in Washington last summer, we met some folks on the coast that showed Linda how they spooned the meat out of the carcass to use for salmon cakes. They tried not to leave any usable flesh, so Linda decided to do that with our two fish. She got quite a bit.

 

 

With little faith in our fishing abilities, Linda had already thawed out some chicken for dinner, so she put the salmon pattie meat in the fridge and used her vacuum sealer to package the fillets and put them in the freezer.

Our RV freezer is pretty full, but they have a camper freezer here we can use. If we do really well, we can freeze a bunch and then take it with us to Anchorage next week (where shipping prices are lower) and ship some to her Mom to use and save for us.

So, it was a successful day. Hopefully, we'll get to the point where we can catch our limit, but I'll be happy with a fish or two each day as the fishing is a little "spotty" as I've heard the regulars say.

That's it for another day. Now let's catch some more.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 61 - Moving To Copper Center For Some Salmon Fishing, Copper Center, Alaska

While in McCarthy, we got a message that our parts were in to repair our electrical issue on the RV. We were hoping to get in for the repair on Monday, July 1, but they couldn't fit us in until July 4. Yep, they are working on July 4, so that's when we'll take it in.

That would give us a little extra time, and I wanted to go to Copper Center to do some Sockeye (aka "red") Salmon fishing on the Klutina River. That had been in my plans all along, but originally we were going to do it before McCarthy and Valdez. So now I didn't know if our timing would be right for the salmon run. The Klutina is one river in Alaska where the reds run before the kings (aka Chinook). Usually, the kings are the first to arrive in the rivers, then the reds, and then the silvers.

When we purchased our Alaska annual fishing licenses, we were given the opportunity to sign up for emailed updated fishing reports for all the areas of Alaska, and the latest report for Copper Center looks good. So we prepared to head that direction.

We only had 50 miles to go today, so we took our time, and I once again completely unpacked and re-packed our rear "trunk" storage compartment. It gets to be a mess when, like everything else in this smaller rig, what you need is always under or behind something that needs to be moved. When I get lazy, all the stuff just gets piled in there with no semblance of order, and it has to eventually be reorganized before it drives me insane.

After dumping our tanks, we left Chitina around noon. We didn't know if we were going to be doing some roadside boondocking or staying at an RV park. There are three RV parks right on the Klutina - King For A Day, Klutina Salmon Charters, and Salmon Grove and you can fish from all the campgrounds, which is a nice perk because a lot of the land along the Klutina is private. Each campground has different amenities.

King For A Day has laundry facilities and we needed to do laundry, so I called them first. Had to leave a message. They eventually called me back after we'd gone another direction.

I also left a message for Klutina Salmon Charters & Campground, but someone answered when I called back a second time. All their sites were reserved. When salmon are running, campgrounds tend to fill up.

I hadn't called Salmon Grove, directly across the river from Klutina Salmon Charters, so we just drove in when we arrived.

 

 

As it turns out, Salmon Grove is more of a first come, first served kind of place which is right up our alley. There aren't really designated sites, just spots that they will squeeze you into if they can. The only time they do a "reservation" is if you have booked a salmon fishing charter with them.

The Manager, Dan, showed us several options where we could park and get electric for $30/night. He was extremely friendly and accommodating.

They have random spigots to take on water and a dump station. They have paid showers and one washer and one dryer. But the best part for us was we could park so that we could see the river, make a short walk to fish, and be out in the open a bit to get sun for our solar panels.

Our "site" wasn't really level, but we were able to get enough blocks under the front tires to make it work.

 

 

We're steps away from the river, and we can easily see when the other fishermen are out indicating some reds are coming through. They don't come through in singles, so if someone is catching fish, chances are there are more to be caught.

 

 

Ordinarily, this would not be our kind of place for camping, but it's all about the fishing here - no "it" factor expected or needed. As Linda says "It's a fish camp". We paid for five nights to get us through the weekend, and if all is going well, we may stay two more nights.

 

 

 

Views up and down the river from the bridge.

 

 

 

Klutina Salmon Charters & Campground is on the right side of the photo above, and fishermen were also lined up on the bank there.

 

 

We got settled in, filled the fresh water tank and plugged into the 20 amp electric with an extension cord that we again ran through a slide seal.  Hopefully, by the end of next week our electrical situation will be back to normal. Oh, we have decent Verizon 4G service as well for internet.

Later, I went into the office/tackle shop and just said "What do I need to rig up for reds?" Lee helped me out and gave us the easy, cheap options and we bought our first specific salmon tackle.

I quickly noticed that everyone was using fly rods, and all we have are our long, Ugly Stick spinning rods for salmon.

The last time we fished for salmon in a river was back when we were in Alaska in 2004, and that was with a guide that did everything for us. Now, we were going independent, and I was nervous about joining in with everyone that knew what they were doing.

At least I had watched the video put out by the Alaska Fish & Game Department - "How to Fish for Klutina River Red Salmon".

 

How to Fish for Klutina River Red Salmon from ADF&G on Vimeo

 

We knew from our 2004 experience that the Sockeyes aren't feeding when they are heading upriver, so you don't need "bait" or spinners or flies to attract them. They just swim opening and closing their mouths, and you are basically flipping a line out a few feet from the bank where they are avoiding the major currents and hoping one swims into it with its mouth open. When you feel what you think is a fish, you pull the line and hope the hook catches them in the mouth. It's basically legal snagging called "flossing", but if you hook them anywhere other than the inside of the mouth, you have to let them go.

Bag limits are different all over Alaska, but here we're allowed three Sockeyes per person per day. 

Late in the afternoon, I rigged up our rods, and I got up the courage to give it a try. I fished for hours, and I thought my technique looked very similar to everyone else's. But there were a couple guys that were catching fish, and I wasn't.

One guy, Scott, caught his daily limit on his fly rod and then spent time with me assessing my technique and tackle set-up. He gave me some advice for my spinning rod & reel which was very helpful.

Another fellow, Kory, was also catching fish with his fly rod, but his set-up and approach was different than Scott's. 

I eventually ended up with four different suggestions on tackle, and a few slightly different versions of technique. But tonight, none of it helped. I fished until midnight (it seemed like about 8:00 on a summer night) and got nothing.

It was frustrating, but I remained confident I would figure it out. Tomorrow is another day. Check back to see if we are able to catch some salmon.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 60 - Packrafting On Kennicott Glacier Lake & Trip Back To Chitina, Chitina, Alaska

There are three tour companies with offices in McCarthy and/or Kennecott - McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters (MRTO), St. Elias Alpine Guides (SEAG), and Kennicott Wilderness Guides (KWG), not counting Wrangell Mountain Air which provides flightseeing tours, backcountry drop-offs and other plane-related services (there is a TourSaver coupon for Wrangell Mountain Air for $75 off per person on its shortest flightseeing trip of 50 minutes).

The three non-air tour companies all have day trips and multi-day tours, although each of them seem to specialize in a couple different things. One of the specialties of Kennicott Wilderness Guides is Packrafting trips, a combination of hiking and paddling a boat that you carry in your backpack. Packrafting is mostly for those that are backpacking the wilderness, but want or need a lightweight boat for river or lake crossing.

We did our glacier hike on Sunday with MRTO, our Kennecott Mill Town Tour yesterday with SEAG, and today we're packrafting with KWG. The packrafting trips are "private tours" meaning they only take people that sign up together and the cost is reduced for each additional person in the group.

We needed four people to get the lowest rate of $145/person, but we didn't have four. However, KWG said they would see if they could find locals to joins us, but if not, they'd guarantee us a three-person rate of $175 which is much better than the two-person rate. As it turned out, we paid the three-person rate and they invited Amanda, our glacier guide from Sunday, to go on a "familiarization" trip.

Our guide was supposed to meet us at the footbridge at 10:00 a.m., but we walked up into McCarthy early to have breakfast again at "The Potato", and we requested to be picked up there. No problem.

We ordered the same breakfast as the day before, - eggs & bacon with berries - but the service today was terrible and the food just wasn't as good as yesterday for some reason.

Anyway, our guide, Sarah, picked us up and, as it turned out, we drove to the footbridge anyway. We thought we were saving her some time and distance by having her pick us up in town. Oh well.

We parked, Amanda joined us, and Sarah had us try on dry suits, booties, and water shoes. Once that was done we started preparing the our gear to stuff in the raft backpacks.

 

 

We put our dry suit, booties, 4-piece paddles, spray skirt, and inflation bag (whatever that is) in the hull of the deflated little boat. Then we folded it like a taco, rolled it up and stuffed it into the backpacks.

 

 

We put dry bags with stuff we want to access on top, added water shoes, and strapped our life jackets to the outside of the pack. Soon, we were ready to go.

 

 

The packs looked heavy but they're not too bad. We were using boats made in Mancos, Colorado by Alpacka Raft.  They weigh between five and nine pounds. 

Our hike began as we walked back across the footbridge, ....

 

 

through the campground and out to the glacier lake where Kennicott Glacier terminates.

 

 

The Stairway Icefall at the top of Root Glacier was staring at us.

 

 

This little half-day trip was more about the "rafting" than the "packing" as we only walked about a half mile. The full day trip includes more hiking, but you paddle the same lake.

Linda was certainly fine with the shorter walk. The calm, silty gray lake was reflecting the surroundings beautifully.

 

 

We unpacked our packs, laid out our rafts, and began inflating them using the inflation bags.

 

 

Before inflation, we stuffed our backpacks (and any items we didn't need access to but didn't want to get wet) into a waterproof zippered compartment at the front of the boats. It's hard to believe that stuff fit in there. 

Now, there is no pump, so you attach the inflation bag to a valve, fill the bag with air (easy if there is a breeze) and squeeze the air out of the bag and into the boat. Here's a video on how it's done.

 

 

With no breeze today, and us being newbies, it took a while. When the boat is pretty full of air, there is a mouth valve you blow to top it off. 

Also, there is a mouth valve to blow up the inflatable seat and backrest which are attached to the hull. Here are the ladies' boats ready to go.

 

 

Oh, because the boats deflate a little when they hit the cold water, Sarah had us "temper" the boats by splashing ice cold lake water on them to reduce the amount of deflation. We then used the mouth valves to top them off again. Out on the water, we would top off each others' boats if necessary as there is too much risk of flipping to do it yourself.

Then we put on our dry suits, booties, water shoes (that fit over our booties), and life jackets. KWG doesn't let you paddle on a glacier lake without a dry suit, although we did just that in our Sea Eagle a few days ago in Valdez, and I would have done it here as well.

We all put on our spray skirts, but none of us used them because there were no rapids or spray - the lake was dead calm.

Sarah then demonstrated the two options for getting into the boat.

 

 

The "plop" method is the one we're quite familiar with and use with our own inflatable.

Finally, we were off.

 

 

The little boats are stable and turn on a dime. There is no skeg or rudder and they are so lightweight it took a few minutes to get used to the "wobble" as they go in the direction of the last paddle stroke.

We posed for a photo.

 

 

Paddling around the ice under the dirt and rocks of the moraine.

 

 

 

Linda struggled with her life jacket all day, but she was smiling under there.

 

 

The Kennicott River runs through the lake and, in some sections, we had to paddle upstream through the current.

 

 

Again, the boats are really lightweight, so it wasn't easy, but Linda powered through.

 

 

We started in the lower section of the lake and we were now in the middle section.

This was the primary view for our few hours on the water.

 

 

I took a little minute and a half video when I paddled ahead of the gals for a few minutes.

 

 

Here are Sarah and Amanda doing a mutual air top-off.

 

 

My boat kept deflating a little more than the others, so all three of the women kept having to blow my boat back up, and that led to all sorts of innuendoes instigated by my wife.

Paddling around a small ice formation.

 

 

Heading in to the upper part of the lake.

 

 

 

This formation and ice cave were pretty cool.

 

 

 

Lots of little rocks from above the cave entrance were falling, otherwise I would have ventured in.

Sarah took photos of us in front of the cave.

 

 

Here's Amanda.

 

 

I paddled on ahead to this spire formation.

 

 

Just beyond that was the end of the line as the river flowed in from somewhere under the glacier and blocked our way. Sarah paddled up into the current of the river and floated back, so we all did the same. Here's a video of Linda.

 

 

By then the formal "guiding" was over as Sarah realized there wasn't much to tell us we hadn't already heard, so the ladies bonded .....

 

 

and we just chatted like friends. Sarah has been to some amazing places and will be working in Antarctica this winter. Coincidentally, Amanda was in line for a position at the same place, but turned it down when she got promoted at her "real" job working with the tribal college in Barrow, Alaska.

While they talked and just had fun, ....

 

 

I took another little video of them, the river, and the mountains.

 

 

We started back, and Linda paddled by the spire and an ice "wave".

 

 

 

A look behind us as we went back by the ice cave.

 

 

Linda and Amanda in front of a large ice wall.

 

 

Linda and Sarah with the ice wall and a small waterfall off to the left.

 

 

I took one last video as we continued to float back with the current.

 

 

Linda appreciating the scenery as we neared the end of our paddle.

 

 

We took out at a different place than we put in, and hauled our rafts still inflated up to a warmer pond the locals use to swim. There, we cleaned the silt off the rafts just as it started to rain. We carried them out to the road where we deflated the boats and took off our dry suits and gear while Sarah fetched the van.

Our tour ended up being an hour or so longer than it was supposed to be, but none of us were in any hurry. We had a good time and got our introduction to packrafting. It was a bit pricey in my opinion especially considering we could have inflated our own boat, carried it over, and paddled the same lake. But the packrafting was something we had never done before, and it was basically a private tour with gorgeous scenery, so no regrets. Also, we probably would have seen better value if we hadn't just paddled Valdez glacier lake on our own a week before. 

We said our goodbyes and thank yous to Sarah and Amanda and wished them well in their futures. 

It was a short walk back to the Jeep which was ready to go. Someone had come in and parked between us and the neighboring truck camper, so they were really close. I made a comment to them, but it didn't matter as we were leaving anyway.

On the way out, we stopped at Glacier View Campground to have one of the recommended burgers made by Chris.

 

 

We had been warned not to expect it to be fast, and it wasn't. And, unfortunately, the burger wasn't that special. It was a bit overcooked, and certainly not worth the $16 price tag. It was our most expensive meal of our time in McCarthy/Kennecott, but Chris is a nice guy, and it can't be easy making a living out here.

It was about 6:30 when we got on McCarthy Road to drive the 60 miles back to Chitina and our RV. We stopped only to take a photo of a train trestle left over from the railroad built to transport the copper out of Kennecott.

 

 

We saw rabbits, but no moose or bear on the return. It took us exactly two hours.

Getting back to Wrangell View RV Park, the rig was still there and looked untouched.

After unpacking, we got much-needed showers and soon crawled into the luxury of our bed.

So, that was a good three-day, two-night adventure to McCarthy/Kennecott and the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park. Of course, with the park being 13.2 million acres, we only experienced the tiniest fraction in the only "developed" area. But it was a National Park visit, so check that one off, and we now have 46 of them under our belts.

Tomorrow, we're moving only about 50 miles to Copper Center to do some fishing on the Klutina River. Hopefully, we'll catch lots of salmon and be able to ship some back to the lower 48 for future consumption. Until next time.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 59 - Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark, Kennecott, Alaska

Today we were going to explore the town of Kennecott or, more specifically, the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark.

 

 

From the website:

In June of 1998, the National Park Service acquired many of the significant buildings and lands of the historic mining town of Kennecott. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated as a National Historic Landmark since 1986, Kennecott is considered the best remaining example of early 20th Century copper mining.

We still hadn't decided if we were going to take the Kennecott Mill Town Tour offered exclusively by St. Elias Alpine Guides located right next to the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park Visitor Center in Kennecott or just do the Self Guided Walking Tour.

What we had decided was that we would walk into McCarthy, have breakfast, take the shuttle up to Kennecott, check out the park's ranger talks, and perhaps take one of the guided tours offered at 9:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Between July 1 and August 15 they add an 11:30 a.m. tour as well.

It was a leisurely plan, so we definitely weren't taking the 9:30 a.m. tour. Eventually, we grabbed our day backpacks, walked across the footbridge, and started up the road to McCarthy.

On the way, we met some people coming down the hill. They stopped us and asked if we wanted to buy their shuttle tickets. They bought round-trip tickets for the shuttle, but decided to hike back from Kennecott along the Wagon Road Trail and had tickets they didn't use and weren't going to use.

As I mentioned in yesterday's Journal post, the shuttle tickets to go the 4.5 miles from McCarthy to Kennecott are $10 each (one way) or two for $15 (which they call their round-trip ticket). Always looking to save a buck, we bought their tickets at a little bit of a discount. Of course, on the face of the ticket it says "Not Transferable", but the van drivers would have no idea and why would they care anyway? They already got their money.

We stopped and ordered some breakfast at the Roadside Potatohead (aka "The Potato"). They had a nice bacon and eggs breakfast that they garnished with strawberries and blueberries, fruits we can have in small quantities. 

 

 

Then we poked around town a bit checking out the museum first. We're not museum people, in general, but we will peruse on occasion. Then we forget everything we saw and look it up online if we're interested enough. The information age, the internet, and Google have spoiled us.

This photo is a portion of the "Artifact Fence", created by an artist whose vision in putting it together was beyond my comprehension, as most artists visions are.

 

 

We then checked out the general store. Their selection was pretty decent considering how remote this place is. That's also where the only ATM in town is located, and today it had money and was functioning. We noticed the store and a few other businesses in McCarthy were up for sale.

Next, we just waited at the shuttle station for the next van to Kennecott. We caught the one at noon.

After the slow ride on the rough road, we went into the park Visitors Center to ask about their ranger talks. There were three today, but we'd already missed one, and the next one was at 2:00. But the ranger said we could walk up the road to the restored "General Store and Post Office", and we could watch the movie about the mine. We grabbed a map for the Self Guided Walking Tour on our way out.

The movie was about 12 minutes and did a fantastic job of summarizing the history of the mine and the milling process for the copper. I've included it here.

 

Then we watched the longer movie that provided an overview of the entire Wrangell - St. Elias National Park.

After the movies, I was fine with not doing the guided tour, but I left it up to Linda. She leaned toward doing the tour, so we walked back to St. Elias Alpine Guides and signed up for the 1:30 tour .... right at 1:30. It's $28/person for two to two and a half hours.

There were quite a few people, so they divided us into two groups of eight people each. Our group hung out on the back deck with our guide, Brooke, while the other group went on ahead.

 

 

The deck overlooked Kennecott Glacier with a view of the Fireweed Mountains .

 

 

As we learned yesterday, Brooke reiterated that the Fireweed Mountains would not have been visible from here in the early 1900s due to the height of the glacier. Later we saw a photo from 1911 that confirmed this.

I think a misconception is that the biggest building here is the Kennecott Mine.

 

 

That 14-story building is actually the mill where the copper ore was processed. The mines themselves were up in the mountains and the ore had to be transported to the mill. There were five mines connected by 70 miles of tunnels and the ore was transported by an aerial tram system to the mill.

About 300 people worked in the mill and town and another 200 - 300 worked in the mines.

The park's website offers this PDF called "The Kennecott Story", and there is a lot more information online about how this mine came to exist.

Our tour made brief stops at various important buildings such as The Kennicott Glacier Lodge (privately owned) a replica of where some of the management lived.

 

 

Brooke gave us little tidbits about the Recreation Hall, the School, ....

 

 

the West Bunkhouse for miners, ....

 

 

and the Post Office and General Store.

 

 

Crossing the bridge toward the mill, .....

 

 

we stopped to look at National Creek, the lifeblood of the town and the copper processing. Water was so precious, they developed a way to recycle it in the milling and sorting process.

 

 

 

The buildings above are the National Creek Bunkhouse (foreground right), the East Bunkhouse behind it, and the Hospital on the left side of the creek (which was, by the way, the home of the first X-ray machine in Alaska).

There was a clear hierarchy among the workers and in the housing. Miners had to be solo while middle and upper management could have their families here. Miners stayed in the bunkhouses while management stayed in what is now the lodge or in private cottages, and the higher up on the mountain your cottage was, the higher your status in the mining company.

The miners had about a fifth of their wages (around $1 a day) deducted for room and board, and eight cents a day deducted for healthcare.

Women that were not part of management families also had to be solo, and worked as nurses, teachers, or secretaries. Clearly the men outnumbered the women, and dances at the Recreation Hall weren't always enough entertainment for the miners, and being a company town, alcohol and gambling weren't allowed.

So, McCarthy down the hill grew by catering to the entertainment desires, vices, and more prurient interests of the miners.

Now, it turned out the copper here was some of the purest and most valuable ever found (up to an unheard of 70%), but it was worthless unless it could be transported out. So, a $23 million dollar railroad was built along the Copper River Valley from the port town of Cordova on the Prince William Sound to Kennecott. That was a huge, risky investment in the first decade of the 1900s.

 

 

The McCarthy Road that we came in on yesterday is basically the route of the old railroad and wooden trestle remnants are visible along the road.

We started uphill and briefly went into the General Manager's Office ....

 

 

to view wide view photos of the town during its heyday.

We continued uphill and stopped to compare the weight and color of a rock with copper to some limestone.

 

 

It was a bit of a trudge continuing up the hill to the back side of the mill building.

 

 

Remnants of the tramway that transported buckets filled with ore are still present.

 

 

Here's a link to some vintage video: Aerial Tramway - Kennecott Mine

We entered on the eleventh floor of the 14-story building, and access to this structure is, in my opinion, the main reason to spring for the cost of the guided tour as you can't access it on your own.

It's a rickety looking thing, but walkways with rails and stairways (often narrow and steep with some low overhangs) provide a safe passageway.

 

 

However, hardhats were required.

 

 

Here are a couple of views from the top.

 

 

 

This is looking out to what is and was called "Silk Stocking Row" where the highest of management had homes with fantastic views far away from the incredible noise of the mill operation.

 

 

The tour of the mill building was basically a floor-by-floor walk-through of the process of separating the copper from the "waste rock" as we saw in the park video earlier.

 

 

 

The amount of engineering, thought in the machinery used, the construction, and flow of processes was simply amazing. And when a better process came along, they just added on to the building or otherwise by-passed the old process.

Our group included a mining engineer, and he said many of the processes are still used today, some with improved technology, but also some that aren't much different at all.

Clearly, had OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) been in existence at the time, this mine would not have been operating. Imagining working in that environment 363 days a year (it closed only for Christmas and Fourth of July) is mind-blowing.

Interestingly, the majority of the workforce were foreign born, with many of them being Scandinavian.

After the mill, we went into the Leaching Plant where the process was refined even further by adding ammonia to what was left of the finest rock/copper material to continue to separate the copper.

 

 

Beyond leaching there was yet another process that allowed the company to get its extraction rate up to 95%.

We ended our tour in the Power Plant.

 

 

The Power Plant used two diesel generators, a steam turbine and a Pelton waterwheel to provide power to the town and the mines miles up into the mountains. It was a pretty impressive operation.

In the end, in the 30 years of operation from 1908 - 1938, the Kennecott Copper Corporation produced $200 million worth of copper and ended up with a $100 million profit .... that's around $2 billion in today's dollars. That leveraged them into being able to invest in mines all over the world.

But once the Kennecott mine ceased to be profitable, they quit cold turkey, loaded up the last train, and gave employees extremely short notice to gather their belongings and board the train out.

 

Seeing the inner workings of the mill and having the guide for two and a half hours seemed to be worth the $28 price. Seeing the buildings and equipment and how they got the ore from the mines to the mill and then processed it added to the experience. It's a really amazing part of Alaska history that is often overlooked due to the stories of the gold rush.

After the tour, we chatted with Brooke and got to know her a little better as we walked back to St. Elias Alpine Guides. She's young and new to this tour, but she did a pretty good job, especially with the added pressure of having a mining engineer in our group.

After the tour, we split a meal at the highly recommended Meatza Wagon food truck in Kennecott.

 

 

 

The young ladies running it were fun, and the food was good. But a storm was moving in, so we didn't have time to dilly dally.

 

 

We hustled over to the shuttle stop and waited for the 4:30 shuttle.

 

 

The shuttle eventually dropped us off at the footbridge, and we just made it to the Jeep as the rain began. We pretty much hunkered down in the back with our kindles until the storm passed, and called it an early night.

Tomorrow, we booked a pack-rafting tour with the other tour company in town. Mainly, it's just something different as we wanted to see what this relatively new "sport" is all about. Stay tuned to see how that goes.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 58 - Chitina To McCarthy & Root Glacier Hike, McCarthy, Alaska

On this Sunday morning, we prepped the motorhome to leave it in the Wrangell View RV Park about five miles outside the town of Chitina. We made sure we turned off the inverter, water heater, and water pump and locked all the compartments and doors.

We had packed up the Jeep the night before, so we didn't need to do that. We headed toward McCarthy around 7:30 a.m. not really knowing how long it would take to get there.

It would also be our first time car camping in a long, long, long time. But we were both happy with our decision to leave the rig behind. We wouldn't have to listen to the incessant rattling on the 60 miles of the McCarthy Road, and we wouldn't have to worry about damaging it or having a breakdown. I don't think Coach-Net would come get us out there.

Tent camping was an option, but Linda was concerned about inclimate weather and she thought we'd be more comfortable in the Jeep if it rained.

I had checked into lodging at the various hotels and cabins, but we couldn't find anything that was reasonable. The Alaska TourSaver has a coupon for $100 off a stay of two nights or more at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge in the Main Lodge. But the rooms in the Main Lodge are $205 - $235/night and those rooms don't have private bathrooms, while their larger South Wing with private bathrooms run $305/night.

There were some cabin options, but we ultimately decided to go the cheaper route as we prefer to spend our funds on experiences rather than accommodations. Also, the McCarthy Road ends at the Kennicott River, and only local residents can drive over the local access bridge and use the road system in McCarthy that connects to Kennecott. Visitors have to walk across the footbridge over the river, and then you can catch a shuttle that runs between the footbridge and McCarthy on the half hour most of the day or you can walk the half mile to town. More on the "getting around" logistics later.

Back to our drive. Not far from the RV park, a beaver was swimming in a lake beside the road. Approaching Chitina near One Mile Lake, we saw a large object standing on the edge of the road in the distance. As we approached, we could tell it was a moose, and I was able to get one quick photo while it scampered for cover.

 

 

That was our fourth moose sighting in Chitina in the two days that we drove through town.

Passing through Chitina, we started on the McCarthy Road and re-traced our drive from a couple of nights ago.

For what it's worth, the National Park website has a McCarthy Road Guide and you can even download a McCarthy Road Audio Tour or print the script from the audio tour. Or, you can pick up CDs of the audio tour at the park's Copper Center Visitor Center or at the Chitina Ranger Station. We forgot to do all of the above.

As we proceeded, there were still rabbits to watch for, but at least we knew where the trouble spots were in the road on the "paved" part all the way to the Kuskalana Bridge at mile 17.

We stopped at a turnout to get a photo of the bridge before we crossed. It seems to be the thing to do.

 

 

It's hard to see down into the gorge as you are crossing the bridge, and you aren't supposed to stop on the bridge, but the view to the other side isn't too shabby.

 

 

On the other side is a "wayside" where there is parking and primitive restrooms. I had read that there is a "catwalk" under the bridge, so I walked down to take a look and perhaps get some photos of the gorge and river.

Well, there indeed is a "catwalk" ....

 

 

but it's not easily accessed, probably for good reason. I don't know, I thought there would be stairs or a ladder, but nope - it requires some climbing, and though there weren't any "keep off" signs, I wasn't up for summoning my inner Spiderman this morning.

Driving on after the bridge, the road was better. There are a couple 35 mph speed limit signs and that, apparently is the speed limit for the whole road. If you stay at that speed and slow down for the marked bad spots, curves, unmarked potholes, and rabbits, the road really isn't all that bad as it has apparently been improved greatly over the last few years.

We spoke to a couple of locals over the past few days that said they wouldn't even take their truck on the McCarthy Road, much less a motorhome. But it had been a few years since they had made the drive, and again, the road isn't the horror story we heard about.

Still, I'm glad we didn't bring the RV. I may have been comfortable in a truck camper, a Class B, or a campervan or possibly towing a small trailer (although I would have concerns about the tires on a small trailer), but the longer the wheelbase, the less I would recommend taking an RV. The "paved" section in particular has some sections that can really torque the frame of longer-wheelbase vehicles.

Here are just a couple of photos from the rest of the drive.

 

 

This photo below is one of the marked bad spots with a small Class C coming toward us.

 

 

I should mention that there are several turnouts along the road where you can boondock if you choose, and there is a really nice spot next to the Lakina River.

The drive is remote and pretty, but it's not spectacular by any means. On this clear day, at least we got a couple of views of the Wrangell Mountain Range.

 

 

 

About 15 miles from the end, a Black Bear crossed the road.

 

 

It stopped and looked at us briefly.

 

 

That was our last stop for photos.

Approaching the end of the road, there is a bad section as you start the descent toward the river, but again it just requires going slower.

About a half mile from the river is Glacier View Campground, where you can camp with an RV or tent for $20/night, or sleep in your car for $10/night. Just parking your vehicle for the day is free and parking overnight is $5 per night. The website says "RV sites are limited so call ahead". Fresh water is available, but there is no dump station. They have a Camp Store where they have snacks and a grill, and some folks rave about their burgers.

But, since it's still a half mile from the footbridge and we wanted to be more convenient to town, we by-passed Glacier View. There is another free day-parking area about a quarter mile from the footbridge, but we continued on to Base Camp Kennicott which is right on the river next to the footbridge.

 

 

And it also has a glacier view.

 

 

This (we would learn later) is the Stairway Icefall portion of the Root Glacier.

 

 

Base Camp owns the land by the river on both sides of the road. They charge $25/night for camping, $10 for overnight parking, and $5 for day use parking up to four hours.

Since I forgot to get cash, and we weren't sure if the one ATM in McCarthy would be operational, I paid for two nights of camping online in advance in order to save what cash we had. When we pulled in, I told them I paid two nights online and they said "Okay, just park anywhere". They didn't ask for proof of payment, didn't take any information, didn't give us a tag for the Jeep. Nothing. "Just go park" was the message.

So, we found this little spot right next to the Kennicott River not far from the footbridge on the south side.

 

 

 

We got set up and got our bed ready. Thankfully, with our backpacking gear we have sleeping pads and sleeping bags, and we tested our "beds" last night. In this case, being short at 5'8" was helpful as I barely fit stretched out most of the way with only a slight bend in the knees.

 

 

I think Linda brought every pillow we own so we could prop up and read before reclining for sleep.

They have a couple of outhouses for bathrooms, but no other amenities. 

There is, in fact, pretty good Verizon 4G service in the "campground" and the towns - a nice surprise so we could upload photos and check emails at night while we're here.

So, it took us two hours and fifteen minutes to drive the 60 miles of the McCarthy Road, and that includes stops for photos. Linda pretty much averaged 30 mph and I'd say two to two and half hours is a good estimate of time each way.

If we had brought the RV, we would have gone much slower and, knowing what we know now, we would have likely broken up the trip with a night of boondocking on the way in and on the way out. But I'll reiterate - we're still glad we didn't bring the RV. Although the road "isn't that bad" it's still bad enough that just the rattling alone would drive us crazy - we don't have the best suspension in the world.

After getting settled, it was getting close to 11:00, so we donned our daypacks and walked across the footbridge.

 

 

This is a view looking north over the "campground".

 

 

And this is the view looking south to the side we're parked on with the Chugach Mountains in the background.

 

 

In the photo above, you can also see the "locals" bridge that is used for supplies and for residents of McCarthy and Kennecott to access the McCarthy Road.

Here's a closer look at our "campsite".

 

 

View of the footbridge from the other side.

 

 

"Footbridge" is a bit of a misnomer as the locals traverse the bridge on their ATVs, motorcycles, and dirt bikes. Just up the hill, is the community church, and there were several ATVs parked out front on this Sunday morning.

 

 

We weren't sure of the shuttle schedule at this point, and all I had read was that the shuttle was $5/person each time you get a ride. I clarified later, but at the time we just continued to walk the road toward McCarthy.

 

 

A little farther the road turned left, but there was a path to the right leading to another footbridge over a creek.

 

 

My research didn't tell me there were two footbridges. From there, we could see the town of Kennecott in the distance tucked under the mountains.

 

 

Okay, let's get this out of the way. The Kennicott Glacier was named after an Alaskan pioneer and explorer around 1900, and of course, it is the source for the Kennicott River. When copper was discovered in these mountains, the Kennecott Copper Corporation was formed and, apparently, it was established with an "e" instead of an "i" in the name due to a clerical error. The company town that sprang up, Kennecott, was named after the company. Thus, the different spellings you see in this entry and those that follow while we're here.

So we have the town of Kennecott where the Kennecott Copper Corporation mined copper overlooking the Kennicott Glacier, and where the site of one the former employee housing units of the company is now the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. So there you go.

 

Back to our walk. Just on the other side of the second footbridge are a pair of nicer, clean outhouses for those making the walk to and from McCarthy. They are better than the ones in the "campground", but it would be quite a walk just for a bathroom visit.

Eventually, we reached the back side of the McCarthy Museum on our right and we turned right past the front entrance to continue our walk into town. 

 

 

This was one of the first signs we saw, and it provides a pretty good idea of the vibe.

 

 

We stopped at the place that runs the shuttles for tourists to clarify the schedules and fees.

First, the shuttles start at 9:00 a.m. and the last one leaves Kennecott at 7:00 p.m. On the half hour, they are supposed to be at the footbridge by the river.

Second, there is no charge to go from the footbridge to McCarthy or from McCarthy to the footbridge. Third, they've raised their prices from what I had seen online. It's now $10/person to go one way from McCarthy to Kennecott or from Kennecott to McCarthy (about 4.5 miles). Or you can buy a "round trip" ticket for $15 - basically, you are buying two tickets and getting the second one at half price.

You can always walk the road or walk the Wagon Road Trail between the two towns, but the shuttle saves a lot of time.

Now, if you are booking a tour or hotel, the tour companies and hotels usually provide you with local transportation from the footbridge as needed.

Okay, now that we got that straight, we continued on to McCarthy River Tours & Outfitters next door.

 

 

Using our TourSaver, we booked a half-day glacier hike on the Root Glacier. The tour price is $95, and we got 2-for-1 with our coupon. The "restriction" is that all TourSaver people have to go on the 1:00 p.m. group hike.

Though we were way early, we went ahead and checked in and filled out and signed the required waivers. And we learned that we were the only people booked on today's tour - nice, half price and a private tour.

I took a couple more photos of McCarthy - there isn't much to it.

 

 

 

For what it's worth, McCarthy developed to support the vices that weren't allowed in the company town of Kennecott. So, the miners would travel down the hill to McCarthy for alcohol, pool halls, gambling, and the brothel. The mine operated from 1908 to 1938, so those were the prime years for both towns.

We had some time to kill, so we decided to get some lunch. Of the three restaurants in town, only one - the Roadside Potatohead (aka "The Potato") - was open.

 

 

We ordered burgers keto-style without the bread and declined their famous fries, and we watched the free-ranging dogs which sniffed and wrestled outside in the patio area. Though the door to the restaurant was open, none of the dogs went any farther than the threshold. Even when they arrived with their owners (off-leash, of course), they knew to stay outside and no commands of "no" or "stay" were uttered. Although I'm not a fan of dogs hovering around while I'm eating at a restaurant, it was fascinating to watch.

As our lunch was served, our neighbors from back in the RV park, Greg & Kathy, arrived, so they joined us. We learned that they moved up their trip to Alaska because their daughter is getting married in Homer later this summer. We had a nice chat.

After lunch, we sauntered back to the tour company where we met our guide, Amanda, and got fitted for crampons. Then we hopped in the van and she drove us up to Kennecott where we would begin our hike at the National Historic Landmark that is the Kennecott Mines.

 

 

Looking out toward our "campground" all those dunes of dirt are actually part of the Kennicott Glacier which terminates at the lake in the distance.

 

 

Here's the thing about the Kennicott Glacier. The mountains on the right side of the photo above are the Fireweed Mountains, and back when the mine was operating, the view of those mountains from Kennecott was blocked by the height of the glacier. Amanda told us that kids that lived in the town during that era have returned and been shocked to see the new view. Pretty amazing.

We paused by the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, which as I mentioned earlier, was housing for mine employees, specifically the upper level employees like engineers. Actually, it's a replica built on the same site.

 

 

We walked through town past a mixture of restored and non-restored buildings from the mining era with the most prominent certainly being the 14-story mill.

 

 

Many of the buildings are open for a self-guided walking tour, but a few, including the mill, can only be accessed on a paid, guided tour.

The ghost town, as it's often described now, certainly has a fantastic view.

 

 

That's Mt. Blackburn in the distance. 

 

 

At 16,390 feet, it's the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains, and it's the fifth highest peak in the U.S.

We continued through town on the trail.

 

 

The majority of today's hike is on the trail above the Kennicott Glacier as it's about two miles to get to the access point of the Root Glacier. Here is a view of the Kennicott Glacier that shows the ice beneath the varied-colored dunes of the moraine surface.

 

 

 

In the photo below, we can see the different colors of the glacier moraine as well as Mt. Blackburn and Root Glacier on the far right as it flows into and connects with Kennicott Glacier.

 

 

 

Several folks were on the Root Glacier below us.

 

 

Eventually, we turned left off the main trail and started our descent to the glacier access point.

 

 

 

At the edge of the glacier, we put on our crampons.

 

 

Though we brought layers to put on, it was quite warm today, and we didn't need the extra clothes on the ice today.

We made our way up the ice ....

 

 

to views like this.

 

 

I took that photo not knowing that the guy on the right is Don Mercer, the fellow we met and went fishing with back in Haines a couple of weeks ago. I recognized him as he and his guide were descending past us.

 

 

Like us, Don added Wrangell - St. Elias on his quest to visit all the National Parks. 

Looking forward, this was a different view of the Stairway Icefall, part of Root Glacier.

 

 

 

An icefall is like a frozen waterfall. It's part of a glacier that flows faster and develops deep crevasses due to the more rapid shifting of the ice because of gravity. The Stairway Icefall is considered un-climbable due to the speed at which it changes. Amanda said this is the largest icefall in the world outside Antarctica, and it certainly adds to the beauty and intrigue of Root Glacier.

Amanda took us over to this small waterfall in the ice.

 

 

 

I photographed the cool, tiny river meandering away from the falls.

 

 

After Amanda took our photo, ....

 

 

we both filled our water bottles with cold, glacier water from a nearby, smaller waterfall.

 

 

Walking back up the glacier, we had this great view of Castle Rock.

 

 

Here's a look from a different angle.

 

 

I love the different textures in the glacier surface.

This wide view includes an ice climber in the lower left.

 

 

 

What a gorgeous day!

 

 

 

Amanda and Linda were quite fond of these little holes in the ice where rocks and other surface items heated and melted into their own little pools.

 

 

In addition to this ice canyon, Amanda pointed out a "rock glacier" up on the mountain below Castle Rock.

 

 

Rock glaciers form in a few different ways, but basically they are the same as ice glaciers in that pressure and gravity cause a mass of rocks to move down an incline.

We followed another small "river" .....

 

 

down the ice to a blue pool.

 

 

 

The clear blue water looked like a hot springs pool you might find in Yellowstone, ....

 

 

but of course it's not exactly hot as the young lady who jumped in would attest.

 

 

Apparently, some guided tours give you the option of jumping into a frigid glacial pool. We weren't given that option, and that was quite alright.

We sat down and had a little snack while enjoying the entertainment, and I took a short video of our surroundings.

 

 

Soon, we began our walk back.

 

 

As we hiked, this leaf in the ice caught my eye, so this is my photo-nerd shot of the day.

 

 

I took one more shot of this ice-climbing guide with the icefall background before I turned and caught up with the ladies.

 

 

We were all smiles as we made our final descent off Root Glacier.

 

 

We did a glacier hike in Iceland last year, but this one was better because the views were much more stunning, there were more features to look at in the ice, and this time we had a private tour with our guide.

We love it when we end up on these tours with only our guide. We get to know them better (many are just really special people), they are a little more laid back and not so worried about their "script" or "herding cats", and we all can chat about stuff outside the realm of the tour and have more fun.

Amanda is working this seasonal gig here doing glacier hikes and guiding raft trips, but her "real" job is as a Marketing Director for a tribal college in Barrow, Alaska (now officially known as Utqiaġvik). This Californian works in the frigid Alaska arctic recruiting young people to her accredited, Alaska-native-controlled college that emphasizes native culture while at the same time educating attendees for employment opportunities.

We really enjoyed our time with Amanda.

Now, do you have to have a guide to walk on the Root Glacier? No, but it makes it easier to find the features and know what you are looking at. And with the TourSaver, the half-day guided tour is well worth it. But, if you go on your own, do yourself a favor and rent some crampons at one of the tour companies.

Walking back, the lighting was really good on the mountain above the mine mill.

 

 

This is sort of the classic view of the mill.

 

 

By the time we got back to the van, we were tuckered out. It was a five to six mile hike with about a mile walking on crampons on the glacier. You have to be somewhat fit to do it.

We said our goodbyes to Amanda when we returned to McCarthy, and we had some really nice salads for dinner at McCarthy's Golden Saloon.

 

 

Eventually, we walked back down the hill to the river and our Jeep.

 

 

After a ShowerPill Body Wipe "bath", we relaxed in our Helinox chairs by the river for a while.

 

 

Well, that concludes another fine, full day in Alaska.

Before the day ended, we booked a morning pack-rafting tour for Tuesday, so tomorrow, Monday, we'll explore the Kennecott Mine exhibits and history. We're not sure if we'll do the guided tour or not, but we can make that decision in the morning. Compared to today, tomorrow will be a light one.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 57 - Copper River Fish Wheels, Chitina, Alaska

As intended, after yesterday's long day, we slept in and took it easy all morning.

There is an ice house right next to our RV, and a couple of guys come and get ice to sell at their store. One fellow works with the campground, and assured us we were fine to be parking right where we are, and we could leave it there while we went to Wrangell - St. Elias National Park for a few days.

Actually, technically, we were inside the boundaries of the park last night during our drive, so that makes our 46th National Park. 

Not only did we make the decision to only take the Jeep to McCarthy, we decided we were going to car camp rather than take our tent or spend the money on lodging in McCarthy or Kennicott. There aren't a lot of lodging choices, and most places have to charge quite a bit and you may have to share bathrooms or use an outhouse. We decided to just sleep in the Jeep at one of the two "campgrounds".

Anyway, the ice guy told us that there are some fish wheels we should check out at the end of the road the Wrangell View RV park is on. Cool, we were wanting to do that.

So, in the afternoon, we drove down to the end of the road past the airport. Every town in Alaska has an airport, and at Chitina daily flights are offered to McCarthy for those that would rather take a half hour flight instead of the 60-mile road trip.

Past the airport, we parked our Jeep and walked down to the edge of the river hoping to talk to one of the fish wheel owners. There was no one around the first fish wheel.

 

 

So, these fish wheels have two baskets opposite each other and two "paddles" on the other axis. The current spins the paddles and baskets scooping up any fish that happen to be swimming upstream to spawn at the ideal time when the basket is in the water. There are ramps in the baskets that use gravity to deposit any fish caught in side basket holding pens.

The fish wheels can only be used by Alaska residents, and many families often chip in to purchase and maintain the fish wheels. They also rotate watching the fish wheels and harvesting the fish caught.

We watched as one salmon got caught in a basket and was deposited in the holding area. We waited hoping to see more, but no luck.

The next fish wheel downstream looked pretty new, but there was no one around there either.

 

 

These contraptions are targeting salmon that are swimming upriver to spawn. Since the salmon take the path of least resistance, they swim close to the bank and out of the main currents when they can, therefore the fish wheels are set up just a few feet off the bank.

I took a little video hoping to see a fish caught, but it turned out to be a fishless view of the wheel.

 

 

That one is in a very slow current, so it doesn't spin as fast as some of the others.

We walked upriver to another one, and again there was no one there.

 

 

Finally, we saw a guy wandering around a tent near a fish wheel, and Linda just walked over and asked if we could ask questions. He said "Sure, we get tourists here all the time since the airport is right there". So, Abid indulged us for about an hour (after he made sure his gun was handy in case of any potential intruding bears).

 

 

 

He's part of a group that owns the above fish wheel, and while most folks come out for about three days at a time, he's staying here for a week. Each person that is authorized to use the fish wheel has to have a permit and they have to be "authorized" by the owner. Authorized users that are not owners are supposed to put a plaque on the fish wheel with their name and address.

By regulation, the holding pens on the wheels are supposed to be checked every 10 hours. The holding areas can hold lots of fish, so they rarely get full.

Abid said the new fish wheel we looked at earlier cost about $10,000 to build, so that's why several families go in together.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any more fish caught, but these things are quite effective. Abid said his neighbors left earlier in the morning with 150 fish for their three days.

Alaska residents can use either a dip net OR a fish wheel for subsistence "personal use" fishing but not both. Subsistence "personal use" fish may not be bought, sold or bartered and can only be used as human food or as bait.

Abid told us many stories of trees wrecking fish wheels, bears wrecking unmanned fish wheels, people getting injured, and more. The wheels look harmless, but there is no emergency switch to shut them off, the walkways around them are slippery, and one mistake could cost you a limb or your life.

But they are really interesting. We thanked Abid for his kindness and returned to the RV.

I got out the Blackstone and cooked a pound of bacon, and then some halibut from our freezer.

Later a huge motorhome came in, and we let them know that the Site 11 next to us was open. So Greg & Kathy, full-timers from New Hampshire pulled in beside us. They are doing a day trip to McCarthy tomorrow, and we'll be heading that way ourselves, so we'll probably see them then.

Unfortunately, I think their big rig blocked our Wi-Fi signal as the service wasn't nearly as good after they arrived. However, as unbelievable as it sounds, we heard that McCarthy & Kennicott have Verizon 4G, so we'll take our gear and hopefully get some photos uploaded while we are there.

That's it for today. Tomorrow it's road trip time and we have a glacier hike scheduled for the afternoon.

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2019 Alaska Trip - Day 56 - Valdez To Chitina, Worthington Glacier & Moose Sightings, Chitina, Alaska

Next on our agenda was to visit the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, which is the largest park in the U.S. at 13.2 million acres and six times larger than Yellowstone. It also contains 9 of the tallest 15 mountains in the U.S. including number two, Mt. St. Elias at 18,000 feet. However, though it is accessible by road, it's not easy to get to, and it gets less than 100,000 visitors a year.

We left Valdez Glacier Campground a little later than we planned, but we only had 120 miles to drive today. The plan was to stay overnight in Chitina (pronounced Chit-na), and then drive the 60 rough miles to McCarthy and the park tomorrow.

Because of the 7.5-mile climb from Keystone Canyon up and over Thompson Pass, we decided to leave the Jeep unattached, so I drove behind Linda taking some photos on this beautiful day.

 

 

 

This drive is known as one of the prettiest in Alaska for good reason.

 

 

 

Passing Horsetail Falls, .....

 

 

and Bridal Veil Falls.

 

 

At the end of Keystone Canyon, the road changed into three lanes with two in the uphill direction. However, the two lanes heading north are quite narrow. Since there was no one behind us, Linda used both of them until the road widened a bit.

 

 

The climb really wasn't as bad as we anticipated, but it was certainly easier for the motorhome without the Jeep.

Approaching Thompson Pass.

 

 

A glacier loomed in the mountains above the road.

 

 

Once over the pass, it was a short drive to Worthington Glacier State Recreation Area. We had skipped this stop on the way to Valdez, but since it was such a pretty day, I decided we should stop and give it about an hour.

 

 

I wasn't sure about the parking at the top of the drive, so we parked near the highway. Linda turned around so we'd be heading out, and she decided to hang with the rig and have some lunch while I took the Jeep up to take some pics.

For what it's worth, any size rig can go up to the parking area. There are several large parking spots - the only caveat would be that the parking lot could fill up fairly easily, so you might end up parking near the highway and walking up the road in peak times.

From the parking lot, there's a short, paved trail to the viewing area.

 

 

 

The large black area below the white of the glacier is actually part of the glacier, the "toe" of Worthington.

Now Worthington Glacier is the most popular stop between Glennallen and Valdez because it's one of the most accessible glaciers in Alaska. You can drive to it on paved roads, there is no fee, and you don't need a guide. If you've never had a chance to see a glacier, it's a great stop. However, if you've seen lots of glaciers, you won't be impressed if you just go to the viewing area.

You can hike up to the "toe" on the unmaintained "social" trails, but there are a few warning signs that try to discourage it.

 

 

 

 

There are paths going in several different directions, but the stream bed was pretty dry, and I just followed it. I was glad I had my hiking boots on as there is quite a bit of loose rock.

 

 

Of course the views are much better if you are willing to hike closer.

 

 

There are some waterfalls along the cliffs on the right and today there was a nice waterfall at the "toe" streaming from under the ice.

 

 

 

 

Here's a little video from the waterfall and the "toe".

 

 

I will reiterate the warnings. It's dangerous up by the waterfall and the "toe" or "face" of the glacier, whichever you prefer. What you can't see when you get close is the slope above the face with a line of rocks right at the top edge.

 

 

Some of those rocks were rolling down the slope and rocketing off the top of the face. After a couple of them crashed a little too close, I retreated. You could be standing by the face taking your selfies and be killed instantly by those falling rocks, especially on a sunny day like today when the ice under them is melting a bit.

The water from the falls flows down this narrow gorge by the cliffs.

 

 

And the views looking out from the glacier on the return trip on this fine day were quite nice.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, if you are looking for a bit more exercise and a different perspective, you can hike the Glacier Ridge Trail which runs along the ridge on the top left of the photo below.

 

 

 

There is no access to the glacier face from there, however.

So, here is my Worthington Glacier summary. A walk to the observation deck is easy .... and somewhat unimpressive considering some of the views you can get of the glacier from the highway. But I enjoyed hiking up to the face. It wasn't too difficult, and I liked the water features and the views. However, if you do the hike to the face, do so at your own risk and be very cautious of falling rocks and ice. 

I set aside an hour for Worthington Glacier, but from the time I left Linda, walked to the observation deck, hiked to the face, took lots of pictures, and returned, it only took me 30 minutes. And it was well worth stopping.

Back at the rig, we hitched up the Jeep for the remainder of today's drive, about ninety more miles.

Just past Worthington Glacier was road construction. A group of Class A motorhomes on a guided caravan trip were waiting in line heading south.

 

 

More road scenery.

 

 

 

 

Eventually, we turned east on the Edgerton Highway, a 33-mile road off of the Richardson Highway just south of the town of Copper Center. Topping a hill, we got a fairly decent view of the Wrangell Mountains in the distance.

 

 

About seven miles in on the Edgerton Highway is Kenny Lake Mercantile & RV Park. They have gas, a small grocery, a restaurant, and RV and tent campsites. We stopped to fuel up the motorhome and take on water ($5 fee for water, $15 to use the dump station).

There is one gas/diesel pump, so only one vehicle at a time can fuel up, two if one is diesel and one is gas. The gas price was around $3.70 which wasn't too bad considering they are in the middle of nowhere and you don't have any other choices. There is an unmanned fuel pump in Chitina but, from what I've read, it doesn't always have gas.

This place was our back-up, back-up plan in case we didn't find a place to park in Chitina.

I'd say the first 18 miles of the Edgerton Highway were pretty good, better than the section of the Richardson Highway we had been on. But, after those first 18 miles, the road has ascents and descents, wavy areas, dips, and more. It's paved all the way to Chitina, but it was no fun.

Now, there is an RV Park just outside of Chitina, Wrangell View RV Park, run by the Chitina Native Corporation. That would be our first back-up plan.

We drove all the way into Chitina where we saw a huge cow moose cross the road in front of us just as we got into town. Then we proceeded through town where the road turned into the notorious McCarthy Road - 60 miles of reportedly bad road that ends at the Kennicott River.

Your introduction to the McCarthy Road is this narrow, one-lane cut through the rocks.

 

 

Then it drops down to the Copper River where lots of Alaskans were trying to "dip net" the famous Copper River Salmon. Apparently, word got out that there was a run coming through. By the way, only Alaska residents are allowed to dip net fish.

On the other side of the Copper River Bridge is the free Copper River Campground, a campground supposedly offered by the Alaska Department of Transportation. It doesn't have designated sites, it's just a "park where you can" kind of place.

Our plan was to park there, and then drive a portion of the McCarthy Road to determine whether or not we would drive the RV on that road tomorrow all the way to McCarthy.

Well, with it being the weekend and the word being out on the salmon run, the campground was completely full. There wasn't any place to park and people on ATVs were driving and stirring up dust everywhere.  We had to unhitch the Jeep, turn around and head the couple miles back to Chitina.

Now, there are a few roadside turnouts where we could have camped. But we were considering just taking the Jeep to McCarthy, and didn't want to leave the rig in a roadside turnout for two or three nights unattended if we did that.

So, we went back to the Wrangell View RV Park five miles outside of Chitina. Now, I don't know where they got the photograph of the RV park on their web page, but the RV park looks nothing like that. It's not bad, it's just not what is depicted. There is, however, indeed a view of Mt. Wrangell, the only active volcano in the Wrangell Mountain Range. On clear days, you can see puffs of smoke from near the summit.

 

 

They only have eleven sites, and all the sites were taken or reserved. However, they do have space where you can just park your RV.

A nice German fellow in a rental RV that got the last spot said he had no problem if we squeezed in next to him. So we did - we created Site 11 1/2.

 

 

 

No one staffs this campground, so it looked like pretty much anything goes. There was a shed where you could take on water and where the prices were listed.

 

 

There was a number to call, but we didn't have cell service. They do, however, have free Wi-Fi, so we decided to just go ahead and pay the $15 parking fee and stay a couple nights so that any crowds at McCarthy might be less when we arrive. If we decided to leave the rig here, we were comfortable with that.

By then it was getting late already, so rather than driving, we went ahead and had dinner and logged onto the Wi-Fi. It wasn't too bad.

Around 8:30, I told Linda I was going on one of my night-time wildlife drives and perhaps drive a few miles of the McCarthy Road. This time, she joined me.

We drove the Jeep back through Chitina, through the cut in the rocks, and over the Copper River Bridge. On the other side of the bridge past the campground, the road goes up and turns to pavement, although we had heard that the paved section was the worst part.

The road is paved for the next fifteen miles to the Kuskulana Bridge, then it turns to hard dirt and gravel.

It was a beautiful night, and we stopped at a turnout for a look back at the Kotsina River as it flows into the Copper.

 

 

Most of the significant rivers in Alaska are of the this "braided" variety.

 

 

Continuing up the uneven, warped road, we stopped at another overlook. This is the Chitina River as it flows toward the Copper.

 

 

Now, this evening was apparently Snowshoe Hare night on McCarthy Road. They were everywhere, and we had to go a little slower to keep from hitting them as they darted across the road.

So, the first eight miles of the road weren't good as they would certainly do a number on the frame of an RV if you went too fast, but they weren't as horrible as we expected. Still, we pretty much determined we didn't want to drive our RV on the road, but we could if we went really slow. 

The next six or seven miles were a different story. There were breaks in the pavement, gravel, potholes, dips, and bad places marked with orange cones or ribbons in the roadside trees and shrubs. That section of the road to the Kuskulana Bridge was worse, but still doable if we really wanted to. We were waffling still on whether or not to take the RV, but it was about 90% that we wouldn't.

We crossed the bridge .....

 

 

and continued to drive another five miles. The road was better on the other side of the bridge. Yes, there were still bad spots and some small potholes, but we could average a good 30 mph in the Jeep. In the motorhome, I would be happy averaging 15 - 20 mph and doing the 60 miles in three to four hours.

Eventually, we turned around and made our way back. It was already about 10:00 and it was slow going due mostly to our fear of squishing bunnies. It's not an exaggeration to tell you we saw at least 200 rabbits on this drive, and I'm pretty sure that's a low estimate.

On the way back, we had some nice evening colors, and Linda took some great photos.

 

 

 

 

We looked for moose in every little pond, lake and stream, but saw none.

 

 

Then, as we got back into Chitina, right where the McCarthy Road turns into the Edgerton Highway, we saw this bull moose feeding in Town Lake. Awesome.

 

 

We watched him munch aquatic plants for several minutes.

 

 

I hid in the trees as he came in to shallower water.

 

 

I was able to lighten those photos, but I took some video that's a bit darker ..... it was 11:00 p.m. after all.

 

 

Sorry about the wind noise, too.

It had been a pretty great day already, but that topped it off. Oh, but that wasn't the end. 

Across the road in a pond (also in town) was this moose cow feeding.

 

 

Whew. What a day. Beautiful mountains, glaciers, rivers, rabbits, and moose to take the sting out of some pretty bad roads.

We stopped at the one gas pump in town and it did in fact have fuel and was working. The gas was over $4.00 and the most expensive yet in Alaska, but with a 120-mile round-trip in the next couple of days where there are no services, we didn't mind.

Tomorrow, we have nothing on the agenda, and I'm betting it will be a day to sleep in and get some rest. Until next time.

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