Alaska 2013 – Roadtrip – On to McCarthy
The weather improved outside of park and we spent the rest of day traveling the Denali Highway, a 120 miles of gravel roadway with potholes and washboards so travel is slow - especially as any insurance is invalid if you have an accident, also if you get a puncture there’s a big difference between having a spare and trying to change it on a heavy truck camper with the pathetic tools that you have to work with !
The day was all about the scenery. It is a stunning stretch of road, probably the most scenic so far. Its a mix of everything, there are snow capped mountains and glaciers; valleys and rivers, lakes and tree covered plains. It took us about 5 hours to complete the 120 miles. There was a stretch of a couple of miles where all the ponds have beaver dens, dozens of them, we even got to see a beaver swimming too and fro from his/her den. Cool or what ? Another animal ticked off the too see list:). Equally as good as the scenery was the lack of other vehicles, I don't think we saw a dozen vehicles the entire time we were on the road.
We decided to camp on the highway itself, with a view to die for - we overlooked a valley with snow capped mountains and a glacier in the back ground. The only thing better than the view - it was a free campsite and we were the only ones there.
The view the next morning was even better than the night before, the sky was blue, the sun was out and it was clear on the horizon so you could clearly see the mountain ranges in the distance. The air was cool and crisp, just right.
Leaving the Denali Highway. We headed south along the Richardson Highway, all I can say is more stunning views throughout the day and very little traffic.
We stayed at an RV site overnight as we needed power hookup for appliances, dumping facilities, hot showers, laundry and wifi.
Laying in bed we could hear the call of Wolves in the distance.
Awoke to another glorious blue sky day. We set off and soon came to the McCarthy Road; a 60 mile gravel road taking you into the Wrangell National Park. The road was no worse than the Denali Highway, although narrower with single lane widths in many places. Its difficult to keep finding words to describe the scenery - it was still stunning. Snow capped mountains, wooded hillsides, roadside ponds sporting beaver dens - basically what we had come to expect. Stopped for breakfast by side of the road. The view was of a metal girder bridge spanning a deep gorge with a fast moving river of glacial water; I've had worse views over breakfast that’s for sure. Arrived at our campground, it was how you visualize a campsite to be - secluded, surrounded by trees, mountains in the background and your own picnic table and fire pit - Oh and flies, so many that you couldn’t enjoy the view whilst sitting at your picnic table!
The road ended about half a mile on, with a footbridge spanning the river, there were 2 ways to get to McCarthy, walk or catch the shuttle that is on the opposite side of the bridge every half hour. There is no water or power here, water is straight from streams (signposted), power is solar or generators. All trash has to be taken back out with you as there in no landfill etc.
We walked to McCarthy, wandered the museum and then into the town - basically a main dirt street with a few old wooden buildings - a hotel, a saloon, a mercantile store and a few private dwellings, apparently the permanent population is about 40, rising to about 140 during tourist season. There is obviously a high level of self sufficiency, with vegetable gardens all over the place.
Wandered back to the truck camper, we stopped off at the stream to fill our water bottles; this stream being the locals main source of drinking water - no chlorine and other nasties ! Salmon burger and corona ended a good day.
We were picked up at the footbridge by St Elias Guides (www.steliasguides.com) and driven to Kennecott, about 5 miles beyond McCarthy (and the reason for McCarthys existence). Meeting our guide (Joda), we set out, along with 4 others for a full day of glacial trekking. It was a couple of miles to the glacier, the trail was nice and flat though, in complete contrast to Exit Glacier. Donning our crampons (over our own footwear) we stepped onto the ice.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and you could clearly see the glacier and the mountain ranges as far away as 30 miles.
We had a really spectacular day, Joda was another really professional, knowledgeable and entertaining guide which really helps. We saw no one else within 10 minutes of being on the glacier, we wandered through ice canyons, complete with glacial streams; saw impressive moulins (deep sinkholes into which waterfalls of glacial water disappear); pools of blue water, we even squeezed through a narrow crack of ice. The shapes and different ice colours were phenomenal and in complete contrast to what we had experienced when on Exit Glacier.
A cool day of new experiences, topped off with a bison burger and a couple of pints of Alaskan White in the saloon in McCarthy.
We had planned another activity with the same guys for the following day - ice caving, basically exploring the caves created at the edge of the glacier as it moves downwards over the bedrock - we figured we had flow over, landed on, kayaked up to, climbed up and walked over glaciers, why not top it off and go under one !\
Heading back to Root Glacier, we scrambled down a steep scree slope to reach the side of the glacier. Donning hard hats and headlamps we entered and explored a total of 3 ice caves. We were the first to explore some of these caves which added to the thrill - to realise that you are under hundreds of tonnes of slowly moving ice and rock, the sound of dripping water and the occasional rumble as a rock falls from the ceiling - scary for some, exhilerating for me ! The colour of the ice was perhaps the most spectacular we had seen to date - a deep, deep blue; there was also something very surreal about looking at gravel and rocks trapped in the ice, it looked more like a mirror reflection and did strange things to your brain ! Sometimes the caves were too tall allow you to see the ceiling, whilst at other times you were crawling on your hands and knees in cold, wet gravel to proceed further - it felt like a true adventure. Almost the best part was that the guide, Marge, was even more excited than we were !
Another truly great experience on our adventures in Alaska.
Back in Kennicott we took another tour with Joda, this time on a walk around historical Kennicott. There is currently alot of renovation going on, so the main buildings were off limits, it still rounded off a great trip to this part of Alaska. That evening we had a pint and chat in the saloon with Joda; one of the highlights of the trip is definately some of the people we have met along the way (and will hopefully keep in touch with).
We had decided to take a leisurely 2 day trip back to Anchorage which allowed for any unforseen circumstances or unscheduled stops. As we drove along the McCarthy Road we were treated to a final great wildlife sighting - a female moose and calf walked out of the trees and onto the road itself; slowing down we followed them for a couple of minutes before they dissapered into the undergrowth once again. About 5 miles from the end of the unpaved section of road we had caught up with another truck camper. Suddenly its rear wheel just bounced across the road infront of us as the truck itself came to a hault. Getting out to see if we could help we found out that the constant vibrations on the washboarding had loosened all 4 wheelnuts, the movement of the wheel had then sheered off 2 of the wheel lugs, at which point the wheel had come off. We looked for the nuts without success, so ended up jacking the truck up, removing a good wheel nut from each of the 3 remaining wheels to enable us to resecure the fourth. Driving slowly (and stopping often to retighten the nuts) we followed them to the small settlement of Chitina where there was a tyre repair place (am sure this happens alot).
Leaving them behind, and sighing a relief that it wasn't us ! we continued on our journey, stopping at an RV site on the Glenn Highway, about 70 miles form Anchorage.
A late start and we continued on, passing Matanuska Glacier, before stopping off at the Musk Oxen Farm for a quick tour.
A few hours later saw us in Anchorage, a bit of shopping before settling down for our final night in the RV.
Dropping the RV off we headed to the airport for the journey home.
Wondeful trip, wonderful memories - finally got to see bears :)
