Picture of the week

Kennicott Mine

A haphazard stack of buildings at the Kennicott Mining site.  This now defunct mine used to be one of the largest mines for copper extraction in Alaska up until its closure at the start of World War II.  Located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park north of McCarthy, it is facinating place to see the arrested decay, comparable to that of Bodie in California.

Images shown here reflect part III of my late June trip up to Alaska (see the previous blogs).  After the week out at Glacier Bay, we spent 5 days on the road out of Anchorage, taking the Glenn Allen Highway through Wrangell, car camping along the way.  Given how much myself and friends abhor crowds, this region is less visited and more reflective of the rugged Alaskan independence versus the more crowded and touristed Kenai Peninsula or Denali National Park.

One of the highlights of the trip was the visit to the Kennicott Mine, the nearby Kennicott glacier, and the town of McCarthy at the end of a 60 mile dirt road from the town of Chitina. Crossing the Copper River, salmon dip netting season was in full swing for the locals, with many partaking in this activity to get as many of these bountiful fish as possible during the short time period when this is allowed.  Some of the natives were making use of fish wheels that allows for a more mechanisized means for catching these fish (see image 6 below).  Some of these locals rely on subsistence of the natural resources including these fish, to help support their independent means for living in this more wild area of Alaska.

Our original plan was to continue on to Prince William Sound and the town of Valdez, stopping along the way at some more of the glaciers and other sites.  But these plans were nixed after shredding one of the tires on the rental car while leaving on the road out of McArthur.   Instead we had to camp another day near Chitina until a new tire could be delivered from Anchorage, paying $170 to replace it.  On the last day we stopped at the Independence mine on Hatcher Pass Road on the way back to Anchorage, a scenic and more verdant landscape closer to the city.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2010-2016.  Last updated: 8/6/2016   ()