COPPER VALLEY-the Day at McCarthy & Kennecott

McCartney Road to Kennecott

Today started early, waking at 4 am and starting our trip to the Kennecott Copper Mine and McCartney at 5:30 am.  The distance is 83 miles from our base at Kenny Lake, but 59 miles of the road, McCartney Road, connects the Copper and Kennicott Rivers.  The road follows part of the historic 196 mile long CRNW railroad that was constructed in 1908.  The railroad ran from Kennecott copper mines, where over $200,000,000 of copper was dug out of the surrounding mountains.

In todays dollars that is roughly $2 billion dollars.  The last train to make the journey was in November 1938.   After the railroad was abandoned, most of its rails and ties were removed.  The state of Alaska created the McCartney Road in 1970. The road is extremely rough and it took us over three hours to get there.  That is why the early departure to get there by 9 am to catch a shuttle that takes you to the town of McCartney and Kennecott which was 5 miles from McCartney.  The rode ends at the river 1/2 mile from McCartney.  They warn of railroad ties and spikes still in the road that causes flats and to take a good spare and jack.

Tire on Roadside

We Did, but thankfully did not need them, but we did see three old tires in the ditch.  We  also saw 3 moose and plenty of rabbits on the journey, old RR trussels and plenty of scenery. The big draw to Kennecott is the history and the Copper Mine refinery, which is a huge building with several floors.  The tour took you through th building for 2 hours and explained the living conditions and how they dug the Copper out of the mountains and every step until they loaded on the train.  The day was very interesting but extremely long and hazardous.  This is not a place that the average tourist would go.  Pictures from out trip are posted below.

View of Kennecott from top of Mine

Single Lane Kuskulana Bridge

View from Top

The Top

View of Mine from ground

Gorge off Kuskulana Bridge

Liberty Falls at Chitina

Copper River



McCartney

 

COPPER RIVER VALLEY, LASK

Worthington Glacier

Copper River Valley

The Copper River Valley is a huge land area south of Tok all the way to Valdez.  We left Valdez this morning to drive north enroute to Anchorage with stops today at Kenny Lake.  We will park the Rv here tonight & tomorrow and drive our Tow to McCarthy and Kennecott. It will be about an 80 mile road trip one way over pretty rough terrain. All of this land mass is a part of the Wrangell-St Elias National Park.  Today we stopped at the Worthington Glacier.  It was a great view of the Glacier from the parking lot, but we made a short walk to the Glacier but turned back when we saw Bear paws and dung in the snow.  

 

Bear Paw

VALDEZ, OUR LAST DAY

Valdez First Baptist Church

SUNDAY, MAY 28, our last day was to begin with a Pan Cake breakfast at the Elks Club.  When we got there , no people and no pancakes, so we went to Old Town Burgers and ordered breakfast.  Afterwards, we went to the services at the First Baptist Church of Valdez.  It was a traditional Baptist Service with songs from the hymnal.

Everyone was very friendly.  Afterwards, we went to the park for the city wide memorial day picnic and then back to the Motorcoach to clean it up and be ready to leave tomorrow morning.  Today has been another rainy day.

Valdez Memorial Day Celebration

Saturday, May 27 we attended the Memorial Day Celebration that the town of Valdez had to honor those wo have served and are still serving in the armed forces.  The celebration will go through Monday, Memorial Day.  All events were held at the John Kelsey Dock Plaza.

The Commander of the Valdez Coast Guard spoke and two former Vietnam veterans were honored.  Lunch was served to everyone attending the event.  Halibut, Hot dogs with the condiments were the menu.  The city sponsored halibut fishing for all active service members attending as well as games for the children.  It was not raining today but the temperture was in the high 30s and the wind was of an artic nature. 
Tomorrow the day will start with a pancake breakfast free to the public, sponsored by the Elks Lodge with a picnic lunch at noon.  We plan on attending the First Baptist Church service tomorrow morning before the picnic.  Jeff and Laura who own the Eagles Rest Rv Park where we are staying invited us to stay over for the weekend.  Since my original goal was to be in Whitehorse on Memorial Day, we decided we could stay over the weekend and hit the road again on Monday where we plan on going to Kennecott.

9th Army Rock Band

VALDEZ

Columbia Glacier

We had planned on being in Valdez for three days and leaving yesterday, but due to two days of steady rain we decided to stay through the weekend and celebrate Memorial Day weekend in Valdez.  The second day we were here we toured the museums and loaded up on the local history which was very interesting.  We learned that the original town of Valdez, which was at the mouth of the Valdez Glacier, had been totally destroyed by an earthquake in 1964.  Thirty-two people were killed that were working on the docks which collapsed into the sea.  The town went under water briefly and the ground moved like jello because the ground  was not solid but glacier mud.  In two years the town was rebuilt 4 miles west of the old site on solid rock where it currently is today. We decided to ride to Old Valdez which was totally taken over by trees and no buildings were standing.  Some markers were there stating what was at the various locations.  We then drove the Dayville Road on the other side of Port Valdez and stopped at the fish hatchery.  No tours were available but the person on duty gave us a brief overview of the hatchery where 250,000,000 fish were raised and released at this location.

One of the reasons we stayed extra days was because we wanted to go to the Columbia Glacier on the Lu-Lu Belle, piloted and owned by Captain Fred.  Yesterday started with a light mist but it turned out to be a beautiful day.  I would recommend this trip for anyone coming to Valdez.  There is another boat that goes to the Glacier but it is larger , with more people, and due to the size cannot get as close to the Glacier.  We cut through the ice and got within 1/4 mile where others stay about 8 miles from the face of the glacier.  The trip was reasonably priced and included views of sea otters, whales, sea lions, eagles and other wildlife.  we took many pictures which does not do justice to the beauty of what we saw.  Enjoy the pictures!


Bald Eagle

Humpback Whale

Sea Lions

Sea Otters
 

SCENES FROM VALDEZ DAY 1

Valdez is a beautiful costal town on the coast of Prince William Sound surrounded by snowcapped mountains with glaciers.  The entrance to the valley is through the Keystone Canyon where waterfalls cascade down the canyon walls.

  The canyon opens to a valley where Valdez is nestled.  Our first 24 hrs. was busy.  After parking at the Eagles Rest RV Park, we went to the harbor to check out the local activities.  At 5 pm a local person put on a show by feeding the Eagles.  The eagles came down from the mountains several minutes before the daily feeding in anticipation of what was to come.  Some hovered overhead while some rested in nearby trees
 This was an amazing display.  After a good nights sleep we decided to venture out to Valdez Glacier to Kayak around the glacier.  The day started about 9 am and we returned around 3 pm in the afternoon.  This was nice but not what we expected,  This glacier is a fresh water glacier flowing into a fresh water lake.

Walking on the glacier was walking on rock and slate that was on top of the glacier from cutting through the mountain.  You could see the blue ice of the glacier under the rock.  After returning to town, we went to the Valdez Museum which covered the history of the Valdez area and the local natives and the Valdez oil spill in 1986.   



Valdez Glacier

RICHARDSON HIGHWAY TO VALDEZ

After Boondocking at the Wrandell-St Elias National Park we got an early start to finish our drive to Valdez down the Richardson Highway.  We made many stops along the way to enjoy the beauty of this drive.  This is probably one of the most scenic drives in Alaska with snowcapped mountains, river bottoms, canyons,  river rapids, and mountain glaciers.  we only had 107 miles to travel but we took six hours in order to fully absorb the scenes along the way.  I think the pictures can explain it best, although they do not do it justice.

ALASKA & CANADIAN ROCKIES

MAY 21 marked the 18th day of our journey into Alaska.  After spending 2 nights in Tok with a day trip to Chicken, we decided it was time to move on.  The RV needed a good washing after the 4,000 mile journey to Tok, so we got up early and spent 2 1/2 hrs. giving it a good cleaning on the outside.

Breaking for Lunch

  Linda had continuously kept the coach clean on the inside.  After fueling up, we started the 260+ mile trip to Valdez where we planned on staying several days.  Roads were rough in places and we decided that we would break up the trip into two days.  We were told the ride was beautiful and that there were plenty of pull-offs to take pictures, to have lunch or to boondock for the night, so we decided to do all of the above.  The drive was very nice and we felt we would go more than halfway, just past Glenallen.  We found a nice pull-off next to a lake where we had lunch and took a short walk to get the blood flowing again.  The ride was very picturesque with Mountains that had Glaciers at the top and valleys that had flowing streams.  We drove slowly for two reasons, the frost heaves and hoping that we would see wildlife.  Linda decided that it was time for her to drive Alaska.  This sure helped me and gave me a break and she did great, and she will have many more opportunities before we return home.

About mid-afternoon we arrived at the visitors center of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.  It is the largest National Park in America, 6 times the size of Yellowstone, The Peaks were all along the highway as we traveled as pictured above.  We decided that the park was a good place to boondock for the night, entrance just .2 mile off the main highway. On to Valdez tomorrow.