An Ice Day For a Hike
The defunct company town of Kennecott, 5 miles up the valley, is caught in the past. In 1900, two prospectors discovered green cliffs on the Kennicott Glacier's east edge; they were 70 percent copper ore, one of the richest deposits ever found. From the mine's opening in 1911 until 1938, it produced at least $200 million of ore. The park service, which took title to Kennecott in 1998, is restoring some buildings, letting others crumble. For now, visitors can roam at will. I spent an hour nosing around dangling tram wires and mounds of giant, rusting pulleys.
It's hard to grasp the notion of a national park the size of Switzerland. I'm glad I took the advice of Neil Darish, co-owner of McCarthy Lodge, and shelled out $135 for a 70-minute sightseeing flight. Pilot Gary Green, gray hair flapping beneath his cowboy hat, seemed a gentle soul. I changed my opinion once he flew his Cessna 180 straight at the shimmering icefall on the Russell Glacier, closer and closer, while I stifled the urge to shout: "Turn!" Finally he did, the wings missing the mountainside by what felt like inches. People in McCarthy say Kennicott Glacier is a few hundred feet lower than it was a decade ago. Global warming is the likely culprit. Looking through the plane's window at a scene vaster than 100 Grand Canyons, I found it difficult to believe that humans could affect it one bit.
On the front porch of the McCarthy Lodge that evening, a park service interpreter mentioned that a black bear had strolled down Kennecott's main street at 5 p.m. Flatbed Larry explained that he'd gotten his name because there were just too many Larrys in McCarthy. The attributes of Alaska serial killers were discussed, with the nod going to the "Butcher Baker," who invited young women on airplane rides and then hunted them. Barmaid Rebecca Bard brought out another round of Alaskan Amber, ignoring the mosquitoes that hovered around her shoulders, bare in a halter minidress. She grew up in Dayton, Ohio, but once she discovered McCarthy, she settled in. "What's more fun than coming to the end of the road?"
LOCAL FAVE
"The best way to get in some really great hiking is to get dropped off by airplane at a remote airstrip. You can land in rather strange places, including on a glacier."
ED LACHAPELLE, glacier expert, McCarthy resident, and author of Secrets of the Snow
[map labels]
ALASKA
Anchorage
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
advertisement
