To get to McCarthy and Kennecott we got off of the highway and drove two hours on an unpaved bumpy road to the campground at the end. The road was so bumpy that it shook the battery connector right off of Becca’s van! Luckily Pa was able to fix it! From the end of the road we took a foot bridge over the roiling Kennicott river to get to McCarthy.
McCarthy was originally a booming town where copper miners from the Kennecott mine spent the money they earned. They spent their money on stuff like drinking and gambling. When we visited McCarthy we ate at a great restaurant called The Potato and we also got ice cream.
We also visited Kennecott, five miles away, which was once a booming copper town. Copper was discovered there in 1901. In 1911 the first load of copper departed Kennecott on the newly built 193 mile railway to Cordova. Kennecott was the most technologically advanced mine in Alaska; they were able to extract 98% of the copper out of the ore. The Kennecott Mine was the richest copper mine in the world at the time.
We went on a mill tour where Ma hit her head two times; luckily we were wearing hard hats. We got to see how the copper was processed and put onto trains.
When the copper was all extracted the owners shut down the mining operation and left all their equipment behind. Now the old mining equipment and town buildings are managed by the National Park Service.
In Kennecott we also hiked the Root Glacier Trail. We walked on a dangerous trail where I fell in the dust two times. We walked out on the ice and saw cool stuff like the snow and ice on the mountains and ground.
I had so much fun in McCarthy and Kennecott but now we are moving on to new adventures! Above and beyond!