| Day 13, Copper Center to Kennicott (5/26) MAP
We left Copper Center and drove to the Chitina airstrip to catch a four seater plain that took us to McCarthy. The airstrip was small and a sign said "Park your car here for Wrangell Moutain Air". The four seater Cessna arived and picked us up. We enjoyed a beautiful flight over mountains and glaciers to McCarthy. We felt very lucky that the weather was sunny and clear. |
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| At the McCarthy Airstrip a van from the Kennicott Lodge met us and took us the five miles up to the Lodge. The Lodge is built among the old Kennicott copper mining facility built on the side of a mountain. In conjunction with this facility, a railroad was built that went along the Copper River (that starts here at the glacier) all the way to Cordova. At Cordova the copper was loaded into ships. The railway is gone now, but the railbed is used as a road. Here it is called the McCarthy 'highway ' and is on the rental car's list of 'no go' roads. So we flew instead and it was a excuse to do some 'flightseeing'. The sky was clear and the sun was bright; the flight was great. Our pilot pointed out all the landmarks. |
| We checked into the lodge and then walked along a trail to the glacier. It took about 40 minutes. The views were spectacular. The season starts with Memorial weekend so we beat the crowd. There were only few people at the lodge. After dinner Sue went on a group walking tour of the old mining town and learned of the area's history. |
