Monday, July 19, 2010

After breakfast, we took the local shuttle from McCarthy to the former town and mill site of Kennecott, once the site of the world's richest copper mine. Copper, gold and silver here were known and used by the early native tribes, but the white man's history of Kennicott began in 1900, when prospectors spotted the green glint of copper ore in the mountains above the Kennicott Glacier. Almost overnight, a boom town was born. The Kenicott Copper Mine was built and the structures standing today represent a time of wide open exploration and exploitation in the early days of rough and wild Alaska. The Mill building, at 14 levels, is still the tallest wooden structure in America.

Along with the huge mine, there were mill works, 200 miles of railroad, and a steamship line to carry the ore to Tacoma, Washington. The Kennecott Copper Corporation employed over 600 people at its peak operation. Kennecott was a self-contained company town, complete with a hospital, general store, schoolhouse, baseball field, skating rink, tennis court, recreation hall and dairy. Over $300 million worth of copper was shipped between 1906 and 1938. The whole place now belongs to the National Park Service, which is working to preserve this piece of American history.

After looking around Kennecott, we headed off for a closer look at the Root Glacier, conveniently located about two miles away along a trail that originally was a wagon road. This dirt track was built in the 1920's to supply the Erie Mine, six miles up the Root Glacier. The glacier's terminal moraine is such a huge pile of rocks that it looks more like a field of mine tailings than a glacier. But, beneath that thin veneer of gravel lies nearly a thousand feet of ice.

As the trail breaks out from the forest, we scrambled down to the toe of Root Glacier. This moraine area is made up of scoured gravel and dirt, where only 50 years ago, the ice was flush up against the hillside, scraping away the ground and trees, like a natural bulldozer. Now the glaciers are receding - they continue to creep down the valley, but they are getting smaller in height, width and length as more ice is melting than is being accumulated.

At the toe of Root Glacier, we stepped onto the surface of the glacier to feel the crunch of ice - it's pretty slippery, so we didn't venture far.  Higher up, the glacier is snow white, but here the surface is dirty from grinding its way through the mountains.  The crack in left part of picture is a crevasse. 

After posing for pictures, we had lunch at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, followed by the obligatory visit to the local gift shop. We caught the shuttle back to McCarthy, and then went back across the footbridge to our van.
















We stopped along the Copper River to watch the fish wheels at work - these can only be used by natives and other subsistence-level fishermen.

We stopped again to compare the old and the new - the new bridge across the river looks a bit safer than the old one in the background.

This is but one example of Alaska's fine roadside restroom facilities. In a world with no electricity and no running water and seriously cold winters, the possibilities are limited. There were plenty of these little rest stops along the way (even on back roads), but we were impressed with how clean and well-kept these places were - the waterless facilities even provided hand sanitizer.  Also - most of these areas had some sort of educational exhibit nearby.

Before rejoining the Richardson Highway heading for Valdez, we stopped at the Liberty Falls State Recreation Area. The falls were pretty but the real show was Patrick doing face-first pushups in the cold water.

We travelled south on the winding road through the Chugach National Forest - the second largest national forest in the U.S. (The largest is the Tongass, in southeastern Alaska.) As the highway angles through the Tsina River Valley, the sheer cliffs rising from the moraines were worn smooth by passing glaciers. When the valley narrows, there are waterfalls on both sides of the road.

As we near Valdez, the multiple-armed Worthington Glacier is most impressive - ending almost at the highway.    The road then rises to barren Thompson Pass, which holds Alaska's seasonal snowfall record at 81 feet. Snow patches were visible on the ground and often last through summer. The dense fog made it difficult to see beyond the edge of the road.

The road passes through steep Keystone Canyon, a favorite spot for white-water enthusiasts who love the challenge of the river tumbling through the gorge. Above the highway, we could see the terraced remnants of the original Valdez-Eagle Trail, built for horse-drawn sleds and wagons. The canyon is a wonderland of waterfalls that almost plunge onto the road from the canyon walls. One of the best known is the 900-foot Bridal Veil Falls, which flows spectacularly along the roadside.

Emerging from Keystone Canyon, we got a good look at a Trumpeter Swan - we had seen others, but always at a great distance.

Finally, we crossed the moraine of the Valdez Glacier and reached Valdez. Valdez is called the "Switzerland of Alaska," as it is ringed by snow-capped mountains and surrounded by glaciers. It is Alaska's northernmost ice-free port, located at the head of a deep fjord 11 miles inland from the main body of Prince William Sound. The town was established as an outfitting point for miners headed to the northern gold fields, but today is focused on fishing and oil.

Much of the town of Valdez was largely destroyed by the 1964 Alaska earthquake (magnitude 9.2 on the Richter scale) and subsequent tsunami. The town was rebuilt quickly and cheaply - folks aren't interested in architecture, just fishing - and they got back to work in a hurry. Valdez is also known for construction of the Alaska pipeline in the 1970's and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and cleanup.   Fishing is a way of life here, so we dined at a local seafood restaurant - fresh salmon is hard to beat. After dinner, we wandered around the dock, checking out the catch of the day.