On our way to McCarthy and Kennecott, we stopped in Chitina for some drinks. While we were waiting for the store to open Cathy and I took a short ride to where I spotted a couple of moose the previous day. Cathy spotted this guy out for a morning swim.Once we were on the McCarthy Road, we crossed over the Kuskulana Bridge. This 600 foot long, repurposed railroad trestle rises 238 feet above the river and yes, guardrails were added in 1988, There arehundreds of ponds and lakes on the 60+ mile McCarthy unpaved road.Due to recent heavy rainfall, there were several areas that had washed out and a lot of mud in or alongside the road. I have never seen a culvert so large that you had to assemble it in place. I had to stop and check it out.This is another of the many lakes along the road.We saw the light hitting this mountain and marveled at the color banding.
Between here and McCarthy we came across two Australian riders that dropped a BMW touring bike into a mud hole alongside the road. They could not move the bike so I used a nylon strap and pulled the bike free. The riders, though covered in mud, were not injured and bike was relatively undamaged and started right up, so they continued on.Cathy and I walked across the pedestrian bridge to McCarthy. We walked the half mile to town from here.Cathy thought this mode of transportation suited me!but she preferred a more modern mode of transportation, such as this car parked at the hotel.There were several cars parked out front, including a Pierce Arrow and a Model T pickup and a couple of Fords.Here are a few of the remaining buildings in McCarthy.Taking the free shuttle to Kennecott, we walked into the town site, crossing the bridge over National Creek. The creek was running pretty high. The buildings were under restoration or being held in arrested deterioration. We met one of the men that worked on the chute in the above mill. The chute was entirely rebuilt, using original specifications and plans. The part that was restored is painted in red to match the original buildings, albeit it is “lead free”.I left Cathy at the fork in the trail where you either hike down to the Root Glacier or continue on to the Erie Mine. I continued up the Erie Mine trail a couple of more miles, trying to reach the Stairway Icefall. I ran out of time and turned around about a quarter mile from the viewpoint. Lucky, as we caught the last shuttle back to McCarthy. It would have been a grueling five mile hike back to McCarthy. Then another mile to our truck.Hiking down the trail, we came across this view approaching the Kennecott mine.The creek to the left of these two buildings was several feet into the buildings during the recent rains.You can see Rime, Atna and Parka peaks form the starting point of the Kennicott Glacier. The mounds in the foreground are actually ice, covered by decades of gravel and dirt. This ice is over a hundred feet thick and continues to melt slowly, forming the Kennicott River, which flows into the Chitina River.This is the Kennicott River, taken from the footbridge back to our parking area.We spotted this 890 foot long abandoned trestle, 90 feet above the Gilahina River. We decided to try and find a way to photograph it from eye level on the way back, if it was still daylight. We found the original railroad easement, spotting some semi-buried railroad ties, and made it to the trestle. We were immediately attacked by Alaskan assault mosquitos so we took the photo and scrambled back to the safety of our truck.The sun was beginning to get low at about 9:30 at the confluence of the Copper River and Chitina River, the center of dip netting for Native Alaskans. The Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park mountains are in the background.We saw this guy crossing the road on the way back to Kenny Lake. I took the photo through the windshield as they walk pretty fast.
Meanwhile:
While in camp we gave (sold) a McCarthy resident two gallons of gas (the pumps quit working and he was out).
A young lady stopped us and asked for some tape, she just got her windshield hit by a rock. We gave her some monster tape and she continued on.
We passed a Yak ranch for the sixth time and the Yaks were finally out and visible, but it was now getting dark and we were tired so we continued on.
Travelling with the Schinglers 
I remember our trip there. Barb and I did a tour and you and Cathy did a hike. Looks like you are having good weather!
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