NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 -DAY 35 - TOURING THE QUIRKY REMOTE TOWN OF MCCARTHY

Whew ... The winds kicked up overnight and were blasting across the glacial lake waters towards us overnight. It was pretty cool in the morning. We made up our coffee and watched out the front windshield. It was pretty, but it was chilly.

We decided that after breakfast, we would pull in the slides and move the motorhome down into the main parking lot. They said it was okay to camp there too. At least we we would be off the ridge and out of the wind and down in a sheltered ravine area.

We got settled in the rocky lot and faced the motorhome towards the river. This river is also fed by the glacial lake up above. It was more protected and we were enjoying the view just as much out the front windshield.

Over to the side of us, is a frameworks for a teepee. If you want to have the real authentic experience, they will cover up the teepee with a canvas shroud and set it up inside for glamping. I suppose that would be kind of fun, maybe on a warmer day? They also had three large glamping tents set up for people to rent as well. Kind of cool for a unique experience.

A few other rigs lined up alongside of us, each with a space in between. So now we were going to camp overnight with some neighbors. But it was better than being up by the lakeshore in the winds overnight.

Our view was still pretty, and it changed as the light was dancing across the mountains on the other side. The clouds were clearing up and we decided maybe we would take a walk over into McCarthy to explore the town. 

We left Nick behind. We have been told repeatedly that McCarthy has a very canine friendly environment with dogs roaming all over. Nobody is tied up.  We just felt we would have a better visit without having to monitor Nicholas on the end of a leash. 

So we left him in the motorhome with all of the blinds pulled down. We leave music playing loud enough to drown out any outside noises that might make him bark. We also have a Wi-Fi camera set up that runs off our Starlink. We can check him from anywhere on our cell phones and see what he is up to. Mostly he just sleeps. He gets up and goes and takes a drink every now and then, and maybe changes sleeping spots inside the motorhome. But he doesn't claw at any of the windows or makes any barking sounds. We are glad he's turning out to be a Good Camping Doggy.

We put together a few things in a small backpack to carry along with us. Stuff like extra batteries for the cameras, and a couple bottles of water. It was going to be nice to stretch our legs for a little bit and get out for a walk.

We had originally thought to rent e-bikes and tour the town as well as the Kennicott Mine, But the weather just wasn't cooperating. We decided we didn't want to be that cold and possibly be wet and have to still ride bikes back 5 miles from Kennicott.

This is the footbridge into town. This is the only way for visitors to reach McCarthy. The few year-round residents have what's called a "bridge pass" for a bridge located further down the river. This bridge is also used for delivery trucks to the businesses in McCarthy and further up at the lodge in Kennicott. But the rest of the general population, as well as tourists, must use the footbridge to get over to the other side of the river.

It was a cloudy day, but at least it wasn't raining. The tips of the mountains were just barely covered by the cloud cover from above. We walked across the rushing river and headed towards McCarthy.

The first thing we saw upon arriving at the other side were three very happy golden retrievers. Of course, they were all off leash. They were so happy to greet and love anybody who came up to them to pet them. It was nice to see some friendly dogs.

A display near the end of the bridge had a huge conglomeration of a vehicle that was named "Rigor Mortis". 

Long ago---- In a town with no road access, Jim Edwards assembled a work truck named Rigor Mortis from the ill-fitting parts of 1930s-era cars left behind when the last train departed. He was quite a character in the town and this display honors his engineering ingenuity.

We walked up the path and headed out to find the little shortcut towards town. There is a little marshy area to cross before you get into the town itself.

It really was a pretty afternoon for a walk. I'm glad that the rain held off so we could enjoy our little meandering in the woods.

We could hear water running as we came up the hill. There was a pipe sticking out of the ground with some rocks all set around nearby. You could tell people gathered here to fill watering containers.

Then we looked up and saw the sign posted nearby. Yes, it was a community source of fresh spring water. I think many people relied on this for water. I like the last line about keeping your dogs on leashes... LOL

Here was the little shortcut into town with a little bit of a directory sign of where we were going.

There were two little patches to cross over on makeshift foot bridges during the spring weather on this shortcut path. I would assume in the middle of summer things dry up a little?

We ambled the rest of the way up into town. We walked past the big generator shed. We remembered a lot of the layout from the TV show and how important the generator shed was for the entire town. Remember, this is a place with no city amenities. It's a rugged little mountain town.

One of the first things that caught Steve's eye were these three old automobiles on display. His brother had had a 1931 Ford Model A like the one in the middle display. He had to go check them all out. I took close up photos of them inside and out for his brother to relive some old memories.

There was adequate cell phone signal, so I was able to send them immediately to Steve's older brother Mark. He replied that Steve needed one just like that. I guess we would have to helicopter it out and ship it home?

We walked around a bit on a very quiet Monday afternoon. This old buckboard is sitting right near the hotel. I really enjoy looking at old things like this. In fantasy unrealistic western movies it always shows families riding in the back of a buckboard or a covered wagon. That is the furthest thing from the truth. Families WALKED. This buckboard was filled with all of their necessities and every family precious possession they owned. There was no room for people to sit and ride and tire the horses or oxen more than necessary. The only person that road was the one up on the seat driving the team.

Also, in movies they look like great big huge vehicles with wide tire spans. That's the furthest from the truth. Look here, with my tiny GoPro camera and handle as a guide. The box was really only about 3 ft wide and maybe at the most 7 ft long. That's all it was and you brought all of your possessions with you and everything you needed to sustain yourself and your family on the trail to wherever you were going. I can't imagine people coming all the way up here with a little buck board from some port down along the ocean like Valdez or Skagway. But yet, they did. Or they came all the way up and across the Yukon to get to Alaska.

We wandered down Main Street. That's the only thing that's here in McCarthy is the Main Street. Lol. Most of the businesses were closed. It's fun looking at the same buildings that were in the TV series. For example, this is the building where the porch got ripped off by the bulldozer because of a deal that was made to rebuild the porch. There was definitely a parting of the ways, in the final episode, that involved fixing the porch on this building. We see that it was never replaced. Very interesting.

As some other YouTubers have said, there's lots of horns. For some reason nailing up moose antlers is considered a form of "decor". Kind of like the Northwoods of Wisconsin where everybody puts up deer antlers.

This creative and beautiful artwork of a fence was alongside of a building that housed in art gallery. There's a sign in the door that it's moved to another location. But this beautiful fence work is left behind. If you stand just right you can get the mounted centered in the round hoop of the fence.

And then there were the dogs. Yes, dogs were everywhere. They were all friendly. They all seem to know each other. And they seem to enjoy getting petted by visitors and then moving on their way. They strolled around the streets as if they owned the place. I think they do.

We were greeted by quite a few. One husky walked across in front of us and kind of sniffed the air and kept on walking. He kind of ignored us. I think he's tired of everybody telling him what a pretty doggie he is. So he kept on going into the woods. It's on the video and the link down below. 

This cute little one named Molly McDougal met us over at the museum. She was a friendly little thing too. She kept asking Steve if there were treats in his backpack?

We wandered through the very interesting museum displays. It was a taste of what we were going to see tomorrow up at Kennicott at the actual mill site where they processed the copper.  The mines themselves are all deep within the mountains all around.

Looking at the large hunks of leftover machinery laying around, Steve spotted this one manufactured by the Allis Chalmers Company in Milwaukee! His grandfather worked there, a long time ago. Possibly even during the years that this type of machinery was forged and shipped up here. What a connection?

The dosecent in the museum was very pleasant and lived nearby in the area. She gave us a lot of information about McCarthy and the people and the items within the museum itself. Molly was her dog.

We enjoyed the displays, including the finery that some of the women homesteaders were so proud of. A lot of things got left behind when the mine suddenly closed and everybody had to hop on the last train out of town or be left there forever. People left behind all of the precious things and only grabbed what they could. They had only a short amount of time like maybe an hour or so to get on the trains and get out. It was a complete shock to the mining community that they either had to drop everything and go, or get left behind with nothing to support themselves.

After the museum, we wandered over to Ma Johnson's Hotel. It is still in business and in use today. It's not a museum piece, but it's all authentic inside.

Next door to the hotel is this beautiful old 1931 Buick LaSalle. We couldn't find out any information about it, but it is the same colors as the hotel itself.

We poked our noses inside. We were looking for information about taking the shuttle back down to the bridge. There was nobody at the check-in desk but a note saying if we wanted some assistance to call the phone number and somebody would come to greet us.

Well, we weren't looking to check into the hotel so we didn't want to bother anybody. It would be a shame to make them leave wherever they were to come and help us. 

Steve looked on the counter, and sure enough, there was the schedule for the shuttle and it told us to go down to the grocery store and we could pick up the shuttle down there every half hour.

We looked around and snapped a few photos of the beautiful foyer. I am sure everything is either original or restored back to original from in its Hey Day. This hotel / boarding house was run by Ma Johnson and her husband Pete. It is wonderful that is still kept in use and you are still able to rent rooms here. Charming nostalgia and beautiful furnishings are all original. Some of the television show was filmed in and outside of the hotel.

We admired the workmanship and the displays as well as the comfort and inviting essence of the hotel lobby itself. If we weren't already staying in our motorhome, I would like to stay in a place like this.

We wandered on down to the grocery store. It was called the Mercantile. We looked around a bit and picked up a couple souvenir things. I got a T-shirt! Steve was oogling over the fresh baked bars in the display case. So we took a couple of those home for our morning coffee. We were able to catch the shuttle back down to the footbridge. That was enough walking for us for one day.

The complementary shuttle quickly brought us down to the footbridge and we gave the driver a nice little tip. We could see our motorhome waiting, with Nick inside, on the other side of the river.

We got inside, took off our shoes, and relaxed for the evening. We made a little dinner and curled up with Nick. We tuned into "Edge of Alaska" on our Starlink connection to the Discovery Channel. We watched the season finale, just for the fun of it, while right at McCarthy, Alaska.

Here's the video link to the YouTube that goes along with today's tour:

Zero miles travel today 

3,925 mi traveled so far

NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAY 34 - DRIVING TO MCCARTHY ON A VERY RUGGED ROAD

We've been driving over the rugged roads of Alaska for the last 30 plus days now. Some of them in Canada were also challenging. But today was going to be one of the MOST challenging...

This is the famous road to McCarthy. It is 60 miles of very rugged terrain, most of it on an abandoned railroad track that was used for the copper mines 100 years ago. The signs warn you that this is not a normal road.  Tow trucks will not come down this road to help you. Rental agencies will not allow their SUVs, Jeeps or RVs to go on this road. You are basically on your own if you head down it. And we were willing to do it...

It is 60 miles long. Once you get to the town of McCarthy you can't even drive into town. The road ends in a parking lot next to a river. You have to access the town by a footbridge. It's a unique little town that we had seen long ago on the Discovery Channel TV reality series called "Edge of Alaska".  It's how the few town residents who stay there year-round deal with tourism and whether or not the town should expand, or stay as it is. It was quite a struggle for them to all agree on anything. Of course some of it is dramatized for the TV show. But we've always wanted to visit there.

Here's the link to the TV show:

edge-of-alaska

The journey begins just off Alaska Route 10 in the small town of Chitina. There is one very small store and one gas station before you embark on this journey. It's best to be fueled up and buy enough supplies to maintain you during your stay. The town of McCarthy has very few items for sale, and no gasoline or diesel fuel. 

We begin by driving between two very large chiseled out high embankments of rock. This is where the train went through, and this is where we will go through too.

The first remarkable thing to see is the Copper River. It is a huge ribbon of rivulets twisting and meeting and separating in a huge gravel bed. It's very very wide. Imagine this as one big huge river at one time!

I'm sure the river was wide enough at that time to create such high banks that are now all erosion and collapsing down into the riverbed. I think we read somewhere that this was actually a lake while the river was blocked off. Then eons ago it opened back up again by glacial movements and drained out.

We saw some folks fishing on the bank. With the ever-changing river flowage, this can be dangerous at times. You never know when it's going to cave in underneath you from erosion.  But some people will do anything for a fish?

We worked our way through the wilderness and kept our eyes open for any type of wildlife. The most we saw were these mallard ducks in a marshy area. We are keeping our eyes peeled for the ever elusive moose. So far, no success.

Spring is awakening throughout the woods. We stopped at the side the road for a little break and saw a huge clumps of dandelions. They grow everything bigger up here. 

Sunlight starts about 4:00 a.m. in the morning, and the sun does not set until 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. at night. It is still dusk with partially lit skies, well after midnight. It really doesn't seem to get dark at all right now in early June.  Their growing season is short, but they grow huge vegetables because of the amount of daylight that they have per every 24 hours.

We wandered along the very rugged road. This is a type of road with no guardrails. You are driving at your own risk, and you need to be careful of where you are driving. Most of it is one lane. If there's an oncoming car, you hope that it's wide enough there that you can both sneak past each other. Either that or somebody has to back up a little, until it widens enough to get by. We only saw two vehicles coming towards us and both times we were able to maneuver around each other.

The scenery was breathtaking as we moved along through the countryside. I was snapping photos left and right, and kept a video going on the camera.

Our speed was between 20 and 30 mph. We estimated it would take us three to four hours to get through this 60 mile stretch of rugged road. But we also had to slow way down for obstacles. Almost to a crawling pace.

There were huge potholes and deep ruts from erosion from heavy rains. There were also natural springs bubbling up right in the middle of the road creating wet muddy spots.  Most of the road was pretty level, seeing as it was a railroad bed. The grades were gradual as long as we were following the ancient abandoned railroad. We were warned of railroad spikes poking up here and there, but we did not encounter any, thank goodness. 

At one point, we needed to follow the railroad path across this amazingly huge bridge over the Kuskulana River.  It is 525 ft long and 238 ft in the air. It is a one lane bridge. The original railroad steel bridge span is used, and had been modernized with timbers for vehicles to traverse it now.

We held our breath, and we did it!  

I have a hard time with heights.

Here is the river way, way, way down below- ack!!!!

As I mentioned before, most of this road is rugged terrain and there are definitely no guardrails. Except for an each side of the bridge which DID have guardrails, that was about it. So much of the road is re-graded every now and then because of landslides. It almost looks like they just take a snow plow and push it to one side.

There was another area that we had to cross another river. This railroad trestle was in too much disrepair to be used for vehicle traffic.  So we had to wind our way down the embankment, cross the river on a new small bridge, and wind our way back up. But we could see the old trestle overhead. Yes, that is not travel-able at all.

Imagine that was over a hundred years ago. I think it was built in a span of a couple weeks. It was made to get the supplies up the mountain to the copper mine and the big processing mill at Kennicott,and then of course to haul the processed pure copper back down again. 

It was slow going on the rugged road. Some spots we were slowed down to crawl along 5 miles an hour and work our way around the potholes. Other spots we could speed it up a little bit to around 25 or 30 miles an hour.  But you never knew when suddenly you were going to be faced with a rougher patch and have to slow down quickly. Or coming around a curve, we had to watch carefully in case there was somebody coming from the other direction usually at a crazy breakneck speed!

We saw this little van abandoned on the side of the road. We have a feeling it just couldn't make it any further. So the people felt they should just take their things and leave it rather than pay to have it towed?

Soon we could see McCarthy off in the distance, over on the other side of the valley line right before the mountain swoop upwards. We know we were almost there as we were descending lower and lower to get to the river.

And sure enough, here we were! This is called Base Camp. We are right by the river and the footbridge to cross over into McCarthy. Many people just park here and walk across for the day. But we were going to spend the night!

We paid our $35 camping fee at the Visitor Center. There's a really nice guy in there name Mike who gave us the low down on a lot of the local information. He suggested for our camping, to locate further to the west of the parking lot where there are campsites dotted throughout by the lake shore. He suggested those were the nicest sites. It was pretty rough driving out there, but we crawled our way through and made it to a really nice site. Nose facing outward to the lake.

It was quite breezy, but it was well worth the view. All of this water in front of us in this lake is run off from the Root Glacier just up around the bend. We got settled in and started to make some supper. It was pretty late in the day and we were tired. No exploring McCarthy tonight. It was time to just relax and unwind. Especially Steve, having two hands on the wheel for the last 3 to 4 hours to get out here.

We got Nick out and about to ram around and burn off some of his energy. This was pretty rugged terrain of all rocks and dirt. He wasn't too happy not finding grass to pee on. But he made do, and we settled in for the night.

Such a handsome little Alaskan Mountain Dog... Right?

Here's the YouTube video that goes along with today's travels. Enjoy!

97 Miles traveled today 

3,925 Miles traveled so far