McCarthy, Alaska. Founded in 1906 and originally the debaucherous sister to the Kennecott Copper Mine town located just 5 miles up the road. The town had housing, saloons, a newspaper, stores, hotels, restaurants and a red-light district. After the mine shut down, both towns dwindled, but a few hearty souls have continued to live in McCarthy. The current year-round resident population has been listed from 25-51. This is a town that is known for being difficult to get to, with residents who like it that way. It has been featured on Discovery Channel’s “Edge of Alaska”. The Kennecott Copper Mine has become a National Historic Landmark and is managed by the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park. McCarthy and McCarthy Road provide the southern road access to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
To get to the McCarthy Road, one must take the 33.6 mile Edgerton Highway from the Richardson Highway to the small town of Chitina. The Edgerton is almost entirely paved and in fairly good condition. There are some very rough sections with potholes, frost heaves and gravel breaks. The views along the Edgerton include the mountains of Wrangell-St. Elias.
Edgerton Highway
View along the Edgerton Highway
Tonsina River Trail
At mile 12.3 is the 2 mile Tonsina River Trail, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We started this trail, but ended early due to the number of mosquitoes and some extremely deep water (over a foot) in the “boggy section”.
Tonsina River Trail starts off through the forest
At mile 14.9 there is a private farm, the Circle F Ranch, that raises Tibetan Yaks. They had a number of young yaks in the herd. They offer tours and a visitor center. They have a pullout to view the yaks. We also saw a moose along the highway near here.
Tibetan Yaks
Tibetan Yak
At mile 23.6, you reach the Liberty Falls State Recreation Site which offers some tent camping and a short hiking trail to view the namesake waterfall.
Liberty Falls
And finally at mile 33 you reach the small town of Chitina, population 132. This is the last town before heading onto the McCarthy Road. It has a small National Park station with one ranger. There is a grocery store and a hotel that has a restaurant. We saw a moose crossing the road in “downtown” Chitina.
Moose in downtown Chitina
Leaving Chitina, we reach the beginning of the McCarthy Road. Signage warns all who dare to continue.
McCarthy Warning sign
McCarthy Road starts by going through a one lane rock cut. Then there are several lakes. You cross the Copper River where you can watch dip-netters (must be Alaska resident) and Fishwheels.
One lane rock cut at beginning of McCarthy Road
The Copper River
Fishwheels on the Copper River
On the other side of the Copper River bridge, to the south side of the road is the Copper River Department of Transportation’s free camping, where we camped for the night. To the north is inexpensive ($10 in 2016) camping on Ahtne land, but check out the drop off angle before turning off the road.
Bright and early the next morning, we headed off in our Jeep on the final leg of our journey, the 60 mile McCarthy Road. As soon as we left our campground, we encountered yet another set of signs warning us against driving on this road.
Additional warning sign for McCarthy Road
Overall, we found the road to be in better condition than we were expecting given the descriptions in our guidebooks. We first met up with a couple of small mudslides.
Small mud slide
In just a short distance, the dirt road became a paved road for 17 miles. The paved section ends at the Kuskulana River Bridge, which was initially built to transport to/from the Kennecott Mines via railroad. This bridge has been converted to a one lane automobile bridge. The other bridge built for the train was constructed from wood, and is no longer functional. The entire road way was built over the old rail line. Occasionally spikes and nails come to the surface after grading. This is the reason for the warnings about tire hazards.
Kuskulana Bridge built 1910
Kuskulana Bridge sign
The one lane Kuskulana Bridge
We were able to spot a black bear along the way
We discovered that the bridge over the Gilahina River bridge had a weight limit of 18 tons. Good thing we didn’t take our rig as our RV alone weighs 38,000 lbs.
Really Big Rigs can’t cross the Gilahina River
The rest of the drive includes lots of scenic views, lakes, and mountains.
View along the McCarthy road
Once you reach the end of the McCarthy Road, you can pick one of three private lots to park your car. The fee to park your car is $5 per day. Then you head over the pedestrian bridge, which used to be a hand pulled cable tram.
Pedestrian Bridge to get to McCarthy
On the other side of the bridge, you can either walk the 0.6 mile to the town of McCarthy and 5 miles on to Kennecott Mine and glacier trailheads area or there are shuttle vans with frequency varying based on the time of year. For our trip (June 13) the vans were running hourly, between 9am-6pm. The shuttle charges $5 per person in each direction. As we were planning to hike the Root Glacier Trail, we opted to spring for the shuttle. We rode through the small town of McCarthy, where we saw a couple of the pioneer buildings that have been renovated, including Ma Johnson’s Hotel. We had made it to McCarthy. Now on to Root Glacier & the Kennecott Mines.
Ma Johnsons Hotel
After our hike, we were going to get a bite to eat at a food truck called “Meatsa” that was in the Kennecott Mine area, but realized a shuttle back to our car was leaving in less than ten minutes and that the next one was actually 1.5 hours later (they skip 3:30 and leave at 4pm). As we were otherwise finished in the area, we decided to shuttle down to McCarthy, eat lunch there and then walk the 0.6 mile back to our car. We were disappointed to find out that the only restaurant currently open in town, the Golden Saloon, only served lunch from 12n to 2pm and was closed. Apparently we were a little early in the season. Luckily we had some trail mix to tide us over until we got back to our RV.
Tips from our trip to McCarthy/southern Wrangell-St.Elias area: research ahead of time to find out current shuttle times, find out the condition of the McCarthy Road (we saw a couple of recently cleared rock/mud slides that would have shut the entire road), be prepared to pay to park & shuttle or for quite a bit of hiking just to get back and forth, and try to find out restaurant information if you want to eat there. Take all of your needs (drinking water, snacks) as very limited services exist. Shuttle & road information can be obtained in the National Park Ranger Stations in either Copper Center or Chitina.
Kennicott Glacier viewed from the pedestrian bridge
Final view from our return trip on the McCarthy Road
