This is the Copper River, near Chitina, with the Wrangell Mountains in the distance. This is an Alaskans only fishery for salmon, using fishwheels & dipnets. The nets must be big & strong enough to catch a king salmon which can be up to 70 pounds.
---

The road from Chitina to McCarthy is a 59 mile gravel road following the historic Copper River & Northwestern Railway, built in the early 1900's to bring copper from Kennecott to Cordova. The Gilihina Trestle was completed in 8 days in 1911! There are NO services along this road other than a few outhouses.

The road ends at the Kennicott River. McCarthy is a half mile across the walking bridge & Kennecott 5 miles up the road.
---

This is an archived photo from the 1980s of the hand pulled tram! We had 4 women & 4 bikes hanging off it!! We were just a few feet off this glacier fed river!! Young & stupid comes to mind?!
---

Kennecott is located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Mine buildings are being restored as part of Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark. All the mine buildings were red except for the hospital. Mt. Blackburn is in the distance.
---

Copper was discovered in 1900 & Kennecott Mine Corp was created. This was the 14 story concentration mill that extracted the copper from 1200 tons of ore daily. The ore came in from 3 underground mines running 70 miles thru the nearby mountains. Fascinating!
---

Great view from the top of the concentration mill! A bit scary realizing this was built in the early 1900's and it's not completely restored. The building below with 4 stacks was the power plant.
---

One of the water crossings. Fortunately there's a boardwalk!

Putting on our crampons. They made the walking easy. Had to pick up our feet tho. A fall on the ice acts like really rough sandpaper & cuts right thru clothes.
---

We wanted to do a walk on the Root glacier. The glacier has receded so we walked 2 miles to find it.
---

Lunchtime!

Awesome scenery!!! We had a another great day!
---