A few weeks ago I drove across Alaska to visit Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Wrangell St. Elias is the largest of all the US national parks at 13.2 million acres. I drove down one of two roads in the park to the town of McCarthy and then walked the road to the abandoned mining site at Kennicott. Since I visited at the end of summer, after everything had closed, there was barely a soul to be seen.
The scenery on the drive in was beautiful. The Copper river flows throughout. For about 60 miles, the road is unpaved, one lane, and very curvy/bumpy/pothole filled. But I saw some swans a swimming (four...not quite seven) and a couple of moose.
The weather was pretty overcast, cloudy, rainy, and windy.
But the fall colors were at their peak! They were beautiful!
The mining sight is right in front of the glacier.
A walk up to a glacier? Don't mind if I do!
The abandoned buildings were pretty cool. Trees and bushes were starting to grow in and around the buildings and machinery.
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| A moose was wishing me farewell on the way out. |
It was a quick trip. I wanted to take a flight-seeing trip, but sadly there was a serious wind storm coming in (100 miles per hour winds!). Maybe next time.....
