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Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Day Tours
Day Trips to McCarthy and Kennicott From Chitina
Travel the McCarthy Road with a knowledgable driver/guide and enjoy many stops along the way for sight-seeing, picture-taking, and stretching the legs. Our one-day tours to McCarthy and Kennicott depart from the Chitina Hotel in historic Chitina, Alaska. Chitina is a very scenic one-hour drive (on paved roads) from Copper Center and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center.
8.5 Hour Day Tour $99 per person
Departs from the Chitina Hotel at 7:30 am. Returns between 4:00 and 4:30 pm.
Venture into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park on the McCarthy Road, a 60-mile, sometimes one-lane gravel road into the Wrangell Mountains. The McCarthy Road is built on the old railbed of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, which carried copper ore from Kennicott during the early 1900s. On this trip you can see fishwheels turning on the Copper River at Chitina, admire remote Alaskan homesteads, and walk across the Kuskalana bridge. Originally built for the railroad in 1910, the Kuskalana bridge is a terrific one-lane engineering feat that spans a 280 foot gorge. Other relics from the old railroad days include the historic red and white buildings in the settlement of Chokosna, and the Gilahina Trestle, which is the largest and one of the last remaining wooden trestles of the CR & NW railroad. You can take a short walk into the woods to get some up-close photos of this amazing structure.
The McCarthy Road ends at the headwaters of the Kennicott River. You'll arrive at the end of the road around 10:00 am. On a clear day, you can see the Stairway Icefall, an incredible 8,000 foot near-vertical wall of ice on the Root Glacier. The giant gravel morraine at the road's end is where the Kennicott and Root Glaciers converge. You will get a better view of the morraine when you travel uphill to Kennicott. The morraine's unusual landscape has been described by many visitors as a "moonscape," consisting of strange rocky hills and valleys that look more suitable to the moon than here on earth. These hills were actually created by the melting ice of the glacier, and you may be able to see the white ice glimmering beneath the gravel in some areas.
The town of McCarthy is located about one half mile past the Kennicott River. In order to get there, you'll have to walk across a long, steel footbridge over the raging river. On the other side of the Kennicott River, a second tour van will take you into McCarthy for a look around and then up to Kennicott for more amazing sightseeing.
We have included a stop at the McCarthy-Kennicott Historical Museum, as well as a bit of time for shopping or sightseeing around McCarthy. Since you'll want to get the most out of your short visit, we try to get you up to Kennicott by 10:45 am, in order to see the 15-minute Kennicott history film presented by the park service, if interested. This is a free daily presentation that shows some original film footage from the old copper-mining days in Kennicott.
The 8.5 hour tour gives you about three hours to sightsee and explore Kennicott on your own. Lunch is available at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge from 12:00 pm. You can also bring your own lunch and picnic overlooking the glacier morraine. Please note that there is not enough time on this tour to add any additional tours such as the Mill Tour or Glacier Hike. If you would like to take another tour or do some hiking on your own, we recommend the 12.5 hour tour, which gives you a full day to explore the Kennicott area.
At 2:00 pm, you'll return by van to the footbridge and travel the McCarthy Road again to Chitina. Travel times can vary depending on road conditions, but this tour generally arrives back in Chitina sometime between 4:00 and 4:30 pm.
12.5 Hour Day Tour $129 per person
Departs from the Chitina Hotel at 7:30 am. Returns between 8:00 and 8:30 pm.
This full-day adventure includes everything on the 8.5 hour tour, but gives you six hours of free-time to hike, sightsee, and explore the Kennicott area. This is the best day tour option if you will be hiking on your own, taking a guided trip out onto the Root Glacier, going ice climbing, flight-seeing, or enjoying one of the guided tours of Kennicott and the historic Kennicott Mill Building.
Lunch is available at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge from 12:00 to 3:00 pm. Or bring your own lunch to picnic on the glacier or over-looking the glacier morraine.
At 6:00 pm, you'll return by van to the footbridge and travel the McCarthy Road on the return trip to Chitina. Travel times vary depending on road conditions. This tour will arrive back in Chitina between 8:00 and 8:30 pm.
Tour Options You Can Add to the 12.5 Tour:
Glacier Hiking
The Root Glacier is one of Alaska's most accessible glaciers. Strap on crampons (metal spikes for your shoes) and tour with an experienced guide. Explore the glacier's mysterious ice formations, cascading waterfalls, unusal blue water pools, and other fascinating features. No experience is neccessary! Traverse the white ice of the Root Glacier after walking just two miles on an easy trail from the Kennicott townsite.
Half-Day Hike on Root Glacier
4.5 - 5 hour hike: $80.00 per person
Departs from Main Street in Kennicott; 2.5 to 3 hours on the ice
What to Bring: Extra warm layer, rain/wind layer, hat, sunglasses, snacks/lunch, camera, hiking boots
Historic Walking Tour
One of Kennicott's most popular attractions is the 14 story mill building, a processing plant operated by the Kennecott Copper Corporation during the early 1900s. This enormous red building was built into the mountainside to accommodate the several "levels" of copper ore processing. Raw ore, brought down from the mines by tram, was introduced at the top of the building and gradually became more refined on the journey downward. The end result, cloth bags filled with a fine copper powder, is what was loaded on to trains at the ground level. The building is considered to be the tallest wooden structure in North America. You can tour inside the Kennicott Mill Building and learn about the fascinating copper processing operation on a guided Mill Tour. There are three Mill tours available daily. Tours begin on Main Street in Kennicott at 9:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:30 pm. Learn the incredible history of Kennicott and the turn-of-the-century copper industry.
Historic Kennicott Mill Tour
2.5 hours guided walking tour: $25 per person
The Mill Tour provides a lot of technical and historical information and is therefore not recommended for small children.
Flightseeing
This tour is a hard one to beat. Surrounded by glaciers, mountain peaks, braided rivers, and tons of remote wilderness, McCarthy/Kennicott is an ideal place to board a bush plane for spectacular aerial views. Flying up the Kennicott Glacier, you can see and photograph the town of Kennicott and remnants of many of the old copper mines that dot the surrounding mountaintops. See the Stairway Icefall, or travel around stunning Mt. Blackburn, the tallest peak in the Wrangell Mountain Range. Watch for bears, mountain goats, dall sheep, and other wildlife, as you enjoy breathtaking views of the jagged ice peaks, ice caves, blue lakes, and other incredible ice formations. You'll fly exhileratingly close to mountains, perhaps spotting some tiny hikers on the glacier below. The views are postcard perfect and the photo ops are endless.
One hour flightseeing
$170.00 per person / 2 person minimum
Longer flightseeing tours are available on request.
New in 2010: Thrifty Thursdays! $37 Shuttles to McCarthy
Travel from Kenny Lake or Chitina to the McCarthy Footbridge for half price on ThursdaysJust $37 per person7:30 am - 10:00 amFree return trip! 2:00 pm - 4:30 pmAdd guided van service to Kennicott and McCarthy: $25 per personStay All Day! 6:00 pm return trip: $37 per personAdd Kennicott Mill Tour: $25 per person Seats are Limited. Call Today!
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