Alan Yoli Travel Blog: Day 34-36: Copper River

Chitna is a very small town on the Copper River where Dip-netting for Salmon is a popular annual event for the locals. It consists of taking a rather large net on a long pole they stick in the river and wait for a salmon to swim into it and then they drag it to shore. It is amazingly successful as many will catch a two dozen or more in a day weighing 20-30 lbs each. We setup camp in Chitna across the bridge at a free government campground where local dip-netters abound. This campground is at the end of the paved road, where a 60 mile dirt road starts and extends into the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park. At the end of the dirt road lies the small town of McCarthy and Kennicott. These are small remnants of the copper mine towns that existed around 1920-1938. We unhooked the Jeep and drove the 60 mile road to see the old mining town and do a 6 mile hike to the Root Glacier. The road ends at a foot bridge a mile from McCarthy and another 4 miles to Kennicott. So instead of walking, or waiting on the shuttle, we unload the E-Bikes and have a wonderful ride to town. We tour the town on bike and a foot, then head to the Root Glacier Trailhead. Its a 2.5 mile hike to the glacier. Once we arrive a the glacier, we strap on our Crampons (shoe spikes) and walked the glacier, which was like walking on a huge snow cone. The ice went CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH with everty step under clear blue skies and 65 degree weather. The ice cold water falls, creeks, and cracks were plentiful. We truly enjoyed the glacier walk/hike and drinking from the clean pure water running on the glacier. Afterwards, we rode the E-Bikes back from Kennicot to McCarthy and have dinner at the Potato head restaurant (Wood fired Pizza and a Salad). Its a 2 hour 60 mile drive back so we pack up the bikes, and head back to camp in Chitna. We finally get back to camp at 9:30pm, we hit the bed tired and feeling a bit wore out.

Miles: 83 / 4083