994 July 24-25, 2023 Root Glacier
On Monday, Claudia and I took a nice morning walk. We said our goodbyes to the Harbers and then we packed up and we moved on to Kenny Lake. We stayed at the RV park there. We spent the day catching up on laundry.
On Tuesday morning, I took a short walk and then we left in the Jeep to travel toward Kennicott and McCarthy.
It was a beautiful morning. We passed the Tibetan/Alaska Yak Farm. Yak wool is used to make yarn and then woolen products. We have also seen yak meat for sale at the store in Delta Junction.
These green fields and bales of hay seem out of place here…must be yak food!
The drive began on paved roads and then past Chitina, the road was gravel. This road used to be the rail bed for the trains that would move the ore and copper from the mines to Valdez.
McCarthy Road took us into the southern entrance to Wrangell St. Elias National Park.
We crossed over the Kuskulana River.
This trestle bridge was part of the rail system and has long been abandoned. It appears to be collapsing.
The scenery was incredible. It was a little hazy but we were able to see the mountains.
The 90-mile drive from the campground took us about 2 ½ hours. We parked the Jeep and crossed the pedestrian bridge where a shuttle was waiting to take us to Kennicott. We had come here during our last trip to Alaska. We had wandered the main street of McCarthy and then we had walked through all of the restored buildings of the historic mining town.
5 years ago, we had started to hike the Root Glacier trail when we realized that we were ill prepared. We did not have the proper footwear, nor water, nor bear spray and so we didn’t complete the hike. Our goal today was to get to the toe of the glacier. After hiking more than 2 miles and seeing other groups of people out on the glacier, Tim decided as we walked that he definitely wanted to hike out onto the ice. I did not feel as self-confident. I was just so happy to be there and see it and I really had no desire to walk out. I found a ridge where I could sit and watch him and he descended the steep slope and stepped out onto the glacier. Another couple worked their way down the trail and joined him. The threesome traversed across the crunching ice.
From where I sat, I could see the rushing glacier melt running from beneath the terminus. As I sat in the quiet, I could hear the tinkle of gravel falling down the hill and splashing into the stream. I could feel the cool breeze as the wind carried the chill across the ice and the warm sunshine on my face. I sat, trying to take it all in. Tim was thrilled to be out there and I was proud of him. We are out here, living our best lives.
We hiked back into Kennicott and found a food truck. We enjoyed an early supper and sat with the couple from New Hampshire that Tim had met out on the glacier.
We caught the shuttle to McCarthy and then instead of waiting for the second shuttle to take us back to the parking lot, we hiked down the hill.
Tim stopped and filled his water bottle at the spring.
It was a long ride back to the RV. We stopped to look at the changing light on the rivers and mountains.
Landslide!
Fish wheel.
We stopped to see Liberty Falls.
We didn’t get back until after 8pm.
It was a 13-hour day. We had driven almost 200 miles, hiked more than 6 and I had 22,000 steps! We were tired but so happy. It was an amazing day and worth every bit of effort.
