Kennecot Mine National Historic Landmark

The Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is 6 times the size of Yellowstone & largely inaccessible without flying in or taking long backpacking trips. There are 2 roads which go a short distance into the park, & 1 of them goes to Kennecot Mine. 

The mountains here are just awesome. 



The menu at The Lodge had some interesting FAQs. 



An entire town was built from scratch in order to put the mine into production, which included a power plant & The Lodge. 


Two hundred miles of railroad was built to haul out the ore, including 30 miles of trestle. 


A short distance from the company town of Kennecot, the town of McCarthy grew up. It was founded by a man named Barrett, which is  my mom's maiden name, so this caught my eye. 


Adjacent to the abandoned mine site is a retreating glacier. The area of bare hills in the foreground is made up of piles of rock & gravel left as the glacier retreats. Under these piles, the glacier remains 1600' thick.


*   *   *   *   *

Wildlife sightings (not counting those in the conservation preserve or the aquarium)

--> --> today:    lynx - 1

--> --> trip total so far: 

    black bears - 4          deer - 2                grizzlies - 1            moose - 7

    stone sheep - 8        elk - 1                   caribou - 15            bison - 42    

    Dall sheep - 11        porcupines -1         mountain goats - 1       lynx - 1

    trumpeter swans - 31+        many bald eagles    black oyster catcher - 1 (rare)

    sea otters - 27             harbor seals - many     

    many sea stars & jelly fish        Dall's porpoise - ~ 20

    North Pacific Humpback whales - 2 pods of ~ 12 each + 1

    Stellar's sea lions - many, 100+ incl 60 pups in 1 spot (counted by scientists)

    puffins, horned & tufted - many

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