Here are some photos of our trip over the 4th of July.  We headed down the Parks Highway to Cantwell and across the Denali Highway.  We sat in the rain by the Susitna River where we had hoped to 4-wheel into the mountains at an old gold mine.  The fog was all the way down in the valleys so we headed on to the Maclaren River Lodge at mile 42 on the Denali Highway where we met up with our neighbor Tom and did some 4-wheeling.  From there we drove to the Denali's junction with the Richardson Highway and south to Copper Center.  We spent a night on the Klutina River at the King For A Day Campground and watched people fishing for king and red salmon.  Next day we drove the Edgerton Highway to Chitina where we picked up the McCarthy Road.  We drove the McCarthy road to McCarthy where we spent 4 nights in the Glacier View Campground, no hookups but spectacular views.  We went to the McCarthy 4th of July Parade which was attended by a couple of hundred people.  A huge crowd for the town of McCarthy.  We rode our 4-wheelers up to the Bonanza Mine and hiked up the Root Glacier.  We toured the old Kennicott Mine that is being restored by the Wrangell-St. Elias Park Service.  We spent one night camped along the Richardson Highway at Rainbow Ridge and then home to Fairbanks.

 

Below is a description of the McCarthy Road and area that I found on the web. http://www.mccarthy-kennicott.com/road.html

 

Beginning at the Copper River and ending at the Kennicott River , the McCarthy Road spans approximately 58 miles. For the most part, it follows the roadbed of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway which was constructed between 1908 and 1911. For 27 years the 196 mile railway carried copper from the historic Kennicott mining area to the coast at Cordova. The last train pulled into Cordova on November 11, 1938. What is now called the McCarthy Road is a portion of that momentous construction project!      

       The rails and ties were eventually removed for salvage. Culverts were set in place and the road graded in the 1960's. Even though the road has been slowly upgraded since then, it is still a dirt road, narrow in places, and requires caution, especially around curves. Be sure to include a reliable spare tire for your vehicle. The facilities along the road are minimal, and old railroad spikes are known to surface on occasion.

  The McCarthy Road is surrounded by the 12 million acre Wrangell- St. Elias National Park and Preserve, but the road and most of the nearby lands are not part of the Park. Much of the lands are privately owned. Following along the base of the Wrangell Mountains , the road makes a gradual climb from an elevation of 500 ft. at Chitina to 1500 ft. at McCarthy.