12. Kennicott - McCarthy

The Kennicott-McCarthy area is situated at the center of the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park, which, I just learned, is the biggest national park in the US. At 33,682 sq. km, it includes an active volcano, hundreds of glaciers and a host of wildlife including dall sheep, black & brown bears, trumpeter swans, along with fish such as sockeye, chinook & coho salmon.

The drive down there was pretty (no surprise). We checked out the abandoned Kennicott Mine, which is now a National Historic Landmark. This copper mine, which operated between 1901-1938, was famed as the first to use an ammonia-leaching technique to extract copper from the ore.

McCarthy is a small town, well, not really a town, but rather a "census-designated place" with 107 residents as of 2020. It survives on summer tourism and is located on the outskirts of Kennicott.Read more