McCarthy/Kennicott Part I: Wrangell St. Elias National Park and McCarthy

McCarthy/Kennicott in Wrangell St. Elias National Park is one of our favorite places in the world. Wrangell St. Elias is the largest National Park in the United States at 13.2 million acres (second is Death Valley National Park!). This summer, Andy and I took two trips to McCarthy/Kennicott, one with my parents and one with our friends Madison, Kelly, and Marc.

The area that is now Wrangell St. Elias National Park was explored by numerous American explorers throughout the late 1800’s, but was not seriously studied until the early 1900’s when gold was found in the Copper River. Some early explorers reported that Native Alaskans were using copper tools and utensils, which prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to send a geologist to study the area and locate the origin of the copper. He failed, and the source was later found by Jack Smith and Clarence Warner, two prospectors who inadvertently stumbled across the copper field after mistakenly believing it to be a large meadow of grass for their cattle to graze on. At that point, engineer and educated miner Stephen Birch stepped in and established the Alaska Copper and Coal Company, which eventually turned into the Kennecott Copper Corporation. All the copper was mined and Kennecott Copper Corporation shut down in 1938 (more on Stephen Birch and the mine later).

Kennecott Mill (Note: Due to a clearical error, the Mining Company was named Kennecott with
an “e,” but the town is actually spelled Kennicott)

Numerous proposals for turning the area into a National Park came and went throughout the early and mid 1900’s, but none were fruitful, due mainly to the budgetary restraints of WWII and society’s general feeling that conservation actions were not pressing government concerns for Alaska. Finally, in 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was passed and divested some federal lands to the State of Alaska and Native corporations. Accordingly, roughly 80 million acres of land were set aside for conservation. The National Park Service proposed taking about 15 million of these to set up a park in the Wrangell Mountains region. Significant debate ensued with constant congressional bickering and back-and-forth until finally, on December 2, 1980, Wrangell-St. Elias became a National Park.

There are many interesting stories and facts that make Wrangell St. Elias National Park fascinating, but of them all, the head-butting between residents of McCarthy/Kennicott and the National Park Service/Federal Government elicits the most interest. The town of Kennicott was established first due to the copper mining and the location of the copper mill. Stephen Birch ran a tight ship at Kennicott/Kennecott Mill and prohibited alcohol and prostitution. As the cold weather and isolation wore on the men, the town of McCarthy sprang up to provide these illicit services. The draw of a nice lady and a strong drink seemed to grow McCarthy over night; it eventually became a town of its own with a school, hospital, bar, and brothel.

When copper ran out, McCarthy died along with the mining economy and slipped into quasi ghost-town status until about 1970 when the Trans Alaska Pipeline project brought more people up to Alaska. People still live in McCarthy, making it the only year-round incorporated town within a National Park in the United States. Because people were already living in McCarthy when the National Park Service took over, the debate between the individual and the federal government has not (and likely never will) die out. At the beginning of the park’s inception, residents vandalized ranger stations and cabins, damaged National Park airplanes, and just generally avoided and/or entirely disobeyed federal rules and National Park Service regulations. At one point, one of the bridges installed by the Park Service was blown up by residents to prevent tourists from coming in (the residents used a hand operated tram to cross the river).

At least Mom likes the bridge

The two most famous stories of the individual vs. the government can be attributed to Louis D. Hastings and Robert Allen “Papa Pilgrim” Hale. Louis D. Hastings, in an attempt to disrupt the Alaska pipeline, murdered six of the residents of McCarthy in 1983 and wounded two others. He was convicted of the crime in 1984 and sentenced to 634 years in prison.

Robert Allen Hale (Papa Pilgrim) is a whole nother story. Married to Kurina Rose Bresler when she was 16, they moved with their 15 children to Alaska from New Mexico in 1998 and settled in McCarthy. A devoutly conservative Christian, Papa Pilgrim kept his family isolated in at his ranch self-titled “Hillbilly Heaven” or “The Motherlode” (due to its location near to Motherlode Copper Mine). He intentionally and aggressively defied federal government and National Park Service authority by bulldozing a road to this ranch. He gained significant fame and a healthy cult-ish following in the town of McCarthy; residents idolized his brazen disregard for government and his liberal interpretation of the 1980 law that allowed him “reasonable and feasible” access to his property. He played his cards well – appearing for interviews, parading his children around whenever they could be used as convenient examples, and embraced the frontier attitude in a way never quite seen before. Papa Pilgrim even challenged the federal government all the way up to the US Supreme Court, who eventually refused to hear his case.

Behind this clever facade, Papa Pilgrim was busy torturing and brainwashing his family. Physical abuse of his children and rape of his eldest daughter was an almost-daily occurrence. Finally, in 2005, the Hale children befriended a family from Palmer, Alaska, the Buckinghams, who eventually brought the eldest children to Alaska State Troopers to report the abuse. The Troopers arrested Papa Pilgrim after a two-week long manhunt. He was convicted of rape, coercion and incest in an Alaska court and sentenced to 14 years. He served only a few months of his sentence before dying from advanced cirrhosis, diabetes and blood clots. Recently, Tom Kizzia, a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News wrote a fascinating book about Papa Pilgrim titled Pilgrim’s Wilderness. I would highly recommend it.

Pilgrim’s Wilderness by Tom Kizzia; goodreads.com

We left for McCarthy/Kennicott very early on Thursday morning. The drive is a long one (takes about 8 and half hours – leave plenty of time!). The drive is gorgeous and takes you a good ways down the Richardson highway until you reach the turn off for a town called Chitina. After passing through Chitina you get on the McCarthy road, a rather precarious 60 mile road from Chitina to the Base Camp Root Glacier Campground. The McCarthy road is an old railroad, and you run the relatively high risk of getting a flat tire (ask Madison about that). Make sure your tires are in good shape and that you have a trustworthy spare. Get a good run-down of the driving directions here.

Don helped drive, of course.

In Chitina before hitting the McCarthy Road

We stopped for lunch right before the McCarthy road at the Copper River, right outside of Chitina. The Copper River is the tenth largest in the United States, running for 290 miles. It drains into the Gulf of Alaska and is stocked full of the best salmon in the world! Roughly 2 million salmon spawn there per year. If you’re interested in fishing the copper river, check out the Copper River Salmon Charters, the Alaska River Wrangellers, Klutina Salmon Charters & Campground, or the Gulkana River Ranch Fishing Guides.

If you are interested in dipnetting in the Copper River, I would recommend you download a Chitina Dipnet Fishery Informational Brochure here, which outlines regulations and access for the Chitina fisheries, as well as rules on how many fish can be taken and when. It includes a map as well as directions on how to get a permit and license. Note that the Chitina dip net fishery is open to Alaska residents only, and you must have a personal use permit and a valid resident sport fishing license, PID, or DAV license. You cannot dipnet at both the Chitina subdistrict and the Glennallen subdistrict fisheries in the same year (see more info here). Check out the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website for more information, as well as this link to get fishing licenses and tags.

Copper River. To the right is Chitina, to the left is the start of the McCarthy Road.

We watched people fish for awhile and had a nice lunch. Andy and I debated over whether this figure on the bank was an eagle or a person (he said it was a person, I said it was an eagle….it was an eagle.) We carried on down the McCarthy Road and finally arrived at the Kennicott Root Glacier Campground/Base Camp Root Glacier, run by Kennicott Wilderness Guides. The Campground has roughly 80 acres of camping. At the campground, you will see a small table instructing you to stop and pay for the campsite; it costs $20 per night.

We found our favorite campsite by the river and set up camp.

Helping start the fire.

Kennicott River

North Face Summit Series Tent!

Coastal Mountains

The town of McCarthy is still functioning today, with a small hotel (used to be a brothel!), a jewelry store featuring Native Alaskan crafts, an old hardware store (now used as a meeting hall), a small market, and our favorite place, the Golden Saloon!

The Golden Saloon has a beautiful full bar with Alaskan beers on tap, and a fun menu with limited, yet tasty, items, most of which contain local ingredients. They also have a very extensive wine list. Thursday evenings are open mic nights; there is a small stage towards the front of the saloon where people can set up their music equipment and microphones. The open mic nights are fun – people express themselves in every way you can think of from reciting poetry to playing the harmonica to jamming out with 4 or 5 other people. Occasionally the bar will also host up and coming area bands.

Enjoying his dinner

Sun-kissed!

Even Don and Donna got into it and enjoyed a tasty drink at the bar with their new friend, the pretty and lively bartender. They loved her!

After dinner, we explored the Ma Johnson Hotel, across the street from the Saloon. Originally a brothel, the hotel essentially operates like a museum, with pictures of the original McCarthy residents on the walls of the hallways and rooms. The staff is very knowledgable about the history of the brothel/hotel and McCarthy in general. My favorite part of the hotel is the main lobby; it has a perfect balance of maintaining its clear history of being a brothel while being clean, comfortable, and cozy.

The Lobby.

Ma Johnson Hotel features 20 rooms, in both the main hotel and a separate small building to the side. The rooms are small, but very cute, featuring anywhere from single beds to shared rooms with two double/full beds. Your reservation gets you breakfast at the McCarthy Lodge, pick up and dop off at the footbridge and/or the McCarthy airport, bathrobes and slippers, handmade soaps and lotions, and high quality linens in the rooms.

Side building with more rooms.

The Hotel features two types of rooms, a Double Room (1 double size bed or 2 twin beds) and a Triple Room (1 double size bed and one twin bed). Both rooms are $299 a night. Make reservations here.

Down the road a bit from the Saloon towards the beginning of town is a little jewelry/gift store called Mountain Arts. The store specializes in local Alaskan artists including Ray Kress who makes jewelry from local items. The store has a policy of only selling locally made merchandise. If you are looking for a nice gift that can’t be found anywhere else, even in Alaska, look here. The store features Eyak, Athabascan, and Tlingit Native Alaskan art, among many others.

There are a variety of outdoor guides available to escort you on all your McCarthy/Kennicott adventures. One of the best if you are interested in white water rafting and/or just exploring the Wrangell Mountains in general is the McCarthy River Tours and Outfitters, founded in 2010. They offer one day, multi-day, or custom rafting trips as well as kayak and paddle board rentals. If you check their website ahead of time you can often find pretty good deals. Other fabulous ones are St. Elias Alpine Guides and Kennicott Wilderness Guides (more on them later).

Look for their storage barn in downtown McCarthy!

From the Campground, you can easily walk to downtown McCarthy (about a 5 minute walk). From McCarthy to Kennicott, however, you will need to take the shuttle or 4-wheel in. The shuttle can be caught at the footbridge right near the Campground, or you can reserve it though the Shuttle/Bus Stop in downtown McCarthy across the street from the Mountain Arts Gift Shop. It’s technically run by Wrangell Mountain Air.

Or, you can 4-wheel all the way to Kennicott! But, in order to do that you have to have a cool friend like Madison who owns a 4-wheeler and will drive you around.