Community Trips
http://ilya1725.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/wrangell-st-elias-trip-report/
This is the best day hike in the Kennicott-McCarthy area, although it is not for the faint of heart. The trail climbs 3,800 feet in four miles to reach an abandoned copper mine and incredible views. The day I did this trip, the views were minimal because of low clouds, yet I still saw a mountain that was 75 miles away! A huge portion of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park can be seen...
Great hike from Kennecott, crossing through all the historic buildings,
to Root Glacier. There is another trail to a Glacier View, but this one
goes to the base of the glacier and allows you to hike over it if you
have crampons. If not, it is quite slippery. We saw some people
falling...
Today we drive to the bridge of McCarthy. There we take the bus to Kennicott. We stop at the end of Kennicott and walk to the visitor center. They will tell us more about the hike to the bonanzamine.It is a day walk to the Bonanza mine. It lies at an altitude of ± 1800 m. It's a tough climb from the start and the weather is not great. It's raining very lightly and only after the tree line we arrive in better weather. We eat and drink and what to see in the distance old traces of the conveyors. High in the mist we see aglimpse of the old mine.It goes up fast, grade of the path is above 14%. Later it becomeseven more...
We stay just for McCarthy. Approximately 2 mile before the bridge, we sleep with Andy. He is the owner of the Currant RidgeCabins. We sleep in beautiful cabins. The weather is good andcan just play football or tennis on the lawn.Today we walk along the Root Glacier. We we look how far wecome. Perhaps to the Erie Mine. Unfortunately we missed thatand went back to the entrance of the Root Glacier. The path to thefoot of the glacier is nice to walk. The glacier itself looks dirty. We do not know whether the earth or coal is what about the ice.Along the way is still a black bear with us. On good distance sowe can safely look. The glacier gives the children a lot of funplaying.On our blog you can read more about our vacation...
First half of trail; saw bear scars and with the sign "In Memory of Christine Ann Coutney, killed by a young male Grizzly", we turned back after a good view.
