Wednesday, September 2, 2015

NP#50 - Wrangell St. Elias


 Wrangell St. Elias National Park - Alaska

Our 50th Park experience!

 Copper Center Princess Wilderness Lodge with Mt Drum in the reflection.

 Mt. Drum at sunset

 Another look at Mt Drum

 A rare view of Mt. Wrangell - an active volcano

Visiting Kennecott

 Road to the Mines!

 Kennecott Mining Company - built in 1911

 Power Plant

Kennecott Consentration Mill -a 14 story complex

 Kennecott Lodge and Restaurant

 Old wagon - had to shoot it!

 Inside the Mine

 Big wheel of production!

Inside the Power Plant

8/23 - Wrangell St. Elias and the Kennecott Mines. When our one-hour tour of McCarthy comes to an end, we are shuttled up to the Kennecott Mines…the main event of this excursion. We’re scheduled to take the 1:30 pm Mine tour with Camille, our tour Guide. Camille does an excellent job telling the fascinating story about how the mine came to be.

The mining community is located beside the Kennicott Glacier and that’s where it’s name was derived. You may have noticed that the Mine is spelled Kennecott and the glacier Kennicott. When the Kennecott Mining Company was established, there was a mistake on the paperwork and they spelled the mining company Kennecott; hence all man-made things affiliated with the mine are spelled with the “e.” Everything associated with the natural features in the area (like the glacier) are spelled with an “i.”

The actual mines are located 5 miles above the buildings, which serve to process the ore once its extracted from the mines above. The operation was active from the early 1900's until 1938 and over $207,000,000 worth of copper, silver and gold was dug out from the 5 active mines. 

In the 1980's, when Wrangell became a National Park, the Kennecott mines became a popular tourist destination. The area and most of the buildings became National Historic Landmarks in 1986 and the Park Service acquired much of the land within the Kennecott Mill Town in 1998.

During our tour, we meet Bill and Joan from Henderson, NV. They are both retired schoolteachers and authors of children’s books. Bill is a Storyteller and in one of his books he talks about piloting an airplane. He asks me if I think Austin would let him fly the plane for just one second. I told Bill to ask Austin as I was pretty sure he’d let Bill hold on to the controls for a second or two.

As it turns out, Austin lets Bill fly the plane for a good minute or two…to the point where Bill is ready to relinquish the helm muy pronto!

On our return trip back to the Lodge, we stop by Liberty Falls for a couple of photos and a pee. When we get back to the Lodge, Mt. Drum is in full view! The three mountains that can be seen from the lodge given good visibility are Mt Drum (12, 010’), Mt. Wrangell (14,163’)  and Mt. Blackburn (16,390’)

Visibility is the key factor as, like in Denali, clouds obstruct the view of the mountains most of the time! Tonight is different! Mt. Drum is visible and my camera is working! I was able to capture the mountain as the sun set in the west!

I even got a shot of Mt. Wrangell before it was swallowed up by clouds.

No comments:

Post a Comment