Alaska - Wrangell St Elias

      Upon arrival to McCarthy, most visitors have to park on the west side of the frothy, glacial Kennicott River and walk across a pedestrian bridge to access the village.  But our driver lives in town, and he pays his annual “toll” in order to be able to own a key to unlock the gate guarding the lone bridge that accesses town.  So our ride was complete - all the way to the front door of Kennicott Lodge.

     The alternative to the van shuttle is a charter flight, directly to / from the small airfield in McCarthy.  There are several options and sizes of plane, depending on the day of the week, and the arrangements other travelers have already made.  In a perfect world, your charter flight into McCarthy can be someone else’s charter flight out of McCarthy… or vice versa.  Or sometimes we can arrange for passage on the mail flight - a twice daily flight that acts just the way it sounds - delivering the mail from Anchorage to McCarthy.

     We did, in fact, get lucky for our return to Anchorage, as we were able to grab a couple seats on a charter flight that had originally been set up to bring a large group of hikers to McCarthy.  This flight was full on the way to McCarthy, and we helped to make it full on the way back.

                        

          

        

    The flight back to Anchorage was amazing in its views, as we climbed dramatically out of McCarthy, leaving the Wrangells behind, and eventually crossing the glaciated peaks of the Chugach Range into Anchorage’s Merrill Field.