Sixty Miles In

Sixty Miles in..... to what? To where? A sixty mile dirt road in the middle of wild Alaska and right on the edge of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The largest National Park in the United States and totally untamed and unknown. This sixty mile dirt road came after almost 6 hrs of driving already. We were amazed the kids held up through it all. Did I mention, no dvd player? Just some books, fun activities and a whole lot of beautiful mountains and scenery to look at and lots of time to talk, tell stories and sing songs. Of course we had to play the old time (ha ha) car games like the alphabet game etc a few times too. Haakon and I both admitted we didn't think it was possible. (We did have the computer hidden in the back just in case....)

At the start, we enter through a small gap in a mountain just wide enough for one car to drive through,
then at one point we crossed over an extremely narrow one lane bridge (525 feet long, 238 feet high) originally built in 1910 and after getting rattled and jostled and bumped along and getting one flat tire, we arrive at what....














a river with only a footbridge over it that takes you back in time to a small town called McCarthy.
We ate breakfast there with the girls at a tiny little shack called "The Potato" (instead of crayons they had other creative ways of entertaining guests while they waited for their food) and then we rode around the town. That took about two minutes.





Then a ride up the hill where we biked around the small town of Kennicott. The original Kennicott named after a Glacier nearby. (Ever wonder where the mine in Utah got it's name?)

It was amazing to think that people lived there back then when there were none of the conveniences that we have today. Actually it is pretty impressive that people still live there today. (Not very many of course but more than you might expect.)


Looking at the beautiful surroundings it is easy to see why they would choose that place.
We tried biking with kids in tow as far as we could to the glacier but realized it wasn't the best terrain for it. We had a delicious fresh lemonade at the little hotel there while the girls played on a small piece of grass nearby.
Haakon and I have vowed to return when we can do a little more adventurous activities. (Ice climbing, exploring the mines, back country backpacking etc.)

Sixty miles in.... to lots of great memories!

Sixty miles in to glimpse a little piece of heaven.