We’re taking you to one of the most majestic national parks in America and sharing everything you need to know to plan your visit, including driving the legendary McCarthy Road, staying in historic Kennicott, hiking across the Root Glacier, taking a breathtaking flightseeing tour over the Bagley Icefield, and exploring the historic Kennicott Mine.

We’ll cover our full itinerary, where we stayed, what we ate, how to get there, transportation options, glacier adventures, flightseeing tours, and all of our tips for visiting one of America’s most rugged national parks. 

You can download this itinerary in PDF form with details on the route, time allocation & more here: 3 Day Wrangell – St. Elias National Park Summer Itinerary or we combine this trip with Kenai Fords and Lake Clark for a 6 Day Alaska National Park Itinerary.

In this episode, we cover:

• How to drive the famous 60-mile McCarthy Road
• Renting a vehicle from Alaska 4×4 that allows access to the park
• Scenic stops along the drive from Anchorage to McCarthy
• Staying at Kennicott Glacier Lodge
• Hiking the Root Glacier with Kennicott Wilderness Guides 
• Exploring historic Kennicott and the abandoned copper mine
• Flightseeing over the Bagley Icefield with Wrangell Mountain Air
• Tips for planning your Alaska national park adventure

Hotels for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park we recommend:

• Kennicott Glacier Lodge (where we stayed and recommend + meal package available)
• Blackburn Cabins
• Ma Johnson’s Historical Hotel

Find a great flight deal to Anchorage with Thrifty Traveler Premium’s flight deals. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

Continue your Alaska travels with the beautiful Kenai Fjords National Park, listen to our episode before you go for tips and recommendations.

Wrangell St Elias – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, squaddies.

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

Today we are taking you to Rangel St.

Elias National Park in Alaska.

0:51

We’ve mentioned in past episodes that we have a bucket list school of visiting all 63 national parks in the US and Rangel St.

Elias National Park marked #55 for us.

And what an adventure this was.

I had such a great time, really high expectations, and they did not disappoint.

1:08

I want to say a little bit before we get further into this episode, Kim, unfortunately, is not joining us.

She did not come with us on this trip.

She has a conflicting scheduling arrangement, so she’s not able to record with us, unfortunately.

So it is just me and Brittany.

1:24

But nevertheless, what a fantastic time in Rangel St.

Elias in Alaska.

I loved it.

And just a little bit about Rangel St.

Elias.

It’s actually the largest National Park in the United States, spending more than 13 million acres with towering mountains, massive glaciers, historic towns, that untamed Alaskan wilderness, and it is home to 9 of America’s 16 highest peaks, including Mount Saint Elias.

1:56

The park offers incredible opportunities for hiking, rafting, glacier adventures, wildlife viewing, and experiencing again one of the most remote and rugged landscapes in the entire country.

And even though it is the largest National Park in the US, it remains one of the least visited national parks in the US.

2:16

So it makes it a really great destination to experience Alaska’s wild frontier.

Before we get into the episode, of course, we want to go over some tips with you guys for making this trip happen and if you are planning to drive to Rangle St.

Elias, because there are a few different ways to get here and we’ll get into that a little bit more specifically for us, we drove.

2:37

And if you were planning to drive as well, you have to rent a car that allows access on McCarthy Road.

And we rented a car from Alaska 4 by 4 and they actually have a pickup counter at the Anchorage airport.

Some of the other companies that allow you to drive McCarthy Rd. didn’t have pickup counters at the airport.

2:58

So then you would actually have to go there and then go back.

And so it makes it super cumbersome, which is one of the reasons why we highly recommend renting from Alaska 4 by 4.

They were super friendly at the counter.

We met with someone named Jane.

She gave us recommendations for food in Anchorage and their customer service was overall excellent.

3:17

Yes, super friendly.

And I just want to say, of course there are other rental car companies that have counters at the Anchorage airport.

Those are the main companies that you would think of when you think of rental cars.

I won’t name the big names, but you know them, right?

They are there.

3:33

A lot of them if not all of them do not allow you to drive on the McCarthy Rd. like Brittany said Alaska 4 by 4 does and they are located in the airport so it makes it super convenient.

Highly highly would recommend to just rent from them because the last thing you want is to go offsite to pick up a rental car.

3:50

Super convenient.

And I was planning this trip, I was looking at a whole bunch of different blog posts and someone had mentioned one of the big name rental cars and they said, oh sometimes they let you take it on McCarthy Rd. but you have to rent a certain class of car.

And I literally called around and all of the big name carriers immediately said Nope, we do not allow you to access McCarthy Rd. with this car.

4:12

And so again, just make it easy for yourself.

Rent with Alaska 4 by 4.

A tip that we always give you guys is download offline maps for the drive.

You are in Alaska, lots of remote places.

In fairness I was quite surprised with how many places we did have data available.

4:30

But you will for sure lose it along the way.

So just download offline maps.

That way, God forbid you lose service, you are able to get yourself back on the road and have it downloaded.

The best time of year to visit is mid June to early September but always check in advance if a campground lodge or accommodation is open when you plan to visit before you book flights because sometimes lodges close earlier in the season so you make sure before you book any flights that you secure your accommodations.

5:01

Another great tip is don’t try to land in Anchorage and drive to Wrangle St.

Elias in the same day.

If you’re coming from the contiguous 48, or even Hawaii for that matter, it takes quite a while to get up to Alaska.

The drive from Anchorage to wrangle St.

5:17

Elias is approximately 6 hours without stops.

You’re obviously going to make stops along the way, bathroom gas, etcetera, maybe even food.

So you really don’t want to do that.

That would make for a very long day.

So do spend the night in Anchorage when you arrive before driving.

5:34

Make sure to pack a bug spray.

Rangel St.

Elias has a lot of bugs and when we were there they actually said the bugs weren’t even that bad and we thought they were pretty bad.

So make sure you’re bringing bug spray because those mosquitoes are relentless.

You should definitely pack sunscreen and sunglasses.

5:52

So of course it’s Alaska.

Most people think cold.

Yes, it can be.

Weather in Alaska is unpredictable.

But when the sun is out, it is definitely out.

And of course, at the elevations that you are in the mountains or even on the glacial ice that you may possibly do if you do a glacier hike here in Ringle St.

6:11

Elias, the sun just beams right off of it reflects, and you want that sunscreen and those sunglasses.

Also make sure to pack a waterproof rain jacket and layers if you do plan to do a glacier hike.

It’s like 15 to 20° colder on the glacier than it is just in the town of Kennicott or McCarthy.

6:30

So you’re going to want layers to take on and off.

It also rains year round there, so it can rain any day that you happen to be there.

We got really lucky with weather, but it was what, the first day that we arrived and having a waterproof rain jacket is essential for Alaska.

6:46

And definitely book your tours in advance, whether it be a glacier hike, a guided hike of some other sort, rafting, kayaking, or even your flight scene over Wrangle St.

Elias.

Because there are certain areas that you can’t get into the park that have designated trails, but it is in a very small concentrated section.

7:06

Most of it would just be Backcountry, doing it on your own.

So really the way to see Wrangle St.

Elias is a flight tour.

So if you’re going to do that, of course, book any of your tours well in advance.

And in terms of park entrance fees, this National Park is actually free to enter.

7:23

So that’s just a good tip for you guys.

Before we dive deeper into the episode, I do want to let you guys know that I am creating a Wrangle St.

Elias National Park itinerary.

It’s a three day itinerary or it goes over everything that we do.

It breaks it down step by step on where to stay, what to do, what to book, what to pack and how to plan this trip.

7:45

And it is available on our website, shoptravelsquadpodcast.com.

So day one, we flew out on a Thursday.

This was just our travel day flying from San Diego to Anchorage, AK.

8:02

Unfortunately, from San Diego there are no direct flights.

Most flights going to Alaska will have layovers in Seattle.

So we did have that.

One thing we always try to tell you squaddies is travel hacking, right?

8:17

It’s made for some people, some people not.

But of course there’s right, wrong ways to do it.

I’m not saying we necessarily did it the right way, but we definitely did do it a great way.

We only paid $892.00 round trip for both of us, which in fairness I really do think is a great price to get from San Diego to Alaska because flights to Alaska in general are not cheap.

8:39

Brittany has an Atmos credit card.

If you’re not familiar with what Atmos is, it is Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines because they have now merged member program.

And so, Brittany, why don’t you tell her squaddies a little bit about it, because you do get a free companion pass, which you used on me to get my flight basically for a very discounted price plus taxes.

9:01

Yeah.

So there are two at most credit cards and I have the Atmos a Cent.

It has a $95 annual fee per year.

So you do get a companion pass every single year if you meet the criteria.

And that criteria is spending $6000 every single year on that card.

And if you do spend the $6000 every single year, the companion pass means you can book your companion’s flight for $99 plus taxes and fees.

9:27

So my ticket was $697.00 for a round trip ticket.

Jamal’s ticket was $173 and that was a companion pass that was 99.

And then we paid about $75.00 in taxes and fees.

This was a round trip ticket so we ended up saving $523 just on flights.

9:47

This card also gives you one checked bag for each person on your reservation, and so we got our bags free round trip as well.

It’s normally $45 per person per bag each way, so we saved about $180 in baggage fees.

10:02

So when you think about how much we saved on just flights and luggage, we saved almost $800 on this.

Yeah, really good deal on that.

And one thing I just want to say about the Alaska credit card and the companion pass is it will give you the fare for $99 plus taxes for any fair that you buy.

10:22

So let’s say Brittany was feeling wild and wanted to buy a first class seat, the companion then would get the equivalent seat.

So really cool feature about that, that I really do like.

So we use that to save a good bit of money for us just getting to Alaska.

10:38

Our flight was San Diego to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage.

Unfortunately, while we were flying, we noticed that we were circling near Portland.

We did that for about 30 minutes and then they announced that there was a thunderstorm in Seattle that was delaying landing in Seattle.

So we actually had to land in Portland, refuel, take back off to Seattle, and then once we landed in Seattle, our flight from Seattle was delayed to Anchorage and we ended up getting in about 3 hours late.

11:03

So if you can, try to build in a buffer day.

Also, try to take the first flight out of the day so that if you do get delayed, you’re more likely to get delayed and not cancelled.

If they keep pushing it so much, they may actually cancel a flight and then you might get stuck in Seattle instead.

11:18

So just keep that in mind.

What our saving grace was, was Seattle actually has an Amex Centurion lounge.

So we actually ate lunch and spent some time there and that helped us save some time and money because we were able to eat lunch in the lounge.

So when we finally arrived in Anchorage, the first thing that we did was get our rental car.

11:39

As we said, we used Alaska 4 by 4.

And again, Alaska 4 by 4 is one of the few rental car companies that actually allow you to take their vehicles on the McCarthy Rd.

So we kind of mentioned it a little bit before about it, but I want to go into detail on what it is.

11:56

It is the last 60 miles before you get to the National Park and Rangel St.

Elias.

It is a 60 mile gravel Rd. that provides the only vehicle access into the historic towns of McCarthy as well as Kennicott, which is where we stayed.

12:13

And these are the most popular areas to visit within Rangel St.

Elias.

McCarthy Rd. was actually built on the old Copper River and Northwestern Railway bed that served the Kennecott copper mines in the early 1900s.

And so the road is known for its rugged conditions.

12:30

It’s unpaved, there can be potholes, loose gravel, occasional washouts, and that is why a lot of rental companies don’t allow you to drive this road.

But Alaska 4 by 4 actually allows you to drive, I believe, any gravel Rd. in Alaska.

So that’s super helpful if you’re planning other trips that go on other gravel roads.

12:47

And you can get a 10% discount if you’re an Alaska resident, a AAA member, an AARP member, or a military or veteran.

And they are an Alaska owned company and like we said, the really big convenience of them, they do have a pickup counter at the airport versus the other rental companies that allow you to drive on this road.

13:07

They are off site.

So real big plus for them.

So we got in three hours later than we anticipated, but we knew that this was just going to be a day that we were just going to grab dinner, go to bed and prepare for our adventure the next day.

But when we are in Anchorage, we do love to eat at Whiskey and Robin.

13:27

Whiskey and Robin is a very popular Robin shop in downtown Anchorage.

We actually ate there the last time we were in Anchorage about a year ago.

And they are so popular that we do recommend getting reservations.

They do have reservations available on the OpenTable app.

13:44

We had made reservations for like I want to say 6:30 because I gave us some buffer time.

We were just supposed to land at 4:30, but now we were landing at like 7:30.

So we did use the OpenTable messaging to communicate with them and they were actually able to reschedule our reservation, which was super great.

14:02

And we ended up getting there closer to like 830 in the evening.

We got there past 8:30.

We got there actually at 8:47 when our reservation that we pushed back was to 8:30.

And that 830 reservation, by the way, was not the first edit to the reservation.

14:18

We pushed it back an hour because that’s what we were supposed to be.

Then it kept getting delayed and delayed.

So they were really good with that.

And of course, you know, by the time we arrived, even though a little bit after, there was a slight wait, but they did honor the reservation and they got a SAT relatively quickly.

But I love whiskey and ramen like you mentioned, Brittany, when we went last time we ate here, we knew we wanted to eat again.

14:39

It is just that good.

It’s not really hype.

It is fantastic, really good ramen.

They do have craft cocktails if that’s your thing as well.

So we ended up, of course, after that long day, deciding we needed a drink.

So I ended up getting a Coma Rebbe Old Fashioned, and that had some matcha in it, so a little unique Japanese twist.

15:01

It was quite delicious.

And I ended up getting a tick sheet of stroll, which was a beautifully crafted pink lovely cocktail that was also really delicious.

And then for an app, we ended up getting their Tabasaki chicken wings that are twice fried.

15:16

I would recommend getting these.

I would get them again.

And then we both ended up getting the business Lounge Ramen.

Yeah, the business lounge is a Tantaman pork broth, sesame peanut with an egg, steamed bok choy mushrooms.

And we swapped out the chili pork that they had for the pork belly instead, which was delicious.

15:36

So I do like how they allow you to do some sort of swaps and they don’t even charge you for it.

At least at the time we went, they didn’t.

So don’t hold me to that if you go and they do.

But really love that about them.

Great place.

And even when we came back to Anchorage after this trip, we were debating, are we going to eat here again?

15:51

Are we going to eat here again?

We ate at different places so that we can give you Squatty’s other recommendations.

So we did sacrifice because we love it that much.

So after dinner, we ended up stopping at Walmart to pick up some waters to carry with us along our track drives for hikes, all of those sorts of things.

16:06

So we got a few liters of water and then we spent our overnight in Anchorage.

We actually booked at the Springhill Suites with points Mall has a Marriott card and we ended up using some of his points to book this stay.

It easily saved us 250 to $300.00 for this night because lodging in Anchorage is quite expensive, especially in their tourist season summer months.

16:29

More travel hacking.

I love it when I really calculate how much we actually saved using points and other things.

We really came out ahead, so to speak, because Alaska is not an inexpensive place to travel, let alone getting to certain national parks because it can be expensive.

16:45

And this one was so really helpful to save in all the ways that we did.

So our second day in Alaska was a Friday and we drove to McCarthy and we ended up wanting to grab breakfast because we knew it was going to be a long drive to McCarthy.

17:03

We knew it was going to be over 300 miles, so we wanted to get a nice breakfast in and we ended up going to Snow City Cafe for a few different reasons.

They are known for their sticky buns and their cinnamon rolls, and a fun fact is Obama once bought out all of their sticky buns during his visit.

17:21

Beyond that lore of the president going there and actually buying some of their items, this is a very popular restaurant within Anchorage.

When we first arrived, it was rather busy.

There was a wait list that was going to be 30 to 45 minutes.

17:36

We were going to troop it out even though we really, I don’t want to say we didn’t want to, but knew we had a long drive in front.

But what I do like is they do have a counter and then counter is first come, first serve.

So we were able to bypass the wait when counter space open.

So that is something that you can actually do as well.

17:54

So very popular spot and for great reason.

We ended up getting in the morning some coffees.

I just got a standard black brew coffee, Brittany, a specialty coffee called a Milky Way latte.

I took a sip of it.

I liked it, but Brittany’s partial to sweetness and things being overly sweet and she thought it was a little bit for her palate.

18:15

Yeah, it was really good, but it was a little too sweet for my liking to have like as a big size.

So that was like my only critique for that.

But I don’t like my drinks super, super sweet.

It wouldn’t say it was overly sweet, like undrinkable, but it was a little on the sweet side for me.

18:30

Here’s the irony, I feel like if it was actually a smaller drink, a cup that they gave it to you in, it would have been fine.

But the portion size for their specialty drinks is rather large.

So then you just keep sipping on that and I think it can add on it.

So I just want to give that because of course, really good spot and food wise, we ended up getting couple items.

18:49

We got the Ship Creek, which is a Benedict.

So of course you have your poached eggs, but the eggs are on top of a house made Alaskan salmon cakes, really delicious.

They have the salmon all compacted together and they created a nice crispy shell on each side of them.

19:06

So you had the crunch of the outside of the salmon and then of course the soft moistness on the inside on grilled English muffins, your hollandaise, red onions.

So a really delicious Benedict.

And then we also got the fried egg sandwich and we subbed the bacon for the OMG bacon and it was quite a good fried egg sandwich.

19:25

Then we bought a pecan sticky bun to go and we ended up eating it while we were at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge.

Once we made it to Kennicott and it was good, but it wasn’t great.

I think the cinnamon rolls would have been better than the sticky buns, and in fairness, we did not try this fresh.

19:44

It wasn’t bad.

It wasn’t great of the lore of President Obama buying out all the sticky buns, but I think maybe our opinion could have been different if we had it fresh.

We took it to go and it sat for quite a long time so that one could have been on us.

And then we started our drive to McCarthy in Kennicott.

20:01

It’s about a 300 mile drive, and without stops, it’ll take you about 6 1/2 hours.

But with stops, it could take you 789 hours, depending on how long your stops are.

And it is one of the most beautiful and scenic drives we’ve ever taken.

You have mountain backdrops, glaciers, lush green Pines, valleys, rivers.

20:21

It is scenic Alaska.

And the sun was shining on us and it was just a perfect drive.

McCarthy.

Yeah, I just the shades of green that you really see, you know, I’ve been a lot of beautiful places and a lot of people ask us sometimes like, oh, where’s your favorite state that you’ve been to?

20:39

And we always have an answer.

But as we were driving, Brittany and I kind of came to the realization together, Alaska might be it.

Now, I’m not not necessarily talking for a living because that would be one thing.

And kudos to the people live out there because it’s real rugged, the cold, all of that in the extreme, but just the sheer beauty of Alaska is crazy.

20:58

And it started getting beautiful just barely outside of Anchorage.

You come outside this big city and just outside of Anchorage, there was like our first glacier not too far away.

And then you have the beautiful greenery, the rivers, etcetera.

So really beautiful drive.

21:13

So it’s not a drive that’s like, oh man, this is 6 hours.

It’s a very enjoyable 1.

When you’re driving this long drive, make sure that you fill up gas because gas stops are going to be quite limited and we recommend stopping and filling in Glen Allen.

21:28

When I was doing research, I had a ride that you can fill in Glen Allen, Copper Center or Valdez, and we actually had a little bit of trouble finding gas in Copper Center.

So we actually turned back around and like the Glen Allen area and filled there.

Yeah, because Glen Allen is before Copper Center, not necessarily by much.

21:48

And in between Glen Allen and Copper Center is the actual National Park visitor center.

Ironically, it’s not even in the National Park, but it’s somewhere that’s close enough for most people to actually visit.

It’s on the border boundary of it, right.

22:03

So we passed Glen Allen.

We read that there’s gas in Copper Center.

We make it to Copper Center.

It’s a gas station that’s just like 1 pump, the old, like circular dials.

I don’t see anybody attending it.

Nowhere to pay a credit card.

So we had to turn back around about what, 10 miles to go to Glen Allen because of course, from here it gets a little bit more remote and we didn’t see anything online where it said there would be gas.

22:30

Now, up until Glen Allen, gas is sparse, but definitely able to find along the way.

But that is the great middle point for you to fill gas before you get yourself into McCarthy, Kennecott, and particularly then into the National Park of Rangel, St.

22:46

Elias.

You mentioned Valdez as an option to fill gas too, Brittany, but Valdez isn’t even on this road from Anchorage.

It’s in this vicinity, but that would be out of the way.

So I think when you see that online for forums, just any of you squaddies listening or maybe planning this trip, if you’re seeing that same thing, that’s if you’re coming from that direction.

23:03

So don’t count on Valdez.

Glen Allen is the spot that you want to fill gas.

Your last point before you get to the park.

And while we’re talking about Glen Allen and Copper Center, I do want to mention that if you do not want to rent a car that goes to McCarthy, you have a few different options.

23:21

You can take a shuttle.

There was one company that provided a shuttle service from Anchorage.

And then I saw another shuttle service that picks you up from Glen Allen or Copper Center.

The one that leaves out of Copper Center also did day trips where you would get into the park at 11, but then you leave again at 4:00.

23:36

So if you’re looking for a very short visit and you don’t want to drive, that could be something that that you could look into The other ones where they drop you off, where you can stay in McCarthy and Kennicott, sometimes they’re on a schedule and they don’t go every single day.

So then you’re at the whim of when they drop you off and then when their next scheduled pickup is, which could be like 3 days or more.

23:57

So you’re on a more confined schedule.

So we decided we didn’t want that.

We wanted to have the flexibility of drive in when we wanted to, which is again one of the reasons why we did pick a car that could drive McCarthy Road and rent with Alaska like a 4 by 4.

You could also fly into McCarthy from the Glen Allen area.

24:16

So if you didn’t want to do the shuttle because you’re like, oh, I don’t want to sit for a long windy Rd.

This unpaved Rd. you can fly in.

But again, costs are going to be quite expensive because you’re looking at a round trip flight to and from McCarthy and then you have to get to Glen Allen anyways.

24:32

So you might be parking a rental car in Glen Allen, hopping on a flight to McCarthy and then staying a few days and then doing the same thing on the back end.

And so I was like, well, if I’m already paying for a rental car and a flight, it’s going to cost more to do that than just get a car that can access the road.

24:48

Or there’s another option for you as well.

If you want to do just a sightseeing tour over the park from Glen Allen.

There are some flight scene tours that just fly over with no landings.

And then there are some fly over tours that land for about 15 to 20 minutes in the park.

25:04

What do you think about that, Jamal?

I think that doesn’t count as actually visiting the park.

And if somebody has limited mobility or time and that’s all they could do, I’m not going to judge you for it.

But if you’re trying to really check off all the national parks and you just do a fly over and don’t land, or if you land it’s only 1520 minutes, like what did you land for?

25:24

Right?

It doesn’t count.

That’s my opinion.

So that’s what I think about it and also a reason why we didn’t do it.

We actually met someone that did do the 15 to 20 minute landing and I was like, Oh well where did you land?

And she said, McCarthy and I said, oh, so you got to explore the town.

And no, she didn’t get to explore the town.

25:40

They just landed in a grass field.

And you can look out at the surroundings and then get back in the plane and stretch your feet.

So personally, I don’t think it counts.

But to each of their own right, it’s your own adventure.

So there are things to do along the way on this drive.

25:56

I mentioned earlier, of course, between Glen Allen and Copper Center, there is the National Park Visitor Center and it is open from May to September.

So we actually stopped here again at this point.

You’re still not even in the park.

You will, at some point if you go here, see a river, and the river is the boundary and everything you see beyond that.

26:17

So it’s really more just like trees that you can see and then the mountains so far in the back, which is, of course, if you’re continuing on to McCarthy and Kennicott, where you will eventually be.

So that’s just one thing to consider.

But nevertheless, we stopped here because we wanted to take a picture with the Wrangle St.

26:34

Elias National Park sign, which we did grab a souvenir at the visitor center.

And Brittany did have a couple trails that she wanted to do here.

And I will call them trails, not hikes, because they were relatively flat but nevertheless really beautiful.

Yeah, we hiked or trailed on the Copper River Bluff Trail, which is a .5 mile scenic loop.

26:57

You overlook the Copper River and Wrangle Mountain, so you will look directly into the park on this trail and it actually meets up with the Boreal Forest Trail, which is also a half mile loop and it loops through the forest around the visitor center.

So you could do them either separately or you can loop them together for about a one mile hike.

27:17

We did that.

It was actually nice and scenic.

We had a good overlook of the river and there’s an All Trails hike link that has them both combined together and that’s what I ended up using just to make sure we stayed on trail.

The visitor center also has like exhibits and they also have a movie that explains some things about the park.

27:38

So if you didn’t want to do a trail but you wanted to learn more about the National Park, that is an option for you as well.

One thing that we did not say that I do want to mention now is I did want to watch the video that they were playing because I thought it would be very interesting.

And as soon as we walked into the visitor center, the Ranger said, hey, the movie just started like literally 1520 seconds ago if you want to go catch it.

28:01

We still hadn’t hiked or done the trail at that point in time, but we were on a time crunch to get to McCarthy because at McCarthy you do have to catch a shuttle because there is a stopping point where you can’t take your vehicles anymore.

28:16

And you have to catch shuttles to the lodges or even the town of McCarthy over the river because you can’t take your car fully, fully across.

But then by the time you catch the shuttle, it’s like only 10 minutes, right?

It’s not anything that’s too big of a deal.

That truly is the ending point.

But last shuttle, 4 hour lodge was 7:00, so did not get to catch the goodies or 6:00.

28:38

Excuse me.

Yes, 6:00 to catch the 7:00 dinner.

So we did not get to see a lot of of the goodies that they had here at the visitor center, which I really regretted.

And then after the visitor center, we continued on and got on McCarthy Rd.

28:54

That is the road we’ve been talking about this whole time.

There are things to see.

It’s very scenic.

It’s a very beautiful drive.

You’re going to pass, you know, river streams, you’re going to go on a Canyon bridge.

You’re going to see a wooden trestle that was made in 1911.

29:10

There’s views of the Kennicott River.

And then as you get closer, there’s going to be views of a glacier.

And then where you’re aiming for is the very end of the road.

There is a parking lot called base camp.

And we had our GPS routed here and our GPS told us to turn right.

29:27

But there was actually a sign right where we were going to turn right.

And it says Google Maps is wrong.

Continue straight, do not turn.

So we follow that advice.

And then we ended up in the base camp parking lot.

And you’ll know you’re there because on the left hand side there’s going to be like this little wooden office, and then you’re going to see a bridge that crosses a big river.

29:47

Yeah.

And that foot bridge again is the stopping point.

You have to cross that small narrow foot bridge, take your luggage across and that’s where the shuttles are.

One thing I do want to know is it is $12.00 per day to park there.

However, if you are staying at the Kennicott Lodge, it is free and we were staying at the Kennicott Lodge.

30:08

So they just mark your name, how long you’re going to be there and leave.

They give you a little tag for your vehicle, put it on the dash, and we did that.

But if you’re staying in McCarthy specifically and parking your car there, I don’t think the one small tiny hotel that they have there allows the free parking.

30:26

So only the Kennicott Lodge has the free parking there.

Otherwise, expect to pay.

So to cross a foot bridge and get your luggage across, they have these little wagons that you could load up all of your luggage in and then you just wheel them all the way across this bridge.

And it’s so scenic because you’re going over this flowing river.

30:43

There’s this beautiful mountain backdrop.

There’s a glacier to your side.

It’s just like truly, truly scenic.

If you are staying at the Kennecott Glacier Lodge, they have a free shuttle that picks you up at the foot bridge and it picks you up every hour on the hour from noon to 8:00 PM.

31:00

But if you are eating dinner, dinner is at 7.

And so they told me specifically if I want to make dinner, we have to be on the 6:00 PM shuttle at the latest to then have dinner at 7:00 PM.

So just keep that in mind.

And then if you’re not staying at the Kennecott Glacier Lodge or if you are camping out there or staying in McCarthy specifically, they do have other shuttle services that are available such as the Blackburn Heritage Shuttle and Coppertown Shuttle.

31:30

They all operate in this vicinity, but you have to pay to use it.

They are not free or complimentary.

And they range in pricing.

Sometimes it’s $5 for a ride, sometimes they have a day pass for like 15 or $20.

And they do have their own schedules, so that’s something that you should look up in advance if you are planning to use them.

31:48

We’ll talk a little bit more about where we stayed and why we stayed there, but these are just some other options for you if you don’t stay at the Kennecott Glacier Lodge.

So as you’ve probably gathered, we did stay at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge and this lodge is a replica of the historic building that used to be there and offers beautiful views of the mountains and the Kennicott Glacier.

32:12

On site dining is available and the rooms you can book either shared or private bathroom so do keep that in mind.

We stayed here for two nights.

At the time that we stayed, it was about $850 for our two nights for two of us, and that included our meals.

32:29

You could book with meals or without meals.

We ended up just deciding it would be easier for us to book with the meal package and that includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner per person for two days.

Dinner does required.

You’d have a reservation and it’s at 7:00 PM nightly and so they don’t offer dinner at any other time.

32:48

Yeah.

And if you decide to stay here and don’t book the meal package, you can order food at breakfast, lunch or dinner a la carte.

But if you take the price that they have to do it a la carte and add it based off of how long you’re going to stay there, it comes to be higher than the actual package.

33:04

So some people may say, hey, I only want breakfast and dinner, I’m going to be out hiking.

I have my own stuff, don’t really need it.

So that could be something to take into consideration.

Or in McCarthy, they do have a restaurant, so maybe people would go eat there.

So it really depends on what you were actually trying to do.

33:22

One thing that I thought was really cool about here for lunch is if you told them that you had an activity or going to be gone, they could pack you a lunch to go.

Which actually turned out to be retty good when we did our tour the next day, which we’ll talk about when we get there.

33:39

O meal package.

Yes or no?

Really depends on your reference, but for us we thought it made a lot of sense.

And the reason why we booked this accommodation was because it was logistically easier and it seemed like the nicest option in the park.

It’s across the street from the park visitor center and it’s across the street from the offices of all of the guiding companies.

34:00

So that makes it really easy to do any of the activities that you want to do in the park because you’re just right there.

If you don’t want to stay at the lodge or if the lodge is booked up, you can camp or you can park a camper van at base camp across the footbridge and in McCarthy you can also camp.

34:16

They also do have a few private cabins, a lodge, a hotel, a hostel, AB and B.

And then sometimes we also have Airbnb but transportation is really not included other than the shuttle.

So depending on where you stay could logistically be more complicated.

34:31

And we just ended up going with Kennecott Glacier Lodge and we were really happy with the decision we made.

I loved it.

We, again, like I said, had the option between bathroom in your room or not.

Very few of the rooms do have the bathroom with it.

34:48

Most of them are not unshared.

And when I say shared, they are private baths, so to speak, kind of like out in the hallway.

So it’s not a bathroom that’s men, women.

And then there’s multiple stalls or anything like that.

They’re just private.

But there are multiple single use bathrooms and showers for you to use.

35:07

It actually didn’t turn out to be bad.

And one thing I just kind of want to note before we continue is I mentioned that the lodge is a replica of a historic building that was there.

But here in Kennicott, they actually before it became a National Park, had mines and this was a big mining town for copper.

35:25

And a lot of the old historic mining buildings are still here.

So the lodge is a replica of one of those mining buildings.

So once we crossed the foot bridge, we actually had some time before the shuttle picked us up.

So we went down and touched the river.

The river is coming straight off the glacier, so it is ice cold.

35:43

So we put our hands in, felt it, then we went and caught the shuttle.

We got checked in to our room and then our room had a sink.

So it does have a sink and a mirror.

So you can brush your teeth in the room, wash your hands in the room just doesn’t have like a true bathroom.

And then we had dinner.

35:59

And dinner is quite nice.

We actually had a green salad and then for the main course we had green beans, orzo bread, and the night that we went, it was halibut night, so we had that and dessert was tiramisu.

Drinks aren’t included so we ended up getting a bottle of wine, white wine, and then we ordered a sack lunch for the next day because we were doing the glacier track the next day.

36:23

Yeah, because at dinner they will come around and ask you if you want a sack lunch, if you’re going to be out or if you’re going to be on premise and would be dining with them during the lunch hours.

So they come around and give you the option.

And then if you tell them a sack lunch then they actually had a slip for you to fill out that gave you a choice of your options of what you wanted.

36:45

Both nights that we were there, we had dinner and actually all of the meals that we had on the deck.

Jamal, tell us a little bit about the views from the deck.

The views from the deck are just absolutely amazing.

That lodge is sitting parallel here to the Root Glacier and you’re just looking at the Moraine.

37:05

And if you don’t know what a glacial Moraine is, it is all the dirt and rocks that have been moved slowly overtime as the glacier has actually carved down through the valleys, melted, receded, moved forward, all of that.

It’s just the movement of the glacier and then all the debris that comes with it.

37:23

Now, where you’re looking at it in front of the Kennicott Lodge, it just looks like a pile of dirt and all of the rocks.

But they were telling us that below all that dirt and rocks is the unique Moraine.

It’s not just that’s what’s left below that is still a ton of ice.

37:40

So then you can really just see the sense and scale of this glacier, right?

But then of course, the further back you go, then you can start seeing the white of the ice that is not part of the Moraine yet still the ice layers of the glacier that’s sitting on top and not the rock and debris.

37:56

But you have that view of the glacier and then the backdrop is just beautiful.

Wonderful mountains in July, still you still have them looking with snow capped peaks, the greenery of the trees, the brush of the grass.

Just breathtakingly beautiful here.

38:12

One person that we chatted with said that under the Moraine, ice goes down still 1500 feet.

Like that’s crazy just to comprehend this.

And there are glaciologists that come here and study these glaciers and like how incredible is this geology?

38:27

But after dinner, we decided to just go on a little stroll through the town and on a trail, and sunset isn’t until about 11:15 PM and it doesn’t get fully dark until about 1:00 AM.

And so we ended up walking through Kennicott towards the glacier.

38:44

We walked kind of through like where the old mine was.

And then we actually came across a lady who was startled and we could see that she was there.

And once we got closer to her, she was like shaken up.

And she told us that a baby black bear brushed up against her leg while she was unpacking something in her car.

39:01

And we ended up continuing our hike for a little bit, but mom bear hadn’t been seen.

So after about 5 minutes we turned back around.

Yeah, she gave us warning because she was unpacking out of her vehicle.

Now, I just want to say, of course, regular people cannot bring their cars across, but residents do live here on this side.

39:21

And apparently she was a resident and had her own cabin in here.

Now, you’d think in a National Park, how could people have cabins?

But what if people had land before it became a National Park in this area?

The government allowed people to keep it, right?

39:37

So she was unpacking her vehicle, ready to go through the Backcountry and camp out at night with her husband.

Her husband had walked away for a little bit to go do something, was nowhere to be seen.

She thought the bear at first was her dog.

And so the bear was just running through, brushed up against her again, freaked out on that.

39:55

And then of course, where there’s a baby, there’s a Mama, right?

And we hadn’t seen the Mama, so she just gave us some warning.

Like if you continue, there are bears now in this area.

Obviously there’s always bears in this area.

But in the immediate acidity, within the span of like a couple minutes, it was just there.

40:11

So we turned back around and we called it a night.

We went to sleep and we woke up the next day ready for our glacier hike.

So in the morning Saturday day three, first thing we had after breakfast at the lodge was 1/2 day glacier hike on the Route Glacier Trail with Kennicott Wilderness guides.

40:31

Now Kennicott Wilderness Glides of course has the glacier hike that we did, non glacier hikes that you can do, guided rafting tours, kayak tours, you name it.

They do have a plethora of activities that you can do within the park.

Now the hike that we did was 5.7 miles round trip.

40:50

It has about 840 feet of elevation gain and takes about 3 hours.

Realistically, that elevation gain is at the very end of the trail when you have to hike down to the glacier to finally get on the ice because most of the time then you are just on dirt in the beautiful area that is parallel to the Moraine.

41:12

But it’s the elevation down to get on the ice and then when you’re done doing your glacier trek, coming back up.

So that’s really it.

Otherwise, I would say it’s not necessarily too strenuous at all, but I, I really loved what we did here.

Why don’t you tell him a little bit more about it, Brittany?

41:29

Well, Jamal, you mentioned three hours and the three hours is actually the all trails recommendation for length of time, but that’s not how much time our tour was.

We did the half day tour, which is a 5 hour tour.

So we started at 9:30 and that started right across the street from our lodge, the Kennecott Glacier Lodge.

41:47

And we went right across to the little booth at the Kennecott Wilderness Guides.

There we met our guide, her name was Wendy.

She was really great.

And then we met other people in our tour.

We were with two sisters and then another couple who was from Belgium.

And we got our supplies.

42:04

So they gave us crampons and then they gave us little foam seats to sit on so that when we go to the glacier and have lunch, we could sit on that.

And then they just gave us just like a little prep what to expect for the day.

If you aren’t staying at the Kennecott Glacier Lodge, they will drive their shuttle bus to meet you in several different areas.

42:22

But since their little office was right across the street from where we were staying, we were just able to walk across from it.

Because all of this is in the National Park, there are restrooms along the way and the trail.

So if you’re worried about that, there are some pretty decent restrooms pretty much right until you get to the glacier along the way.

42:41

I would say this was collectively some of the most decent bathrooms as a whole that I’ve seen in the National Park.

And I will say probably one of the main reasons is because so few people come here.

So it’s not necessarily heavily used.

Now keep in mind it is a public restroom in a nature space, so I mean it can be bad potentially, but for the most part they were actually pretty nice, pretty clean, not really smelly.

43:05

So they do have them again along the way, but they do not have them, of course, on the glacier.

And glaciers are always changing, so right before we started they told us that there has been a recent landslide on the trail to get to the glacier.

And they also mentioned to us that if anyone’s not comfortable continuing on, they will refund you.

43:26

So it was nice to have a guide because they told exactly where that landslide started to happen and what area to watch out for if you were to do this trail on your own.

If you visited the National Park Visitor Center, they would actually recommend you probably not do this trail by yourself.

Our guide, she was very knowledgeable.

43:43

Her name was Wendy.

She told us so much about the history of the town, the mine, as we were passing plants and flowers.

She told us about the plants and flowers we passed.

She told us about erosion, the glaciers, the mountains.

She was so knowledgeable and she actually lives in McCarthy, so it was really nice to have a local guide in that sense.

44:02

Yes, again, you can do this by yourself and get on the glacier by yourself if you wanted to, but I really do think having the guide goes a long way and doing it with a Tour Company, more particularly Kennicott Wilderness Guides, was a great thing for us to do and would highly recommend it.

44:19

As I had mentioned, trail relatively flat up until you get to the point where you have to head down towards the glacier.

Once we went to the downward point, which is actually where they started having the landslide area.

Once we got to the bottom, this is where we put on our crampons, which you just attached to the bottom of your shoe and it helps give you traction on the ice because even if you have good hiking shoes, they’re not really going to do much for you for traction.

44:48

So we put them on here and it made going onto the glacier so much easier and gives you that sturdiness and support and traction that you need.

And we were hiking along the Route Glacier, which is the most accessible glacier in Ringle St.

Elias National Park.

While we’re on the glacier, we saw a waterfall.

45:06

You’re going to see water running.

You’re going to see crevasses, you’re going to see melted blue water pools that have this just insane blue hue.

You have the backdrop of the mountains in the background.

You can see the mine from where you are as well.

So it is super, super scenic to get on the glacier.

45:25

What was really cool about this too, is this is not the first time Brittany and I have actually been on a glacier, let alone hiked on one.

But it doesn’t matter how many times you do it.

It’s just something that’s awe inspiring that I can’t really describe.

And I don’t think anyone could truly describe it until you’ve experienced it yourself.

45:43

To know just how amazing it actually is and just the awe of the earth and the history over time to create this.

So we are on a relatively flat part of the glacier and by that, you know, just the long part that comes off of the mountain that’s creating the valley.

45:59

But then you have the backdrop of where you have all this hanging ice that’s coming from the top.

It’s rising up another three, 4000 feet from where you are just to the top of the mountain of solid ice.

And just just mind blowing to think of how much time it took to create this glacier just geologically with all the snow, the compression of the ice year after year after year.

46:25

It’s really humbling and you realize how small you yourself actually are in comparison to the wild.

Yeah, I don’t want to give it away, but we did a flight scene tour the next day and we flew over the glacier and we saw people on the glacier and they were just tiny little specks in comparison to the glacier, and it was just crazy to see.

46:45

So the glacier is just amazing to be on.

And it was really nice to have a guide, like I said, because she was telling us about glacier safety, where to step, how to get across, like if we’re crossing water and streams.

And she gave us an option if we wanted to go down to where the waterfall was or if we wanted to go higher up and get a better view of the glacial ice stairway, which is what we ended up doing.

47:07

And we ended up having lunch right next to one of those blue pools.

So we were able to take pictures there.

She took pictures for us.

There was only six of us, so we were pretty small group and then the little foam pads that they gave us to sit on.

We sat down and we have a nice little lunch and snack.

47:25

You had to bring your own, but it was just really cool to sit there and eat lunch looking at a glacier.

Yeah, and our own again was from the Lodge.

You could choose what type of sandwich you wanted, whether it be a Turkey, ham, roast beef, your type of cheese, what condiments, lettuce, tomato, onion, all of that.

47:43

Packed it with a bag of chips and apple a cookie.

So they gave a really comprehensive filling lunch that you will need after just doing all of that hiking because again, relatively flat trail, but going down that steep part to get to the glacier definitely takes it out of you just a little bit.

47:59

Yeah, and just some tips for the glacier hike.

Make sure you’re packing layers because it gets cool on the glacier.

You want to have gloves because if you fall, you want to protect your hands.

Ice could be sharp.

I don’t mean to interrupt you, but but the ice could be sharp.

So the gloves are really needed in that sense.

48:15

If it’s sunny out, you want sunglasses because all of the reflection from the white ice is going to be going back into your eyes.

So you want sunglasses.

You might want a hat or a beanie depending on the weather.

You want lip balm with SPF on it.

And you also want to wear sunscreen even if it’s cloudy because the rays that reflect off the ice, they can give you a sunburn.

48:35

We also saw cool things like frozen leaves in the glacier, which was cool to see, and glacial mice, which aren’t really mice, but they’re like, what are they like plant debris that kind of travel down?

Yeah, and as they blow, because it’s kind of like a little mossy debris of sorts, it looks like it’s mice running across the ice.

48:55

But believe it or not, there are actual living organisms in there.

Speaking of mice ice, even though that’s not really a real animal, there are worms that live in these glaciers and that’s crazy that they’re just sitting in that frozen ice and there are worms in there.

49:11

So life always finds a way, so to speak.

But really amazing experience and for the safety and knowledge you get, definitely do it with a guide is our recommendation.

And you can even bring a water bottle to refill and drink some glacial water while you’re there on the glacier.

49:29

It’s so fresh and so clean and like we mentioned Tennicott Wilderness guys, they have a ton of different tours that they offer.

So I was asking Wendy, well, what’s the difference between the half day tour versus the full day tour?

She said, yeah, the full day tour is about 8 hours and you just go farther on the glacier and you get to explore more.

49:47

But you can do multi day experiences with them.

Like they have glacier ice climbing, pack rafting, Backcountry adventures.

We met 2 ladies that we’re going to do a five day backpacking trip.

So that’s really cool.

And then once we were done with the trek, we ended up visiting the National Park Visitor center.

50:06

Yeah, so we went back to the lodge, just dropped off all our stuff.

Good news is second National Park visitor center that we encountered this one actually in the park, but of course very small.

And then we did a self-guided tour through the Kennecott Mind buildings, the main building that you can’t go into without a guide.

50:26

They do have available tours for that, so you can set that up while you’re there.

But a lot of the old buildings that are part of the mine and the town that went with it, the National Park has them open during certain hours.

So you can actually see the power plant that they had there, dining hall area, office buildings, all of that stuff.

50:47

What was really cool, just a brief history about the mines without going into too much detail, is, of course, Alaska is very remote.

It’s cold dangers all around that go beyond even just the danger of working in a mine.

So to encourage people to work out there and get people out there, they made it very nice to live out there.

51:07

So they were saying they were able to take a lot of the steam from the energy production, volcanic activity that was there, have heated rooms, houses, all of that stuff so well beyond the normal mine towns of other places.

51:23

So they really did it up here to draw people.

So you can go to work those buildings and see all those remnants that are still there.

The main building you can’t go in without a guide, so you can actually book a tour of the mill.

We didn’t do that, we just did the self-guided tour.

But it is something you can do while you’re there.

51:40

About two hours long, but when do you?

When we were coming back from the Glacier Trail, she was telling us that there is a trail that goes up to where one of the mine buildings is that overlooks the whole area.

So we went up the trail and saw the building.

We obviously couldn’t go in because we didn’t have a guide, but it was cool to have that perspective from up there and see it.

52:00

It’s not a long hike.

And then you also can come down and like cross a little foot bridge that has a waterfall kind of Creek running through it as well.

National Park Visitor Center is they do have a board out front that has a list of Ranger programs for the day.

52:16

So they have different activities you can do with them or movies or experiences that you could have with the Rangers on site.

We didn’t take advantage of any of them.

We actually wanted to, but I think we ended up forgetting.

Well, we forgot.

52:31

So the first day that we.

Arrived, they had on the board something about grizzly bears and information about them, but we arrived too late by the time they had it.

But that day’s board was still out.

So we saw what they had the next day.

Speaking today now, after the glacier hike, they were going to have a conversation from the Park Rangers about glaciers, how they’re made.

52:51

And I already know.

But it’s still, of course, you get wealth of information from these things and it’s still something to do.

But then we got sidetracked after our glacier hike, doing our own little side hike, going through some of the exhibits and buildings that would just completely slip our minds.

53:06

So do not forget like we did because they have some really cool activities that the National Park gives great information on.

And so then we ended up having dinner at the lodge.

Again, our meal was included.

We ended up having the Caesar salad with grilled vegetables, a baked potato, filet mignon, and then for dessert we had a Peach shortcake.

53:26

They do have really good meals.

I will say that they give good quality meals for you on dinner.

We didn’t really talk about breakfast.

I just want to kind of mention the breakfast is buffet style.

It’s eggs, potatoes, meat, so it’s either going to be bacon, sausage patties, and then they even had reindeer sausage, which was actually best meat choice that they had for you, and then pancakes just as well.

53:52

And then of course some fruits and other things like that.

So typical breakfast and then lunch, of course, if you’re taking it to go is the sandwiches like we described or we’ll get to it.

When we talk about the next day before we left back home, we did eat lunch at the Lodge.

54:09

So we’ll mention those goodies then about what they have.

So Sunday, unfortunately, was.

Our last and final day in the park and we were heading back to Anchorage, but before we left we wanted to do a flight scene tour and this is truly the best way to appreciate the park and see the mountains and the glaciers.

54:33

As Jamal mentioned earlier when we were talking about the park in general, the park is 13 million acres.

So it is so hard to see all of it.

And while we were on this flight seeing tour, our pilot said we probably saw about 10% of it honestly.

54:50

But getting in a plane and seeing the park from above is truly incredible.

And if you do one thing, I think it should be this.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we did.

Our flight scene tour with Wrangle Mountain Air, they picked us up from the Kennicott Lodge and took us to McCarthy where they do have a little landing strip where they do take off and do the sightseeing tours from.

55:15

We met at 10 AM in front of our lodge where they picked us up and our tour started at 10:30 and it went until 12 clock.

So we just had an hour and a half.

But with the tours, you can choose different ones on their website of course.

55:31

They will give you highlights of the park and different options that you can choose anywhere ranging from an hour, hour and a half up to like 3 hours long depending on what you want to do and how much you want to see of the park.

So Brittany, I know we only did the hour and a half but they had other options just as well.

55:49

Do you want to tell our Swatis about the other options?

Yeah, Ringle Mountain Air operates.

Force flight scene tours they have a 50 minute option which is called the Mile High Cliff tour they have a 70 minute option which is called the 13 glacier tour.

They have a 90 minute option, which is the Bagley Ice Field, which is what we did.

56:07

And then they have a 2 hour option, which is called Jewels of the Wrangle Tour.

And this one you can actually on a clear day go straight out to the ocean and back.

But on their website, they actually have like a little diagram showing where the flights each go.

56:24

And so you can kind of see what you’d be flying over.

And then I need minute one to me just felt like it was the best choice for what I was looking for.

So that’s why we ended up picking that.

But Jamal and I really debated which one we were going to do for quite some time.

But I felt like 90 minutes was a good amount of time to see everything.

56:41

I mean, and you don’t see everything, you see 10% of the park, but it was just a really interesting landscape.

Like I mentioned, we did the bag ice field at the time that we went, it was about $445 a person for the 90 minutes and the plane sat 6 people including the pilot.

56:58

So there was 5 guests aboard.

Everyone has a window seat, and our pilot was super nice.

His name was Kyle and he was a great narrator of the tour.

Yeah, he was from.

Arizona, I remember that specifically because when we told him we were from San Diego, he’s like, oh, I’m right by you guys.

57:17

But I was fortunate enough to sit in the front with the pilot because, you know, on these small little Bush planes, they usually are two pilot or two seater planes up front for people to be piloting.

So I was up there with all the instruments.

Of course, he did say that the foot pedals are disabled for safety, so you don’t have to really worry about that.

57:37

But it’s like your yoke, which of course is what you steer with.

He’s like, this is like active, but it really is controlled by two people.

So if I moved it, of course, you know, he has his hands on the wheel and can do that, that I would never do such a thing.

But really cool perspective to sit up front in the pilot’s seat.

57:55

But again, like you said, Brittany, like we went over the Bagley ice field, which is what it sounds like.

It is a very large ice field.

Like, you know, we’re talking about how when we are in the park, or at least where we were in the Kennecott Lodge area, how there’s beautiful trees, mountains, yes, they are there.

58:13

You fly a little bit and all of those disappear and all of those mountains get higher and higher and there are no trees and it is just covered in sheer ice.

The mountaintops are.

But then you could just see how long the glaciers go, how many glaciers there are, and how they all eventually meet from the mountains down into one big sheet of ice and just seen the different colors, how it cracks flying over the different shapes of the mountains.

58:38

Such an amazing experience.

Yeah, it truly was amazing to.

See the park from above, like Jamal mentioned, we flew over mountains, valleys, rivers, glaciers, snow capped peaks, like we truly saw it all.

I think one of the glaciers we were flying over and like the Bagley Ice Field, it was like 127 miles long.

58:59

And sometimes while you’re in this flight, like, you don’t feel like you’re going very fast, but he was saying like, we were going 110 miles an hour.

And you’re like, wow, you can just see how incredible the scale is of this landscape in comparison.

And like, it barely feels like you’re moving at all.

59:15

Yeah.

Because it’s just.

So Vast and I just want to say two things about really cool things that we did while we were on the tour.

At one point, kind of when we were in the icy area, he took us to a spot that’s called the Bat Cave.

And it’s called that because apparently a portion of the the mountain or this area of it has collapsed and has created a nice little half circle.

59:38

So you can go in there and fly.

Now, like I said, I was sitting in the front.

Brittany was sitting behind Kyle, our pilot, and she pointed to something to the left.

And then he’s like looking out to the left trying to see what she is pointing at and narrate and tell her, give her an answer.

59:55

And we’re flying straight towards the mountain like we’re.

To the very end where we should start being banking to the right to get out of there and avoid crashing straight into a sheer mountain wall.

And I’m not freaking out because I know he knows what he is doing.

1:00:11

But I say this story to just give you a sense of the scale.

Like you’re flying in a plane, you are going fast and it looks so close and and yet it took so long to get there and we had so much space.

And then at 1.2, he takes us for that last little fly over before we land in the area where we started in Kennecott and the Root Glacier.

1:00:32

He takes us to those ice steps of the Root Glacier where it’s just the sheer wall of ice from the top of the mountain down to where it kind of flattens out.

And we do the same thing where we kind of circle around to the little half circle.

When we were on the ice, you can tell how big it was, but when you’re a plane in there, it’s just crazy because I felt the same thing of like, man, like we’re going so fast and we look close, but this wall is not getting any closer, so to speak.

1:01:01

You know, like just the scale is so impressive.

And as much as I enjoyed everything that we did in Rangel, St.

Elias and the glacier tour, I have to say you need to do a flight tour.

Yeah, it was just crazy and like.

1:01:18

Jamal said like you feel like you get so close to these mountains, but you’re actually not that close to them just because of the scale.

So he was saying like we could have even gotten closer, but he don’t want to freak anyone else out.

But that’s like how crazy big it is and just incredible.

1:01:33

And as we were flying over the Route Glacier, just looking down and seeing the people that were hiking on it and just thinking like they look like tiny little ants, but like we were those people that the day before, it was just really crazy and just a really cool perspective.

And then flying back to the airstrip, we passed the Kennicott mine.

1:01:54

We actually also passed another like mine called the Erie Mine as well.

And we passed like the town of Kennicott.

We saw our lodge from above.

I don’t think you saw it, Jamal, but I could see it from the side that I was on.

And it’s just crazy to see it in that comparison and that scale.

So really cool.

1:02:10

I would love to go back and do another flight seeing tour.

They have, you know, four different options that you can choose from.

So I’d probably pick something different the next time and maybe go out to see the sea because I think that would be really cool and unique.

But I was really thrilled with what we got out of this tour and definitely recommend it.

1:02:28

And then after this, we worked up an appetitan to the lodge for lunch.

Yeah, we went to the lodge for lunch.

By this point, we.

Had already checked out because by the time we got done with our flight scene tour, it was past checkout hours.

But what’s really great is if you get the meal plan and we’re there, they know, hey, OK, these people get it.

1:02:45

So we just left our luggage in the storage area, told them that we were back for lunch.

Brittany and I ended up splitting the items that we got.

So each lunch item comes with either a bowl of soup or a salad.

But one of the main items was actually a salmon Caesar salad, which Brittany wanted.

1:03:02

So she ended up getting a bowl of soup with that.

And then I ended up getting a French dip sandwich, which was good, came with chips and then it had even the aju to dip it in because Brittany and I were splitting and I was going to have some of that salmon salad.

1:03:18

I got a soup as well.

They had two soup options, so we just split even the soups.

But they have those type of items that you can expect for lunch and good quality food for you if you’re staying at the lodge.

So the meals definitely did not disappoint staying here.

Yeah, definitely.

1:03:34

Once we were done with.

Lunch, We took the free Kennecott Glacier shuttle back to the footbridge, but before we made it all the way back to McCarthy, our driver asked like, did anyone have the chance to go to McCarthy?

And that was one thing that we didn’t have the chance to do.

There’s one thing about thing we were thinking about potentially doing, but we got to do the little drive down the main road.

1:03:53

Literally if he were to come here, it would literally take 5 minutes to walk down this road.

It’s not a very big downtown at all, but we passed by the museum, the saloon, the Potato, which is a restaurant that they have in town that everyone raves about.

Ma Johnson’s Hotel, which a fun fact, it used to be a brothel and we went by the general store as well.

1:04:11

Yeah, because McCarthy was formed.

As an outskirt village to the mines because the mine companies usually would own the entire village area of where the mines were.

So for the workers who wanted to gamble or seek the comfort of women, as you mentioned, Britney, because one of the hotels was a brothel at some point in time, this is what McCarthy was.

1:04:33

So an area that you can stroll, not very big, large, but it was nice to go in and actually see it since we didn’t get to explore it ourselves.

So we got back to our car.

We had the long drive back to Anchorage.

We left at around 2:00 PM.

1:04:50

Crazy thing as we were leaving on the road before you get into that Jamal though.

Talk about the river level in comparison to when we arrived because there was a phenomenon that happened while we were there.

Yeah, really good point, Brittany I.

1:05:06

Almost skipped over this not even really thinking about it.

There is something called the yocalup and the yocalup happens once a year and what it is is specific here to the glacier area by Kennicott.

Where as the glacier ice melts or if it hasn’t actually been glacier ice and is just the snow melt that was from the last season itself, a natural ice wall is created that’s outside of the glacier.

1:05:34

So to speak.

And eventually all the water as it’s melting will continue to rise and flow over and bust that ice wall.

And when it does, of course, as glaciers do, they have the little cracks in them.

And lots of water actually flows under the glacier itself.

1:05:52

So at the toe of the glacier, which is the very end of the glacier, the all this water is coming out.

And they were saying that this phenomenon was actually happening now.

It was cracking, getting ready to bust flow over.

And when it does, they actually stop rafting and kayaking tours on the river because the water levels get so high and the waves and Rapids are just really intense.

1:06:17

So tours won’t even operate during this time and we’ll cancel it on these days.

So when we were crossing back over the footbridge from just two days before when we went, I mean, just the level of the water was substantially higher.

The force of it was high.

1:06:34

And so it wasn’t at its full apex quite yet, but it was getting there.

And when it does, people and locals and professionals who are the guides themselves, they go out here and actually wrap this just because of how intense the water actually is.

1:06:50

So we got to see some of it in action.

Yeah.

It only lasts for like. 24 to 48 hours.

So it’s a very short window, but it very cool to see part of that happening while we were here.

While we were leaving and everyone was talking about it, like everyone we came across was like talking about this phenomenon that they were waiting for.

1:07:09

But we left to go to Anchorage at around 2:00 PM.

While we were on the road back McCarthy Rd., we actually passed an RV on the left hand side that was laying pretty much on its side.

It was in the trees but there was a sign saying that we are OK and they still have their hazards blinking.

1:07:28

So we think it happened fairly recently because we did not see that coming in.

So just be careful driving that McCarthy Rd.

I’m just curious how they even felt because.

It wasn’t even around a sharp bank or anything like that, but nevertheless, again, careful.

I would say for all the hype the road gets, I felt pretty safe and comfortable on it.

1:07:46

Like pretty was a bad term.

I felt really safe actually.

You just have to drive slow and make sure that you don’t go over the potholes.

But they make it sound worse than it is.

But it is still an unpaved Rd. so just keep that in mind.

But on our way back, we did stop again in Glen Allen to get gas, which is a good midpoint for it.

1:08:09

And with the long drive and how long it had been since we had lunch, we did of course want to get dinner.

Everyone was telling us about Moose’s Tooth Pizza in Anchorage, AK.

It’s on the list when we were at the rental car place of good restaurants, when we would ask locals, when we were at Snow City Cafe, other places, where should we go eat?

1:08:30

Everyone says Moose’s Tooth Pizza, and I thought to myself, OK, is this going to be another place that’s overblown?

We’re looking at their menu, good pub food, but it just seems like it can’t necessarily be that great.

And we went and it did not disappoint.

1:08:47

So I want to say at least of what we had, the hype is for real.

A few squatties reached out to us and said go to.

Moose’s tooth.

So we were looking at the pictures.

We were kind of like these pictures don’t look great online.

Yeah, the pictures did not look great.

That was really concerning.

To me, yeah, but in person it was actually good.

1:09:03

I ended up getting a Raspberry wheat beer.

We ended up splitting some chicken wings, the Korean style with a sweet and spicy sauce.

And then any pizza with any sauce could be you could do a half and half.

So we ended up doing a split of the classic, which is like pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, mozzarella, provolone and marinara.

1:09:22

And the other half was Garlic Lovers with garlic sauce, chicken, garlic, bacon, broccoli, Roma tomatoes, mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan.

And that combination was fantastic.

We ended up getting a small, and it was the perfect size for dinner.

If you wanted leftovers, of course, you could get a bigger size, but for what we wanted that night, it was perfect.

1:09:41

Yeah, and Moose’s Tooth has lots.

Of local craft beer on taps that they make themselves.

They also have rotating taps from beer outside of Moose’s Tooth.

And then they are also known for their homemade root beer, which I actually got.

1:09:58

I thought I would want a beer with that type of food and I did.

But then I thought to myself, no, a soda sounds good.

Root beer I love and it was actually really good.

And they have a lot of unique pizzas and another reason why I was thinking, oh, Moose’s Tooth, I don’t know, the last place that we went to go get unique pizza that was supposedly really famous and everyone talked about and was actually on Food Network.

1:10:22

I won’t say where that was actually located.

What a bust it was.

And so with all these unique pizza toppings and flavors that they had, I thought this could be the same.

And it was not Moose’s tooth.

I am giving full recommendation.

Definitely try.

And then we just checked into our hotel.

1:10:39

For the evening, we stayed two more nights in Anchorage and we’re going to have an episode next week because we continued our Alaskan National Park adventure and we went to visit Lake Clark National Park.

But we did stay in Anchorage.

We stayed at the same hotel, Springhill Suites.

We did two nights here and I actually used two nights for my sign up bonus from on the Marriott Bond bank card.

1:11:00

The promo was five nights up to 50,000 points per night.

So we ended up using the two certificates here and then we spent 6000 points out of pocket.

We saved about $600.00 by doing this and the other three nights I used in Turkey from one of our previous trips.

1:11:17

So if you guys need a referral link just send me Adm Travel hacking and saving money in.

Alaska, I love it, but Rangel St.

Elias, what a great time and experience.

I recommend all of you squaddies go out there at one of the most least visited national parks.

1:11:32

You should add to the totals of people who are going because it is well worth the visit.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week’s episode