McCarthy Trip, Part 4: Kennicott

Plants: Gemmed puffball, Fireweed, Horsetail, Siberian Aster, Roses, Alpine/ Common Willow, Lichens, Saxifrage, Bear berry, Lupin, Juniper, Dwarf Dogwood, Twin flowers, Monkshood, Croberry, Glaucous Gentian, Elegant Goldenrod
Animals: Butterfly, Spider, Red Fox



We had breakfast around 8 or so….Bagels, oatmeal, tea, hot chocolate, coffee. (I drink tea). We caught the 0930 shuttle to Kennicott. Oh what a place this Kennicott is! The copper that went through this mill was some of the best in the world, too bad they ran out around 1938. The mill faces the Kennicott and Root Glaciers. As we looked around the mill, I spotted a couple parts of scrap metal that came from San Francisco and Oakland, CA, which is where I’m from. I remembered the historic buildings around Pier 39 in San Francisco, as well as the historic buildings around the Port of Oakland. Amazing how things are connected, it really is a small world!
We passed through an open cottage (I was surprised to see similarities between the kitchen and living room here and houses that were built some decades later), and then detoured left onto the lateral moraine of the Root glacier. The different rocks found here explain the glacier’s pathway through this area. I could tell that somewhere along the line it’d scraped against some volcanic material. There were mosses and lichens on the lateral moraine, a sign that in future, there will be more plants and trees here. If you look out at the glacier’s terminal moraine, you’d probably say “that’s A LOT of glacial till”, but there’s ice under the heavy blanket of till, and if you look closely you should spot it!
We found a survey marker, and decided to hold here for a snack break. Cookies and bananas, mm…..As we ate, I stood and stared at the mountains that the mill faces (I think it was west). A couple minutes pass and I spot a banana peel fall under the trees in the trench below us. I turned to one of our group members, who happened to have a “Yep-that-was-me” smile on his face. I won’t mention their name, because it would be rude to put EMMANUEL on the spot like that…:D We wrapped up our snack and moved on out. Emmanuel required the service of the bushes, and so I slid on my backpack and followed the rest while keeping sight of Emmanuel. At that moment, a red fox came prancing up the path just behind us (they walk just like dogs; I almost thought it was a taller and shaved Pomeranian). Everyone grew tense and got really still, as we didn’t want to scare it. Our presence didn’t seem to faze the fox, and it sniffed around and eventually found the banana peel!
Along the way, we tried some bear berries and the taste reminded me of pomegranates. I added an idea that they could be related somehow…We came to the fork in the trail that takes you up to the mines (right) or on to Root Glacier (left). I think the hike to the mines takes a day, either way, we weren’t going that way. We went left, passed over a beautiful creek, and stopped at an open clearing for lunch. After eating, we turned on back and headed to the mills. While we were waiting for the shuttle in front of the Kennicott lodge, I was watching the Common willows and tried to grab large piece of “cotton” that fell off one of them!
The drive back was clear and beautiful. We stopped at the Gilhana River trestle to take pictures, and I found a moose track. We stopped for gas in Kenny Lake (I coulda swore that gas station was in Chitna…), and discovered a leak in the right rear tire. Emmanuel and changed the tire and Wendy made tuna sandwiches. Somewhere near Mount Billy Mitchell I spotted a rainbow, which was the perfect thing to christen the ending of what would be our final field trip!

I advise anyone reading this to go ahead and visit Alaska! You’d be foolish not to! Thanks for following us!
“Cold-Blooded” Isaiah Edwards