Glennallen and then south

Monday July 28th we headed out after breakfast and stopped just before the end (about 2 miles before Glenn Highway's Junction with Richardson Hwy.) and headed up the side road to a trail head. We took this short hike to stretch our legs and instead ended up jogging it as it was so buggy! The mosquitos chased us out of the trees. At the junction in the town of Glennallen we gassed up and checked in at the visitors center around the corner. This place was rather busy but we managed. We then headed south on the Richardson. Not far down we pulled into the Wrangell-St. Elias NP and Preserve visitors center in Copper Center. We got the information we needed about the road conditions on the Edgarton Hwy, (under reconstruction and has delays of 20 to 40 minutes) and the McCarthy Hwy, gravel and has a history of nails, spikes and old railroad ties in or near the road. I especially enjoyed their Native Culture and History exhibit building and a willow fish wheel displayed outside.

This is the largest park and preserve in the country. It would completely cover Vermont and New Hampshire combined. It has 9 of the 16 largest mountains in North America. It is larger than the country of Switzerland and has several mountains higher than any in Switzerland. Most access is by air, there are only 2 roads in. One is the Edgarton and McCarthy Hwy, and the other is the Nebesna Road further north off the Tok Cut-off. This visitors center is very modern and had several outbuildings and a short hiking trail. We noticed a CO2 mosquito trap outside the main building and tried to hike back along the ridge, but again had to jog to the truck. We have been fortunate to not have had many issues with these troublesome buggers! We headed on south. As we did so the views to the east opened up and revealed snow and ice covered peaks slipping out of the low hung clouds.

We would spend the night at a road turnout at MP 88 overlooking Willow Lake and watch as the clouds slip away slowly from 4 volcanic peaks to the east. Absolutely Amazing! Mt. Drum 12,020 feet, Mt. Sanford 16,237 feet, Mt. Zanetti 13,009 feet, and Mt. Wrangell 14,163 feet. Wrangell is a "shield volcano" and is the largest in North America. It is younger than the others and has not been eroded by glaciers as much. Sometimes Wrangell lets off puffs of steam when the air is still, we didn't get to see that. This is a photo of the fish wheels we saw on the Copper River on the way into Chitina (pronounced "Chit-Na") after our stay in Valdez. Only Resident Alaskans are allowed limited use of fish-wheels for subsistence harvesting. As the fish swim upstream against the current the wheel spins and scoops up perhaps a fish or I've seen 10 at once! They are dispensed on the side into a catch basket and have to be scooped out. They depend on this harvest for a major source of their nutrition for the year. And so do the local wildlife. Even the fish remains after spawning adds nutrients back to the riverbed that leaches to the vegetation nearby. So many lessons in Nature. All gifts from our creator.