Alaska 2024: Roll 14 - Kennecott Mines
As with most of our mornings we tried to do some kind of working out. Because the roads in this part of Alaska were not paved and consisted of very large rocks, we decided it wasn't safe to try for a jog and did a walk instead. We were very quickly attacked by mosquitos and it wasn't very pleasant.
There is a metal pedestrian bridge that you have to cross before you can make your way to the mine. It was rather long and Kenai and Ripley weren't fans of the metal grate so we carried them across.
Could could get a nice view of the Kennecott Glacier in the distance from the other side of the bridge. Once we were across we took one of the local shuttles that went from the bridge to the mine with a quick stop in the small town of McCarthy.
The mine itself is perched right on the side of the mountain and gives you a great view of the moraine and dirt covered ice that is at the base of the glacier. This brown, dirt covered ice goes for miles until you reach the whiter ice on the main glacier.
All of the buildings were paint with this distinctive red paint that really sets them apart from the surroundings.
Because of the color of the buildings, I decided that I would load up a roll of the Kodak Vision 3 250D that I brought along. I liked how the final colors turned out for all of these shots.
Again, looking across the dirt covered ice to the other side of the valley is really something. It is hard to get an idea of the scale that you see but it is immense.
We were happy that both Ripley and Kenai were allowed to wander around the mine with us. They weren't allowed in the buildings but had a great time exploring on the road and the bridges that were throughout the historical site.
If you have more time, and were without pets, you could schedule one of the guided tours and actually start at the top of the mine building in this picture above and go down the many stories to view the insides. We didn't have that luxury on this trip but saw a few YouTube videos where folk had taken the tour and it looked impressive.
Many of the structures were in a state of arrested decay while other structures had been somewhat renovated. It was interesting to see the inner workings of the buildings and the size of the operation.
If continued on this road for a couple of miles you would end up at the glacier and we saw several groups heading that way while we were wandering around the mine.
We had a great time exploring the mine buildings, poking our heads inside the old houses that were open and trying to think about what it would have been like to live here.
