McCarthy

McCarthy is a historic town in the center of Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

By car
McCarthy can be reached by driving the highly scenic McCarthy Road, a 60-mile long gravel road beginning at the Copper River near Chitina. The road is built on part of the original rail bed for the Copper River Northwestern Railway, which ran copper ore from Kennicott to Cordova until 1938.

Although usually suitable for passenger vehicles, road is notorious for potholes, washouts, railroad spikes and flat tires. Drivers should check current road conditions at Park Headquarters, (907) 822-5234.

By bus
Many visitors choose to leave their car at Chitina and take a shuttle into the park on the McCarthy Road.


 * Backcountry Connections +1 907-822-5292 makes daily runs from Glennallen to McCarthy in the summer months.
 * Wrangell-St. Elias Tours +1 907-822-5978 provides tours to McCarthy and Kennicott from Chitina (May-Sept). They also offer shuttles and package tours to McCarthy from Anchorage.

By plane

 * Ellis Air (the Mail Plane) has scheduled flights on Wednesdays and Fridays from Gulkana Airport near Glennallen. Call +1 907-822-3368 or +1 800-478-3368 for prices and flight times.

Get around
Visitors to McCarthy should come prepared with good walking shoes, rain or wind jacket, hat, gloves, sunglasses and sunscreen. If you are seeking outdoor recreation you will find ample opportunity. You'll be walking and exploring historic sites, maybe even trekking on a glacier, or climbing a mountain!

The McCarthy Road ends at a footbridge across the Kennicott River. From here it is about 0.5 miles to the town of McCarthy, and 5 miles uphill to Kennicott. You can walk, ride a bike, or take a shuttle.

Eat
There are very few places to eat in the McCarthy/Kennicott area, but they all offer good food in an extremely remote area. In McCarthy there are 3 places to eat:



In Kennicott there are 2 places to get a warm meal: