True Stories of McCarthy and Kennecott, AK

​I just had to write down details about true conversations while on my trip to McCarthy and Kennecott, AK

….Well, the man with the steel blue eyes, who lives in McCarthy during the summer and Mexico in the winter, shuttled us from Kennecott to McCarthy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get his name, but I’m going to call him Mac. I asked Mac how many times these vans have needed an overhaul regarding all the potholes. He said, “let’s just say, never buy a used car that drove around McCarthy.” I said, “I’ll bet you have all the potholes memorized.” He responded, “oh yes, and I’ve named them, and even though I’ve been around them all, I still try to figure out a new way around them.” I laughed and asked, “what was the name of that one just behind us?” and before I could even finish my sentence, he replied, “that was…Bertha.” I seriously laughed out loud, too funny, as these potholes are pretty jarring, and these vans look like they’ve been through a lot.

On the day prior, on another shuttle, from McCarthy to Kennecott, we were told about a home, along the way where an 80 year old woman lives by herself. The driver said she recently shot two black bear that were trying to get after her chickens. She butchered the meat and cut the heads off and put the bear heads on top of a stake. The whole van just gasped, then laughed uncomfortably. Her place looked like something out of a postcard with gorgeous flowers and a ramble shack that looked to be at least 100 years old. She had large woven rope weavings on her porch that looked like dream catcher spider webs, along with potted flowers. It was actually charming, but overgrown and disheveled.

So on this next day drive, I asked Mac about the 80 year old woman and reiterated the story. This was just about the time we ran over massive metal chains in the road, and I asked Mac if they were to control erosion? It’s definitely muddy here. Mac had this look on his face. He said no, “these are speedbumps, and the 80 year old lady placed them there because people are driving too quickly.” He said this woman lives there year-round all winter long, by herself, and come spring and summer, hundreds of people are coming through here, up to see the mine. And she’s wanting to control the speed with these chains. I replied, “she sounds like quite the character.” “Would you say she’s like granny from the Beverly Hillbillies?” He nodded his head. “Yes, she is a force to be reckoned with.” “I asked, wow, is she dangerous?” He nodded his head. “Yes, she’s been known to yield a rifle.” “Wow, she sounds serious.” as I mentioned the bear butchering. He said. “she is unique, with a very complex personality.” “She gave that butchered bear meat to the town of McCarthy, where we have a community kitchen, so the meat could be shared.” His face changed again, as he said…”we are so tired of bear meat.” “I said oh my goodness, so you’ve eaten plenty of bear meat?” He said yes. I asked “what does it taste like?” He said “well, let’s just put it this way, you will have one bite of bear, and you will not want to take a second bite of bear.” I was so entertained. He said “even though she’s been generous with these things, she’s fierce, and she also grows beautiful annual gardens, so she has a soft side, that she maintains, but she likes to keep to herself.” I can’t imagine an 80 year old woman who chooses to live up here in the middle of nowhere, for the entire winter. Mind you this is a dark, long winter, and with what I’ve read, temperatures can be well below zero, like -67 degrees, with a massive amount of snow. There are some hardy soles out there, that we rarely hear about. People like this one women. I told Mac that this sounds like a Hollywood script for a movie. What an awesome series of conversations!