The Road to McCarthy, AK

​My overnight camp in the Kushulana River overlook was amazing. But quite foggy and overcast this morning, and at one point it was so foggy I could not see the river. So I took a very slow start this morning waiting for it to clear up, and actually decided to hand wash some laundry. After a bit of time on the phone catching up with my sister, I slowly headed out with miss google maps directions to McCarthy. It was “only” 48 miles and about 2 hours from my spot. I read and was told with fair warning about the condition of this road. And it was actually not bad with most of it being paved until we got to the one lane trestle bridge. This is a wooden bridge with wooden planking and if you’re afraid of heights, it was spooky. We parked while the road crew worked, and I had time to get out of the rv. I met a couple from San Diego and Surprize, Arizona. It really is a small world. After crossing the bridge, the road started deteriorating. 90% of it was washboard, and the rest were potholes and I also had to watch for the muddy edges which in some cases the water was right up to the edge, ready to spill onto the road. There was one spot where the levee did break, and was washing out across the road. I was concerned, crossing it, but I managed. There have been a lot of rains and some fresh mudslides. I could tell the trees were freshly cut to clear the road. I certainly hope they’re on top of things to maintain this road as best as possible. My thought was that this is like the drive to Chaco Canyon, and it felt the same in many places, except double that because it took me four hours to get here. Miss Google maps is obviously not calibrated to drive this in an RV. This road was built on top of a railroad track, and several pieces of wood were exposed. I also made a stop to photograph a trumpeter swan, which was out here in the middle of this pond by itself. The views were gorgeous. I felt a sense of relief as I headed into town and debated on a night in the forest. However, the options were not great the closer I got to town. I just went ahead, bit the bullet, and purchased a campsite for two nights, which is actually quite lovely, very rustic, with a great view of the mountain. At that point it was late afternoon, and I had no real desire to go into town. You have to walk over a foot bridge and from there, a little further into town or you can take the shuttle bus up to the gold mines and access to the glacier, which I am planning to do tomorrow. Fortunately the weather temperature here was very pleasant, and I stayed in the RV only because the mozzies seem to be even more voracious up here. I finally had to break out my cooling scarf and drench it in cutter spray along with an herbal bug repellent, as I burned my citronella candle. Thankfully these mosquitoes are similar to what we had a New York as they’re slow movers, quite large, and you can easily get them. The mosquitoes we have an Arizona are smaller, quicker, and quiet so in this case, I’d prefer these guys even though there are way too many of them!

















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