Our Ramblin Van Gazette
Dateline: Alaska, Wrapping Up the Ramble
Anchorage, AK, DH reporting from the Mercedes-Benz of Anchorage Service Department. Our Ramblin Van is currently at the doctor being diagnosed for issues with its driver assist functions. She has run admirably through thousands of miles of highways in every possible condition, deeply rutted dirt roads, frost heaved asphalt and all manner of boondocking site surfaces. She has certainly earned some pampering from the good folks at Mercedes-Benz. May as well take advantage of the waiting room time to recap the many trip highlights of the ‘Great Alaskan Ramble of 2025’.
Our ramble took us into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve where we traversed the dusty and rough McCarthy Road, following the railbed of the defunct Copper River and Northwestern Railway track. We crossed over the spectacular 238-foot- tall Kuskulana Bridge, where we were stopped for an hour to wait for the annual bridge maintenance inspection to be completed. Along the route, we paused to marvel at the old railroad trestles, still towering over the river valleys and again we wondered at the engineers and builders who worked their miracles to create transportation access into the wildly challenging Alaskan landscape. At the end of the road and across a river via pedestrian bridge, lies the funky little town of McCarthy and 5 miles further up the mountain, the abandoned mill town of the Kennecott Copper Company. The existence of this massive mining/milling operation in this incredibly remote and harsh environment is mind boggling. Six hundred people lived and worked in this self-contained company town that included a hospital (with the only x-ray machine in the entire territory at the time!), a general store, school, skating rink, tennis court, recreation hall, and dairy. The concentration mill runs 14 stories down the side of the mountain to a railroad track waiting where rail cars waited to be loaded with bags of high-grade copper. Across from the railroad tracks, the ‘fines’ left over from the mill were sent through an ammonia leaching plant to separate the final traces of copper from the limestone dust. The mine produced 1.183 billion pounds of copper in its day and was the largest copper producer in the United States at the time. Then the copper was gone and the whole operation and town was abandoned in an instant. In November 1938, employees and townspeople were given an hour’s notice to gather a suitcase and get on the LAST train leaving Kennecott or be left to their own devices to get out of town before a massive winter storm hit. Everything was left where it stood, from the home furnishings to the tools and equipment in the various buildings. Eventually, everything that could be carried away was scavenged from the site, but this was a true ghost town for a while. In Alaska, things seem to just get left where they are once their practical use has been depleted. Kennecott Mill is the premier example of such a practice.
Valdez was the next destination on the ramble and the route took us down the spectacularly scenic Ricardson Highway. Along the way we stopped to marvel at beautiful glaciers and waterfalls that cascaded hundreds of feet down the mountainsides. Valdez charmed us with its fishing boats and walkable access to shops, restaurants and piers. GH went fishing, just for the ‘halibut’, and had a great time. The fish was good too!
Back up the Richardson Highway (still ridiculously scenic) to Fairbanks we rambled on. We dug the golf clubs out of the Roam Box on the roof of Our Ramblin Van and enjoyed a game at the Midnight Sun Golf Course, the northern most golf course in the USA. The scenery was incredible, and we enjoyed the companionship of a fleet of big blue dragonflies that darted and zipped along the course with us. The University of Alaska Fairbanks was our next stop where we learned about Northern lights and all manner of life in the North. It was a fascinating and impressive collection that included a very informative film about the Auroras and an art exhibit that was beautiful. We of course couldn’t leave Fairbanks without seeing the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum. This was such a fun step back in time with not only rare and beautiful automobiles, but period clothing exhibits to match. The most impressive feature of this museum is that the displays still operate, and they are taken out for ‘airing’ frequently and swapped out, making the museum a constantly changing collection. We stayed at Pioneer Park during our time in Fairbanks and enjoyed strolling around the old buildings and checking out the ‘Nenana’ paddleboat, known as the "Last Lady of the River" and the Harding Train Car, known as the ‘Denali Car’ that President Warren G. Harding rode in when he came to Alaska in 1923.
Our ramble next led us along the scenic, but rough Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle. We stepped into the circle and turned around to head back south. We paused to take photos of the amazing panoramic views at Finger Mountain Wayside, then worked our way south again to Fairbanks through some sketchy looking wildfire areas.
The sketch remained past Fairbanks along the route to Denali National Park, we were stopped enroute and wound up having to boondock in a spot along the highway waiting out the fires for a night. We made it through the next day and were floored at how close the fires were to the highway, but we rolled through without issue. Denali. Wow. We visited the park and rambled in as far as we could, we rambled along to the North Viewpoint campsite and stayed over where the mountain offered up its best side bright and EARLY the next morning. Wall worthy pictures were captured in abundance.
Talkeetna offered up a charming 4th of July experience to our ramble next. We enjoyed good food and the town parade very much before rambling onto Hatcher Pass. We closed the book on our Independence Day celebrations by paying a visit to the Independence Mine State Historic Park, another impressive mining and milling operation left abandoned though not quite as suddenly as Kennecott.
We’re pausing here in Palmer/Anchorage for vehicle work before we ramble on to Chicken and Dawson City and then making our way south. So far Alaska has been one BIG adventure for us and with any luck, we will get to return one day.
Time to Ramble on.
