Wrangell - St. Elias: A Song of Ice and Copper

My adventure through the backcountry of Wrangell St. Elias continues. The days were long and made longer by the harsh and bitterly cold rain that accompanied them. Fortunately my teeth were already cut and reforged by the unforgiving weather that the Parks have already shown me. This remote landscape was but a further test. I suppose the primary difference was that I was sleeping no more than five feet away from a earth-carving icemass.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I was tempted by the alluringly rare opportunity of being SO close to a glacier that I set forth to try and walk out onto it. Not having my crampons I quickly concluded that I was not going to make it very far onto the icefield since it immediately started to incline in all walkable directions. Hmmm I'd either need to find some crampons or McGyver some ice-hugging shoes if I'd want to explore any further. It was a long day of exploration, across some pretty harried terrain (you'll see what I mean) so this glacial adventure would have to be further put off...

I don't know if anyone actually listens to the music I choose but I think this choice is one of my more fitting selections.

 

If you didn't hit play...go back up and DO IT!

Water rocks! Wait...

Mini pines!
 

If memory serves me well...I think this is called Fire Weed

Never a dull view from my tent door

As I was doing some light reading, I came across this quote...I thought it fitting

Peering out onto the glacier. Its hard to tell but its an incline of ice...nearly impossible to ascend more than a few feet

My first steps onto the glacier!

Every post I seem to have one particularly favorite picture...this might be it for this one. Glacial water!

The glacier was covered in this cracks of deep blue

Argh! If only I could climb higher to see what lies beyond!

Two sides of the glacier...uncovered and covered ice

My retreat

No trails...just barren remoteness.

And the occasional enormous boulder!

Did I mention this Park was the size of Vermont and New Hampshire put together?!

100s of miles have been trekked in those boots and countless times that cover has kept my gear dry...ish

Sunset lasts FOREVER here!

 

CHEESE!

Wrangell - St. Elias: Across the Bridge

Still recovering from New Year's Eve hoopla and I'm sure there are other out there suffering from similar ailments. Since many of you probably want to read a long story as much as I feel like writing one right now, I'm going to try something new. I'm going to post the pictures with accompanying captions only. Yes, this will mean that much of the detail will be left out but again...I have to keep some surprises for later...

 

 Tower...Former place of Industry...it makes some sense.

On the other side of the bridge...with my pack awaiting my chariot into the park. And yes that is bear warning sign...

I met some McCarthy "locals" here...Through the art of eavesdropping, I've surmised that relationship problems exist even out in the middle of NOWHERE!

Pssh...no Balrog?

No turning back now...

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Shadows of the past: Remnants of the Kennecott Copper mine.

Yay for composition

Somewhere in the distance I see the rusting of copper drums...

UNNECESSARY ZOOOOOMMM

Art of Art.

The top of the Copper mill in the town of Kennecott. The town is actually a historical part of this massive National Park.

And the bottom of the Copper mill

Mr. Kennecott sure picked a remote place to find copper. Classic "If you build it, they will come" scenario.

A river runs through it.

Smoke on the water (Did I use that line before?)

Green and red...no wonder I started to miss Christmas while I was here.

The entire copper operation in all its glory. So I had to hike through this town before I could venture out into the backcountry

Bill and Sharon! I think these two rockstars of kindness were the actual physical manifestations of "America." Passing through the town, we got to talking. They generously invited me to join them for pizza dinner. They said that as parents themselves, they would hope if their son was heading out alone into the unknown, that they would hope someone would help him out in some way. Additionally, they said that I will always have a place to stay in Iowa if I ever make it there. This short blurb about Bill and Sharon doesn't even hint at the impact they made on me or describe their robust character. I mean I can still hear Bill's homegrown accent to this day as if he was dictating this post to me right now. Mark my words...someday I will see them again. They wished luck and God's blessing onto me, and and I do the same for them now. Cheers, Bill and Sharon.

Copper, anyone?

Passing through this mostly abandoned down...

'Merica!

Pictures become stale if you limit yourself to only staying on the beaten path. Am I right, Robert Frost?

Something about abandoned buildings...

Perspective is cool, I guess.

Ghost town? I've never seen a place where its former residents just up and left. Frozen in time.

The raindrop is like adding another lens.

Alright...I even really like this one.

Well looks like I'm headed thata way

Fast forward...MADE IT! Ok so this grey rocky terrain is actually a glacier...but covered in sediment from the earth that it is essentially bulldozing through. Nature is one tough MFer.

Surreal. I may sound "la la laaaa" in my descriptions but this place (and everyone else I've been) had me completely dumbfounded in awe. I mean...my dreams have never even been this epic.

Looking out onto the rock covered glacier from my basecamp. Oh yeah, I think the next few shots are an unpatched together panorama of the glacier immediately in from of me from left to right. Someone please teach me how to stitch these together?

Out of order but I just really liked this one and wanted to save it for last.

There is much to say about this walk through the abandoned town of Kennecott and the subsequent hike into the WES backcountry. That story WILL be told. But at a later time.