Got back to McCarthy in one piece Friday. Very wet and cold backpacking trip. Huge, desolate country out there in the Bremner district of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The Chugach mountains are about as spooky a place as I've ever been. Didn't see any grizzlies, but their signs were all around - footprints and scat in many places. My boots are basically destroyed - hiking up 1000 foot scree slopes isn't the best thing for one's feet.
Hung around McCarthy Friday night and went to a party with a bunch of locals. About 30 pounds of freshly caught Copper River red salmon was on the grill. This is the best salmon in the world. A good restaurant in the DC area would charge $30 for an 8 oz serving. We had so much piled on our plates that we could not eat it all. The local dogs ate the leftovers.
Toured the abandoned copper ore processsing plant yesterday. It is a massive facility in an extremely remote location that was abruptly shut down in 1941. Everything is still as it was then - no restoration has been done. It's just a massive time capsule. Very cool. Saw a band at the local saloon Saturday night, again hanging out with locals and a few other travellers. The band was playing original material plus several Wilco and Uncle Tupelo numbers. The bartender was playing Will Oldham amond other good selections on the 25 watt sound system before the show. I was getting to like McCarthy quite a bit, so it was good that I moved on this morning before it started to wear on me.
Drove to Valdez today. Very rainy. Missed the spectacular views at Thompson Pass due to the clouds. Will go sea kayaking tomorrow. Weather is supposed to improve.
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