A visit by the state bird (Squirrel Creek Campground, AK)

 

In case you didn’t know, the unofficial Alaskan state bird is the Mosquito. 

We are sitting in a state campground just outside the Wrangle-St. Elias NP.

It is a beautiful campground with each site tucked into the trees surrounded by mountains on a small lake and infested with Mosquitos. Most of the trip it was not bad, but here the Mosquitos will suck every ounce of blood from your body if you sit outside too long. 

We took a drive to the Kennecott Copper mine within the National Park.  It is abandoned now so the NP took it over and made it into a museum.  It is about a 3 hour drive from the campground.

This time we only took the truck.  The road started off a well maintained paved road.  Then there came the dreaded sign, “ End of Payment”.  With memories of Hatcher Pass still fresh in our memories.  We ventured on.  As usuall  the scenery was unbelievable. Mountains to the right mountains to the left. 

The road got rougher and bouncier.  After about 2 hours, we had enough and turned around.  It just wasn’t worth the effort.  We turned around and came back to my little buzzing birds, mosquitos.  Tomorrow we leave for Valdez and civilization.

Life is still good on the Roan Road…