Kennicott Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Last week I made a quick trip out to the the Copper River Valley, Glennallen area which is the gateway to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  I was out there to give a commencement speech at my old High School.  It was a great experience – really a lot of fun.  It appeared the whole town was in attendance supporting the 16 seniors, that is one of the great things about small towns.

A few people have asked about my speech so I thought I would share it here.  This was a draft version from a few days before – I changed a few things on the fly, but it pretty much follows what I said.  Now admittedly, if you did not grow up in interior Alaska, the first half of the speech won’t be too applicable and you may want to jump down to the second half.  Here it is:

Thank you everyone, it is such an honor to be here.  This is such a crazy time – I have a good idea as to what you are all going through – figuratively, I was sitting in your same position, in this same gym just a few short years ago.  OK, maybe it was many, many short years ago.   I always knew if enough time passed by that one day I would be “welcomed” in these halls again.  

I know you are feeling a crazy range of emotions.  Thrilled to be done with high school, but sad to be leaving friends.  Proud to be graduating, but scared about the future.    Right now you are on a crazy emotional roller coaster – this is a ride that fortunately you will only experience a few times in your life.

Today, you have most of the road of life out in front of you just waiting to be explored.  What I want to share with you tonight is something that I have learned from those at the end of the road of life.  A little over a year ago I was listening to the radio when the DJ came on and shared a fun fact as they often do.  But this one really stuck with me.  This DJ shared the results of a research study in which old people in retirement homes were asked what their biggest regret in life was.  This really struck me, for one, because the results weren’t something I would have ever predicted, and secondly, because this regret was so easily avoidable.  As I prepared for this speech I have looked at other studies that have found the same theme has come up over and over.  I think you can learn a lot from people who have gone down the road of life ahead of us, so I want to share that with you, but first, I want to talk about graduating from Glennallen specifically.

I must admit, when I graduated from Glennallen, I felt like I was at a big disadvantage.  I don’t know why, but I felt like the kids in the big schools and cities were way ahead of me.  There are probably a lot of reasons for this –for one it probably comes from experiences like driving.  I loved driving to Anchorage, but used to hated driving in Anchorage.  Stop lights, multiple lane roads, all this craziness was intimidating.  And forget parallel parking – I mean in Glennallen you have to drive over a 100 miles just to find a curb to practice on!

Because of this, I used to think people in the cities were way ahead of me and had a huge advantage, but as the years went by after I graduated, I began to realize that I had some advantages as well. I was a competitive runner in college and began to notice that the worse the weather, the better I did.  What other people thought were tough or challenging conditions were like nothing.  This wasn’t just me – but I began to realize that growing up in Glenallen tended to make people mentally tougher.

I mean, let’s face it.  Most of you have worked harder and overcame more obstacles just getting to school on a winter day then a typical high school student encountered in a whole week of high school.  To start your car at 50 below, in the pitch dark, snow and wind, and then to drive to school would overwhelm most people!   Just dealing with the daily cold and darkness has made you far tougher then you realize.

There are lots of other advantages from growing up here – small classes rooms and student to teacher ratios, access to activities – I could go on and on, but I think the proof is in the results, and you know what – it seems like every person who I went to school with, either in my class, or in the classes ahead or behind me has become very successful!

If they decided to stay home and raise kids – they are like the super mom or dad.  Many stayed in the valley and have found great jobs and careers – some with the native corporations or other businesses; some even became teachers here at Glennallen.  Others have gone on to become college professors, heads of big companies – many have started their own very successful companies.    I’m hard pressed to think of a single person who I grew up with who isn’t successful.  And, I think growing up in Glennallen and going to school here had a lot to do with it, and I expect the same from you all here!  Don’t think you are at a disadvantage – really, you have a lot of advantages, and a lot to look forward to as you move forward!

A few years ago I went to a school reunion, and one thing I heard over and over was how glad people were to have gone to high school in Glennallen.  I mean, even kids who hated it here, who couldn’t wait to get away, and probably haven’t returned, still in hindsight are grateful to have grown up here.

Finally – if you don’t think you have grown up in a unique, amazing place – go home and turn on the TV and start watching National Geographic or Discovery Channel.  Those channels are full of Alaskan’s fishing, driving trucks, working as troopers, flying bush planes, doing taxidermy – probably the same things your parents are doing for a living now.  But, the rest of the world is fascinated enough to watch on TV!  I think I see more old friends on TV these days then I do in real life!

So, just know, not only are you not at a disadvantage, you actually have a big advantage!  Remind yourself of this in the years to come, when you hit hard times – you have the strength to overcome just about any challenge life could throw at you!

So, speaking of moving forward I want to go back to the biggest regret people have as they near the end of the road of life.   What is interesting – rarely, do people look back and regret something they did like some big mistake  A divorce or business failure is rarely listed as regret.  Likewise, they don’t regret not reaching some great accomplishment – maybe they had hoped to be a millionaire or a famous business person or politician – anything.  But, not obtaining some lofty goal is rarely listed as regret as well.  What people regret after living life, the number one regret is that they didn’t even try!  Not taking action, or taking a risk to obtain some desired goal is the most common regret.

The specific lack of action usually falls into a few categories.  Education is a big one – people regret not having gone on to learn a skill or obtain a college degree.  Sometimes it is as little as learning to play an instrument or to speak a foreign language.

Other regrets have to do with relationships – not pursuing that person they might have had a crush on in school, or somewhere along the way in life – you know, like in letting the ”one” get away.

And finally, a popular regret has to do with career.  They wanted to start their own business but never did, or wanted to be a welder or a doctor, but regret not following through on the dream.

You know what I find fascinating is that no one regrets trying and failing, they regret not trying.  I’m sure plenty of people at the end of life had careers or business fail, maybe they dropped out of school, or had a relationship that didn’t succeed, but they never mention theses as regrets, in fact people often reflect back on these failures as valuable life lessons.  I mean, even Bill Gates dropped out of college, and I don’t know how many successful businessmen and world leaders failed at their first attempts at business or politics, but people rarely list such a thing as a regret.

In other-words, it is far better to have tried and failed then to have never tried at all – and that is the crazy thing – you have nothing to lose by trying!  If you try something, take a risk and succeed – that is awesome.  But, even if you don’t succeed, over time, you won’t regret that either.  The only way you can really lose, is to not try at all!

Look at education.  You might be scared to head off to college or a trade school – well, in fact you should be nervous, it is a scary proposition.  But if you are thinking of doing it and are not sure, well you gotta do it!  If you succeed, you will have a valuable skills and knowledge that can help you for the rest of your life.  Chances are, even if you failed, you will be glad you tried – but if you don’t try, you may live to regret it.

Growing up here you have so many opportunities – you might be thinking of trying to get a job on a fishing boat, start a gold mine, run a trap line, work in the family business – these can all be scary proposition, and it could be easy to talk yourself out of trying.

I know for myself, my wife and I had wonderful jobs with great employers, and I could have stayed there for the rest of my life, but I had a burning desire to be a photographer.  I remember reading that it was easier to make a living as a professional athlete or a rock star then as a free-lance outdoor photographer based on the fact that far more people make their living those ways.  It would have been easy to play it safe, and not take that risk, but I’m so grateful that I did.  Now I’m able to make a living traveling the world taking pictures!  But, even if I had failed – at least I wouldn’t have had a lifelong regret, wondering if I could have made.

So, as you go through life, remember it is better to have tried and failed, then to have never tried at all.  I want to leave you with a wonderful, simple quote by the famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky.  “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”  So move forward with confidence from growing up in such and unique and amazing place, get out and take those shots, and live a life without regret!

Mount Drum, Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Alaska.

This was at sunset Monday night – seeing this mountain always brings back fond memories.  I would often see this mountain on my drive between home and school, and it always looked different.

At just over 12,000 feet, it really isn’t that tall.  What makes it impressive is the vertical relief.  It rises over 11,000 feet from the banks of the Copper River where I’m standing to the summit.

I had a short, but very fun trip out to Glennallen.  I think the commencement speech went well, and I was able to briefly see all kinds of old friends.  I also saw a surprising amount of wildlife including a beautiful fox and a mink – but didn’t get any photos of those guys.

Erie Mine with Root Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Can you imagine living in the bunk house in this amazing location!  And this was well before the days of Gore-tex, polypropolene and bunny boots.

I grew up along the border to the amazing Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  I’m really excited to be returning to my home town early next week – get this for a wonderful honor, I’m returning to give the commencement speech at my high school.  I am really excited, and have been working hard on my speech.  I mention this in part to share my excitement, and in part to say I probably won’t be posting anything on the blog here again until later next week.

Aerial of Regal Mountain, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

It has been a while since I have spent any time in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.  My summer is shaping up to be a busy one, but I’m really hoping to get out that way at least for a bit, maybe this fall.

This area will always have special meaning to me as I grew up nearby and within sight of the amazing Wrangell Mountains of which this is just a small part.

Mt Drum, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

 I picked up a magazine assignment to photograph a fisherman in Cordova.  I’m thrilled, because the timing perfectly correspondes with the amazing shorebird migration.  We had a wonderful time here last year, but weren’t sure if we were going to return this year - this made that decision easy!

We normally travel to Cordova via the Alaska State Ferry from Whittier, but  the road to Whittier was closed thanks to a landslide.  This forced us to make the long drive around to Valdez just to catch the ferry.  That’s ok, it is a beautiful drive!  We timed it so that we would pass through Glennallen right at sunset Sunday night so the we could photograph the Wrangell Mountains.  Sunset wasn’t anything special, but the mountains sure are!

I mentioned yesterday that the buildings at Kennicott aren’t actually mine buildings but a copper mill.  The Erie Mine is actually one of the mines that fed that mill. 

I understand that the main building you see here was a bunkhouse.  Access to this site was through the tunnels of the mine.  The Root Glacier that you see in the background continues around and below this building – the view from there must have been outstanding.  Imagine winter at the Erie Mine!

The Kennecott Mill is one of the most famous attractions in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park and I must say it won’t disappoint!

To see this large 13 story building with modern amenities like electricity and running water in a very remote part of Alaska is such a strange contradiction.  But to think it was built almost 100 years ago makes it even harder to comprehend.  Even today, only a handful of buildings in Anchorage exceed the size of Kennecott.

These buildings are often mistakenly referred to as the Kennecott Mine.  This is actually where the copper was milled, the mines are all much higher up in the mountains.  If you look closely you can still see some of the buildings and remnants of the tramways.  With a little extra effort you can still hike to some of these mine buildings, although they are starting to deteriorate.  The mine shafts themselves have been blocked off by the Park Service.  I have friends who used to be able to get into the mine tunnels and they have described some interesting sites, including large dinning rooms where the tables still had plates on them, and recreation rooms with pool tables still intact. 

When I was young, you could explore all over in the mill building, and the other surrounding buildings.  Since this property was abandoned suddenly due to a strike, most everything was left behind including medical records, old invoices, pay stubs – you name it.  You may still take a guided tour of the mill building, but today the buildings have all been secured by the Park Service – probably for good reason.

Many of the historic buildings in the town of McCarthy, Alaska have been restored and are in use today. The most famous would have to be the McCarthy Lodge.  After a hot day on the road or the trails, this is a great place to stop for a cold beer or a warm meal.  Believe it or not, they even have Internet access! 

Of the two roads into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the McCarthy Road is definitely the most popular – and for a few good reasons.  For one, the road itself is more interesting and exciting.  I think you can see that in today’s photo.  This is where the road crosses a one lane bridge 238 feet above the Kuskulana River.  This bridge is actually an old railroad bridge built back in 1910 in order to haul copper from the Kennicott Mines  That leads me to another reason this road is popular; the history of the area, in particular, the mine and mill buildings in Kenecott and McCarthy.  Finally, the McCarthy Road brings you closer to and provides better views and access to the dramatic Wrangell Mountains. 

Like the Nabesna Road, there are few services on the McCarthy Road, you need to be prepared with a good spare tire, food and gas.  Some years there have been tire repair facilities at Silver Lake at the end of the road, but I wouldn’t count on these.  The washboard can be bad, but if you catch it after a recent grading it can be fairly minimal.  The key is to take your time.  I saw one family turn around with a travel trailer about 30 miles down the road after losing their propane tank and a lot transmission fluid from their truck!

You can’t actually drive into the town of McCarthy.  The last river crossing involves a foot bridge.  You will need to pay to park or camp on the opposite side of the river - something most Alaskans aren’t used to.  It is less than a mile to the town of McCarthy, and about 5 to the Kennicott (Kennecott) area.  There are shuttle services available, and a courtesy phone at the foot bridge where you can call for transportation or lodging. 

I think the McCarthy / Kennicott area in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park is one of the true gems in Alaska.

Mt. Sanford in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska as seen from the Nabesna Road.

There is a small pull-out along the Nabesna Road at this little lake, making it a nice spot to crash for the night.  This shot was at sunrise, around 3 or 4 in the morning. 

Here are more posts on Wrangell-St. Elias National Park from the blog.

I had to walk back and grab this shot because I thought it summed up the Nabesna Road conditions perfectly. 

This is one of a number of water crossings along this road.  The water is fairly low on this day, it can be higher.  As you can see, it isn’t a problem with a high clearance vehicle, but it would be a challenge in a small rental car, and probably against your contract.  There is a small visitor center at the beginning of the road, I recommend stopping in here for the latest road conditions.  Even if they are closed, they will have the information posted on the outside of the cabin.

I should also mention, there aren’t any services along this road.  You definitely want to be self sufficient and have at least one good spare tire, along with plenty of gas and food.

This is a nice drive, through some beautiful, remote country.  Outside of hunting season in the fall, you will see very few people, you might see more caribou then people!  There are also some pretty neat old cabins and mines, it is definitely an area worth exploring.

The road to McCarthy is another great way to see the Wrangell-St Elias National Park.

The photos I have been posting over the last few days during my little weather detour, along with today’s photo, are all from The Wrangell St. Elias National Park, in Alaska.

“The Wrangell’s”, as they are referred to by locals are an amazing, dramatic range of mountains.  The National Park that encompasses much of them receives very few visitors.  Today’s photo probably illustrates why the area receives few visitors, that isn’t easy hiking country!

There are two roads into the park, the Nabasna and McCarthy roads.  These roads don’t make access much easier as both are long dirt roads, with lots of washboard and tire eating rocks.  The Nabesna Road even contains a few stream crossings that can be challenging in high water, especially if you don’t have four wheel drive.  Most rental car agencies won’t allow their vehicles on either road.  I will elaborate on the Wrangell’s over the next few days.  You can follow this link to our photo website to see more of our Wrangell St. Elias National Park photos. 

The unfortunate haze you see in this photo was smoke from a nearby wildfire.

Related blog posts:  Nabesna Road – McCarthy Road

How much snow do you get is another frequent question from visitors to Alaska.  Growing up in the interior, we never saw much snow, maybe 3 to 5 feet.  On the coast here in Seward we can get a lot of snow, and just a few miles out the road they usually get much more.  About 10 years ago we set a record here in town with 18 feet! 

Janine and I love snow and have always said the more the better, but even we got tired of shoveling that winter.  We had one particularly stormy period that kept the Seward Highway closed for an entire week.  The Seward Highway is the only road link between Seward and the other Kenai Peninsula towns and Anchorage.  The weather kept boats and planes at bay as well.  It didn’t really effect many people in town except for those that were forced to miss their long anticipated winter trip to Hawaii – and there were a few.

Now 18 feet of snow would be considered a low year for a town like Valdez.  Seeing Valdez in the winter is an interesting site – the homes disappear, you feel like a mouse in a maze.  The only part of any homes you see is what’s been exposed by the plowed drive-ways.  The rest is buried.  Forget looking out the windows! 

Thompson Pass and the mountains above Valdez is one of the snowiest places on earth.  Thompson Pass has received over 81 feet of snow in a single winter, almost 25 feet in a single month, and 5 feet in one day!  During my days in high school sports I remember a number of unplanned nights in Valdez because we were weathered in by snow storms.  Even though Valdez is a 100 miles away from where I grew up in Glennallen, it was the nearest high school.

In the spring I used to enjoy taking my cross-country skies to Thompson Pass where I would explore some of the valleys (not the mountains).  The hardest part of skiing there was always getting from the road onto the snow pack because there almost always was a steep snow berm at least 30 feet high!  Today those mountains are world famous for their extreme skiing, back then there was never a sole to be seen.

Weird things happen during extreme cold.  Some you may have heard about, others you may not have. 

You may have heard about square tires during the cold and that really does happen.  Actually they don’t turn square, but the flat portion resting against the ground stays flat when you first begin driving providing a slow, clunk, clunk, clunk feeling as the flat part on all 4 tires rotates around.  Our family car wouldn’t shift into forward gears during real cold weather, we had to turn circles in reverse – clunk, clunk, clunk… for a minute or so, then the car would shift into a forward gear, and the tires would round out.

If you take a cup full of hot water and throw it up into the area when it is at least -60, the water just vaporizes – nothing falls back to the ground.

Plastic turns hard and brittle like glass.  No moving extension cords at that temperature – to plug your car in, you needed to pull your car up to the upright portion of the cord where you last left it – if you went too far the cord just snapped off.  Plastic covered car seats always cracked leaving the seat full of tears the rest of the year.  I know of someone who hit their dash in frustration when their car wouldn’t start and shattered the whole thing!  Wood also becomes brittle, you had to walk gently on our deck, and even then you could hear it crack.  It was a great time to split wood, large logs split effortlessly in the cold.

Houses didn’t fair much better then cars.  Any electric outlet on an outside wall was worthless as they would grow huge frost balls – on the inside!  Even our triple pane windows would frost over on the inside.  We lived for awhile in a mobile home with double pane windows, and they would completely frost over.  I remember my mom getting frustrated from not being able to see outside so she got out her hair dryer and a bunch of towels and melted the ice off the inside of our windows – they stayed clear for one day. 

It was almost like you would fear the air.  You couldn’t let it touch you, or you would get frost bit.  You couldn’t breath it, even your mouth and face had to be covered.  Open the front door and you could see the air rush into the house.  Any house plants nearby would be toast.

 So in a nutshell, unless you are splitting wood, extreme cold really isn’t any fun.  Writing this reminds me how good we have it here in Seward!

How cold does it get?  How much snow do you get?  What is it like in the winter?  What about the darkness?  These have to be the most asked questions by visitors to Alaska each summer, and ones I will try to also answer here over the next couple of days.  Funny, I was asking people the opposite questions in Arizona recently. 

Seward, where I live now doesn’t get very cold thanks to being located next to the ocean.  It is unusual to drop below zero for any extended period of time.  Much of the lower 48 is often colder then Seward.  Even parts of Arizona are consistently colder.  Unfortunately when it is cold in Seward, it is usually very windy as well making it feel pretty nasty.

Now where I grew up was one of the colder parts of Alaska.  On two occasions I actually saw 72 degrees below zero F on the thermometer - not just chill factor, but the real deal!  I think I might have a photo of the thermometer, I will have to dig through my old slides from when I was a child.  The amazing thing, we weren’t even the state low!  It was just a few years earlier that the states all-time low of -80 degrees was set near Coldfoot.  In the 80′s Coldfoot had an unoffical low of -82!  Coldfoot, now there’s a town with an understated name! 

 If you pass by the visitor center in Delta Junction you will see a large painted thermomiter on the side of their visitor Center with each winters low temperature painted on it like some kind of badge of courage.  I noticed during that same period in the late 70′s they also hit a low of -72.  I thought it was interesting they were the exact temperature we were a 100 miles away.  The late 70′s – I may have just betrayed my attempt to sound and appear youthful!

I liked those extreme temps as it meant school was closed.  The official temperature was announced each morning by the radio station, and if it was colder then -50, there was no school.  Our house was usually about 10 degrees colder then the radio station which was located on the highest hill around.  So once we hit about -60 I would turn on the radio and anxiously await the announcement.  One winter school was closed so much that they finally lowered the closing temperature to – 55.  I was bummed – that meant when it was -60 at the house I still had to go to school.  At that temperature, it took over a half hour to start my truck, and then anyone who drove to school had to start and leave their vehicles running every other class period or they would never start at the end of the day.  At the time I grumbled, although looking back on it today it really sounds crazy!  They would never send kids to school today if it ever got that cold!

This photo is from the nearby Wrangell Mountains.  It takes extreme weather to get cool looking mountains like that.