Photos: Kennecott, Alaska

Getting to Kennecott, Alaska is no Day Trip. First, the drive to Chitina, 250 miles from Anchorage, is on paved roads. Then, take the McCarthy road 61 miles further into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, on rugged dirt roads (trust me, it takes 2-hours, plus). Finally, you cross a footbridge, where you can go into McCarthy, or take a shuttle-bus the five more miles to McCarthy. The mine and mill town were operational from 1911 to 1938, when the mine closed down, leaving its buildings as its legacy as one of the largest mineral companies in the world at the time.