Kennecott Mine Tour Review and Guide: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

If you’ve seen photos of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, you’ve probably seen photos of the famous mine – the Kennecott Mine. This mine was in operation until 1938, when the company decided to pull out of their operations and abandoned the mill. Subsequently, the townspeople left and Kennecott became a ghost town. The mine still stands to this day, however you must be on a guided tour to go inside.

This mine is extremely photogenic – and it’s the sole reason why I wanted to visit this area of Alaska. The bright red, rustic mine against the rugged mountain backdrop – Ahhh! Heaven!

Details:

We booked our tour through St. Elias Guides – this is the only concessionaire doing the tours. They have an office right in Kennicott, very close to the lodge. We just walked in and signed up for the next available tour – we only had to wait an hour. You can book in advance on their website.

Time commitment: The tour is two hours.

Don’t forget your camera! I took about a million pictures here.

Touring the Kennecott Mine

We thoroughly enjoyed our two-hour tour of the Kennecott Mine in Wrangell-St Elias National Park. The tour takes you through the 14-story mine and the power house, along with a few other additional buildings including offices. The tour itself is extremely informative – I learned a lot about the copper mining process and the lives of the workers who lived here. They truly had to put up with some rough living and working conditions!

Unfortunately this isn’t a tour for those with mobility issues. During the start of the tour, you will need to hike up a pretty steep hill and some of the staircases inside the mine are very steep – you’ll need to go down backwards as you would on a ladder.

Before you go into the mine, you must wear a hard hat. At first, I thought this was kind of hokey – do we really need to do this?? – but there are some low-clearance areas when you go down the steps and if you even somewhat tall, you may hit your head, so yes, they are absolutely necessary.

I don’t feel the need to do this mine tour again, but if I come back, I would definitely use this company for a glacier hike! (Root Glacier trail was closed when we were there due to flooding and a wash out.)

Kennecott Mine Tour – Pros and Cons

Pros:
Interesting, knowledgeable tour guide

Cons:
Could get expensive at $28 per person