Kuskulana River Bridge

At Mile 17 of McCarthy Rd sits the one-lane, 525ft-long Kuskulana River Bridge, long known as 'the biggest thrill on the road to McCarthy.' Built in 1910, this historic railroad span is a vertigo-inducing 238ft above the bottom of the gorge. Though the state has added guard rails and new planks and thus taken some of the thrill out of the crossing, the view of the steep-sided canyon and rushing river from the bridge is awesome, and well worth the time to park at one end and walk back across it.

After rattling through another 43 miles of scrubby brush and thick forest - with few good mountain vistas and not many diversions en route - the road ends at the Kennicott River. If you're driving in, that's as far as you can go; to get into McCarthy, you cross the river on a footbridge and walk a short distance into the tiny town. If you're staying at a lodge or campground on the road side of the river, you can leave your car there; otherwise, you can park at a private parking lot right by the bridge for around US$10 a day.

Built in 1996, the footbridge replaced the hand-pulled trams the state erected when the original bridge was washed out in 1981. The trams, open platforms with two benches facing each other, were a classic way to enter McCarthy, but as tourism began to boom they were viewed as neither efficient nor safe. On a busy Friday afternoon, for instance, when you had to wait an hour or two for a ride across the river, four or five people and a mountain bike would be loaded on the tram. It was a crazy scene, encapsulating that bit of Alaska most of us came looking for, and gave rise to the most popular saying in McCarthy: 'Every day is Saturday once you cross over on the tram.'