McCarthy

Most local services are in the hamlet of McCarthy, an erstwhile ghost town so funky and cool you'll want to haunt the place yourself. Facing the Kennicott Glacier's terminal moraine and just a stone's throw from the river, the tiny community is a car-free idyll, where the handful of gravel roads wind past rotting cabins and lovingly restored boomtown-era buildings.

Alas, in the past few years the place has been 'discovered,' but the summer population still hits only about 200, and just a quarter stick it out for the winter.

Once you've crossed the Kennicott River on the footbridge, follow the road across another footbridge and about half a mile further to the unstaffed McCarthy-Kennecott Historical Museum, an old railroad depot featuring historical photographs, a few mining artifacts and a model of McCarthy in its heyday (donations are appreciated). At the museum, the road bends back 500ft into downtown (such as it is) McCarthy, or continues toward Kennecott, 4½ miles up the road.