The Kennicott at Currant Ridge - Fabulous Comfort!

Our Guest Houses

Our spacious, smoke free guest houses offer the “creature comforts” that will help you relax after a great day of fun exploring in the Wrangell ­ St. Elias National Park and Preserve. All six of our guest houses are Alaskan style log homes. They all have a full kitchen, private bath and a private bedroom with a luxurious queen bed and power 24/7. We also now offer high speed internet in each guest house.

The guest houses are arranged along a ridge that offers great views to the east and south for morning sun, with a buffer zone of vegetation between each unit to ensure your privacy. Large decks are just perfect for enjoying a beverage or cooking a meal on the provided gas grill.

You can drive up to each guest house and park right in front for easy unloading and loading of your luggage and supplies. We also provide plenty of parking in a parking area just below the houses that is safe and secure.

Despite being well equipped in many regards, we don’t have irons, toasters, televisions or microwaves in the houses to help us conserve our electricity. We do provide free WiFi in each guest house and our office. There are also WIFI hot­spots in McCarthy and Kennecott provided by Copper Valley Telephone for your convenience.

In the summer of 1993, we built our home in McCarthy. For the last 25 summers, we have worked and played in McCarthy, our favorite place on Earth. We have seen many changes in the local area, including a change from CB and satellite radios for local and outside communications to full cell phone service with internet access in 2008. In 1996 a pedestrian footbridge was erected across the Kennicott River replacing the hand-­pulled trams that were built in 1983. Access to the McCarthy area is easier these days as is communicating with the ‘outside’ world. It is a challenge to slow down the inevitable change and use only that which makes our lives better.

Andy’s background is in mountain climbing, survival training, satellite ­based internet installations and construction. This summer will be Andy’s second summer off after working for 16 seasons for the National Park Service on the historical building restoration project at Kennecott.

Cynthia is a teacher for the the Valdez City Schools District located in Valdez, Alaska where she is happily teaching kindergartners.

Our sons, Matthew (24) and Robert (21), enjoy the long days of sunlight during the summer. They have hiked on the glacier, explored the underside of the glacier, visited ice caves, and learned the names of our local plants and animals.

If you visit in late July or August, we’ll share some freshly picked garden vegetables with you! You are also welcome to borrow books from our office if you wish to learn more about the human and natural history of the local area.