Life in McCarthy
Daily life in town revolves around the Wrangell Mountains Center (WMC) campus at the “Old Hardware Store” headquarters. Students and instructors work alongside local residents and experience off-grid life in a rural Alaskan community, including participation in cooking, maintaining facilities, and gardening.
Sample Day in Town
8:00am – Wake up in “Tent City,” a group campsite, surrounded by mountains. Gather with fellow students and walk the 10 minutes to the Old Hardware Store. Along the way, students have seen ravens, eagles, salmon, and moose!
8:30am – Breakfast (A couple students were up early to light the wood stove, make coffee, bake muffins, and start packing lunch).
9:30am – Morning meeting: Introduction to the day’s activities; announcements.
10:00am – The group spends the day with two local experts:
First, everyone travels to the nearby cabin of a local resident to learn about the reality of living year-round in McCarthy. They learn about gardening under the “midnight sun”, subsistence living, and get a tour of hand-built cabins and homesteads.
After eating a lunch of local salmon and foraged foods, the group attends a glacial hydrology lecture with a visiting researcher. They practice identifying geomorphological evidence of the previous maximum extent of glaciers in the Kennicott Valley.
4:00pm – Free time for work and rest. Some students go take a swim in the nearby swimming hole, while others play guitar and sing by the creek, before reading a paper for tomorrow or writing a field journal entry.
6:00pm – Dinnertime.
7:00pm – Alongside community members, attend a workshop with a visiting Artist in Residence, who might specialize in visual art, photography, painting, poetry, sculpture, or even sound art!
8:30pm – The sun will be out for several more hours - find a wildflower or geode you've been studying and do a detailed sketch.
9:30pm – Back in Tent City, you wind down for the day, organize your notes, talk with your friends, and prepare for sleep.
Ready to Explore the Wrangells?
Contact Us
Please submit this form with inquiries about Field Studies, or email fieldstudies@wrangells.org