Copper River Highway
Alaska Scenic Byway 45 mi in Alaska.
About the Copper River Highway
The Copper River is one of Alaska greatest rivers. Its delta spreads over 584 square miles and supports the famous Copper River Wild Salmon fishery, known the world over. It provides a home or flyway stopover for over 500,000 migratory birds, and is known internationally as part of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve network.
For thousands of years the region has been a productive home and crossroads for Native peoples, traveling by kayak, dugout canoes and umiaks, and across land on foot, snow shoes and dogsleds. From 1911 to 1938 the Copper River & Northwestern railroad brought some $300 million worth of rich copper ore to the harbor town of Cordova. Today the lower 52 miles of this abandoned railroad cross some of the most incredible natural scenery in the state of Alaska. It is known as the Copper River Highway.
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities's own description, in its words. Byway page on dot.alaska.gov.
Camping along the byway
- Mile 0 · 2.3 mi offOdiak Camper Park · City, county or regional park · 16 sites · reservable
- Mile 11 · 4.6 mi offTiedeman Slough Cabin · Forest Service · 1 sites · reservable
- Mile 18 · on the roadMckinley Trail Cabin · Forest Service · 1 sites · reservable
- Mile 18 · 1.9 mi offMckinley Lake Cabin · Forest Service · 1 sites · reservable
- Mile 45 · on the roadChilds Glacier Recreation Area and Campground · Forest Service · 4 sites · reservable
Public campgrounds within 5 miles of the road as the crow flies, in order along the byway; each one's page has its facts, season and weather by month.
About this page's facts
The line is the Federal Highway Administration's scenic byways layer (HEPGIS, a snapshot of 2022-06-24, a US government work), cut at the state line and simplified for the map; the length is the line's. The designation is the program's own: the national tiers from FHWA's America's Byways roster, the rest from the layer's designation field. Road conditions, closures and seasonal gates change: check the agency's own page and the state's road conditions before you go.