Kennecott Mill Town Tour Kennecott, Alaska

Explore Kennecott’s ghost town with exclusive access to historic buildings. Discover tales of fortune and tragedy on this 2-hour guided tour.

Duration: 2 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Kennecott Copper Mine - Explore the Kennecott townsite with a knowledgeable guide! Start on the edge of town with a scenic vista as you learn about how the site developed and what it was like to live there. Along the walk your guide will explain the historic buildings that you see. Your guide’s main goal is to give you access to the 14-story…
What's Included
  • Hard Hat
Additional Information

Kennecott, Alaska is a ghost town frozen in time. When the Kennecott Copper Corporation abruptly abandoned the town in 1938, they left behind their equipment, buildings, and personal belongings; yet, their stories of discovery, perseverance, and ingenuity live on!
St. Elias Alpine Guides holds the exclusive concession with the National Park Service, and…

Location
St. Elias Alpine Guides
Kennicott Millsite
Our office is the second building on the left as you enter the Kennecott Town Site. Please meet us there 10 minutes before the start of your tour time! If you are coming from McCarthy, please note that you will need to catch the shuttle that leaves an hour before the start of your tour.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(16 Ratings)
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Daisy7026
Jul 27, 2025
One of the Highlights of Our Trip to Kennecott - inside the historic 14-story mill building—an area not open to the public without a guide—and it’s absolutely fascinating. There’s a short hike up the hill to reach the starting point, and the tour includes stairs and ladder climbs, but it’s totally manageable and well worth it. Our guide, Ben, did a fantastic job sharing the rich history and stories behind this iconic site. This was one of the highlights of our stay in Kennecott, and I highly recommend it. If you have even the slightest interest in history, don’t miss this tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Bretandjina
Jul 15, 2025
Highly Recommend - Fascinating - The tour takes about an hour and a half. You start by climbing the hillside; kind of strenuous, to the top of the mill building. But it is totally doable regardless of age. This more than hundred-year-old structure has been refortified, but remains a relic complete with ancient machinery and other detritus of days gone by. A knowledgeable guide takes you on a tour explaining how raw boulders from the mines further up the mountain come down by cable car and are crushed into baseball sized nuggets and loaded onto rail cars for shipment to waiting ships in Cordova for eventual smelting in Washington state. There are steep stairs, but easily navigable if you are careful. The tour is safe. It is fascinating to see how the operations worked, and even more fascinating to see the state of the machinery, and the building left as a relic, rather than converted into something shiny and clean. This is a must do in Kennecot.
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Daydream43821559077
Jun 25, 2025
Try to get Ben as your guide - Our guide Ben was excellent! He was a theater major, so his dramatic flare was appreciated without being over the top. Super interesting tour!
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Amy
Jun 24, 2025
Great tour! - Excellent and interesting tour! We enjoyed it very much! Our tour guide Emma was informative and fun and we would definitely recommend a visit to Kennecott!
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Q8204avjennieb
Jun 21, 2025
Great tour - The tour was interesting, entertaining and informative. Our guide was doing her first solo tour and she did amazing. If she would not have told us it was her first tour we definitely would not have know. I would highly recommend the tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hhess19
Sep 10, 2024
A must-do in Kennicott - It's amazing how the NPS was able to stabilize and restore the copper mill for tours. So much of it is original, and the added structures to keep it upright and safe blend right in. It was a fascinating tour. Our guide was friendly, but didn't seem as knowledgeable as he could be. I understand that the mill's construction was not well documented when it was active and it has taken scientists and historians a lot of time and effort to figure out how the mill operated when it was restored, but we talked to other people in town who relayed information that we didn't get on our tour. All in all though, our guide stopped on each floor of the mill and shared what he knew, and just being in there was incredible.
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Conniehar90
Aug 19, 2024
Top Notch organization! - St Elias guides are wonderful! They will take care of you on any adventure that you choose with them! We took the mill tour (amazing), the half day Root glacier hike and Ice Cave Exploration. The glacier hike is tiring - we were beat by the time we returned and were glad we did not book the full day tour. Walking on the glacier was amazing! The ice cave exploration was unbelievable! Probably one of the harder excursions that we have done but it was definitely worth it! The hike wasn't bad but prepare to get muddy and wet when you are crawling through the caves. Definitely a highlight of our trip!
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Robin
Aug 16, 2024
Wonderful guides - We had a great time on the mill tour and the half day glacier hike. Both our guides were knowledgeable, friendly and just a lot of fun. I would recommend both of those activities to anybody.
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Pgary142
Aug 16, 2024
Our guide was well informed and open to questions and comment. She was willing to go the extra mile. - She offered information and was open to to questions, discussing what she did not know but was willing to entertain new ideas
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Steveno74
Feb 5, 2025
Fascinating tour - Very good tour. You start by walking up a hill to get to the top of the mill, and then the tour takes you from the top of the mill all the way to the bottom - passing through troughs, machines, shaker tables, crushers, and more - fascinating all the way to the end. The only negative is that it was a bit pricey, but not horribly so.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $34
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).