Kenny Lake is a small agricultural community of 430 residents spread out between Mile 1 and Mile 20 along the Edgerton Highway in the Copper River Basin. The scenic location of Kenny Lake has many visitors taking a break from the road to enjoy the view. The mighty Copper River parallels both the old and new Edgerton Hwy while at 14,163 feet Mount Wrangell dominates the wilderness horizon. Anglers are drawn to the area by early June with hopes of landing a king and red salmon in the beautiful, fast flowing Klutina River or the serene, slow moving Gulkana River. Others are interested in watching the fish wheels scoop up salmon further downriver on the Copper River by Chitina.
Trails abound in the area. At Mile 12 of the Edgerton Highway is the Tonsina River Trail, a well-marked path maintained by the Bureau of Land Management that heads two miles south through the woods to a picnic area overlooking the Tonsina River. Further along the highway just before Mile 24 is Liberty Falls State Recreation Area where campers can pitch their tent or park their trailer next to a scenic waterfall.
Summer peaks during the Kenny Lake Fair that was first held in 1973 staged in August. The weekend event includes food and craft booths, games and local entertainment.
Kenny Lake thrived as a trading outpost when the Kennecott Copper Mines, located in the Wrangell Mountains to the east, were humming in the 1930s. The small hamlet was revitalized after the mines closed in 1938 thanks to its rich fertile soil and the Alaska Homestead Act with homesteaders arriving in the 1960s to select 20 acres and build a cabin.
After the State of Alaska converted part of the historic Copper River & Northwestern rail bed into the McCarthy Road and the new Edgerton Hwy was paved from Richardson Highway to Chitina in 1991, Kenny Lake emerged as a gateway to the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest in the country at 13.2 million acres. The heart of this spread-out community is generally considered the junction between the old and new Edgerton Highways where you’ll find a handful of businesses providing services including accommodations, groceries and tire repair to visitors on their way to McCarthy and the national park.