Summer Hours: 7am to 11pm

Lisalynn and Harley Boone
your new hosts at Kenny Lake Mercantile

New management: The Mercantile has been under new direction since November 2008 when Lisalynn Boone and Carl Pauley (Carlynn Enterprises LLC) took over the operation. Lisa's husband, Robbie Boone opened a mechanic's shop at the Merc in May, 2009. The Kenny Lake Diner will open again on June 3; Jamie and Lori from Tonsina will be cooking this year! A hearty welcome to Annie, Brian and Barb, the Merc's newest employees. We're planning on having a great season and looking forward to meeting all our visitors. Price changes: RV space with electric $24.00 per night; washing machines are $2.75 per load.

The Kenny Lake Mercantile Tire Shop & Auto Repair
Open Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5pm

Where is Kenny Lake?
Kenny Lake composes approximately 195 square miles in the southwestern mainland region known as the Copper River Basin. Kenny Lake is considered by many to include the Richardson (Hwy 4) between Copper Center, Willow Lake and Upper Tonsina River, and also a long, quiet stretch of road called the Edgerton (Hwy 10). The community could possibly extend 33 miles down the Edgerton as far as the remote town of Chitina on the Copper River. Nobody knows for sure.

The Kenny Lake Mercantile sits on 35 acres of mostly wooded acreage, right "downtown" at the junction of the old and new Edgerton Highways. Air pollution, overpopulation, wall-to-wall fishing spots and long lines of buses and RVs have yet to arrive in our little neck of the woods. There's still plenty of room to roam here for everybody.

This is rural Alaska, untouched by big development, undiscovered by the crowds.

Kenny Lake Chitina Area Business Fun Map, 11 x 17" hardcopies available at the Merc.

Mt. Wrangell behind the Merc, spring 2006, photo by Niki Raapana

Tourist accomodations and activities
The Merc's Hotel is open year-round, the Merc's RV Park and Secluded Campsites are open during the summer season. There are several B&Bs and cabin rentals in Kenny Lake (check out our local business links on the right). There's a lovely restored hotel in Chitina open during the summer, and it has a restaurant that serves beer and wine. The Merc's diner is open in the summer. With 2 bars, 2 espresso stands and 3 other restaurants, we may not have many choices but you do have the option of letting others do the cooking for you. Along each of the Alaska Hwys you'll travel along on your way here, there are numerous roadside and off road lodges, B&Bs and campgrounds able to service all your travel needs.

Summer fishing starts around the first of June, as of May 30, 2009 the Kings are already hitting in the fishwheels on the Copper River down by Chitina. Trips to see the fishwheels in operation can be arranged at the Merc, or buy your fishing license and get out your pole! The Merc is a pick-up point for Backcountry Connections, whose vans will take you where your tires don't want to go. The whole region has seasoned Alaskan guides and equipment available for visitors who want to "do it all." There are miles of paved bicycle paths and rugged off-road 4x4, dogsled, and backwoods trails to the bluffs overlooking the Copper and Tonsina Rivers.

Mt Blackburn (16,390') over Kenny Lake, Alaska

The Copper River Basin has a lot to offer visitors seeking the wilder side of Alaska. Across the Copper River Basin, old copper, gold, and silver mines sit deserted. Backwoods hikers will find edible plants and artifacts everywhere (and the Merc carries lots of bug dope). Pickable diamond willow grows in wild abundance. Explorers might find anything from gold flakes to abandoned classic cars to giant mastadon thighbones.

Backwoods trails, wildlife viewing and fishing
Kenny Lake was built on a lake that over the last century dwindled into a pond, but the inclusive community boasts of lakes and river fishing spots for trout, grayling, and red salmon runs. (When fishing be very careful on the banks!) Wildlife can be found on both the new and old road and it is regularly seen from the rivers, backroads and trails: geese, eagles, hawks, owls, magpies, ravens, many smaller avian species, black, brown, and grizzly bear, fox, lynx, beaver, martin, ermine, caribou, buffalo, moose, porcupine, and snowshoe rabbits. Seasonal fishing openers vary year-to-year. Hunting season opens August 10 (this is a protected subsistence area; many residents live off the land).

Roger McCallister of Copper River Charters dipnetting in the Copper River

Kenny Lake is a 100 year old base camp
Kenny Lake originated in 1910 as an Alaska Road Commission (ARC) Roadhouse for the newly built Valdez - Fairbanks - Chitina Military Road. Renamed in honor of its U.S. Army Engineer, the Old and New Edgerton Highways are still home to many rest-stops and overnight accomodations. Today this western road entrance serves the needs of mainly Alaskans and scattered travelers on their way to the Wrangell Mountains, Lower Tonsina, the Copper River, Chitina, the Village, Silver Lake, McCarthy, and Kennicott. We are centrally located in the Copper River Basin, and like Governor Edgerton of the Panama Canal Zone during WWII knew, we make an excellent base camp. So leave your big rigs here while you go traveling, hunting, fishing, dip netting, working, or exploring the rest of our old-fashioned neighborhood. We'll keep our eye on it for you.