Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the largest national park in the United States — an immense, largely roadless wilderness of 13.2 million acres in southeastern Alaska where four great mountain ranges meet: the Wrangell, St. Elias, Alaska and Chugach ranges. The result is a landscape of staggering scale, with the greatest concentration of high peaks and glaciers on the North American continent, including Mount St. Elias (18,008 feet, the second-highest peak in the United States) and the vast Bagley Icefield.

The park is six times the size of Yellowstone and contains more glaciated terrain than the rest of the world’s national parks combined. Two dirt roads — the Nabesna Road and the McCarthy Road — offer limited access into the fringes of this immensity; the historic copper-mining town of Kennecott (now a national historic landmark) is accessible at the end of the McCarthy Road. Wild, vast and barely touched, Wrangell-St. Elias is a treasured natural icon of Alaska and the hemisphere.

Wrangell-St. Elias offers driving the McCarthy Road to the historic Kennecott Mines (a national historic landmark — the former Kennecott copper mine complex, dramatically preserved above the Root Glacier in the Wrangell Mountains, offering tours of the historic buildings and hikes on and around the glacier), hiking in the backcountry (largely off-trail; the park is a vast wilderness for experienced wilderness travelers), mountaineering on the great peaks (Mount St. Elias, Mount Drum, Mount Blackburn — serious expeditions for experienced climbers), flightseeing (the primary way most visitors see the park’s vast interior — small planes reveal the scale of the icefields, glaciers and peaks), rafting and packrafting glacial rivers (the Chitina, Copper and Nizina rivers), wildlife watching, and backcountry camping. The Kennecott historic district, glacier hiking and flightseeing are the signature draws for most visitors.

Summer (late May through early September) is the season, when the McCarthy Road is passable (gravel; high-clearance recommended), Kennecott’s tours operate, flightseeing companies are active, and the long Alaskan days allow maximum exploration. The McCarthy Road and Nabesna Road are generally snow-free from June through September, but conditions can change rapidly. Late June and July are warmest; August brings occasional rain and excellent light. Fall (late August through September) brings stunning tundra color across the vast park landscapes. Summer is the clear highlight — allow several days, plan well ahead for Kennecott tours and lodging, and carry all supplies.

The Wrangell-St. Elias region is the homeland of the Ahtna Athabascan and Upper Tanana peoples, who lived along the Copper River and its tributaries for millennia. The discovery of enormous copper deposits in the Wrangell Mountains in the early 1900s led to the construction of the Kennecott Mines — an engineering marvel that included a 196-mile railroad from Cordova through the mountains — and produced $200 million in copper between 1903 and 1938. The mines were abruptly abandoned in 1938; the entire complex was left largely intact, becoming one of the best-preserved mining ghost towns in North America and a national historic landmark. The surrounding wilderness was designated a national park and preserve in 1980. Wrangell-St. Elias preserves this vast wilderness and its remarkable mining heritage.

Wrangell-St. Elias is a collision zone of extraordinary geological complexity — where the Wrangell volcanic field (a chain of massive shield and stratovolcanoes including Mount Wrangell, still steaming, and Mount Drum) meets the St. Elias Mountains, the coastal range where the Pacific Plate’s northward push has telescoped rocks into some of the highest coastal peaks on Earth. The Bagley Icefield (the largest non-polar icefield in North America, covering over 2,000 square miles) and the Malaspina Glacier (the largest piedmont glacier in the world, larger than the state of Rhode Island) are products of this collision. The park’s geological diversity spans ancient oceanic terranes, volcanic rocks, and young glacial deposits. The plate collision, the volcanic field and the vast glaciation created Wrangell-St. Elias.

Wrangell-St. Elias’s vast wilderness supports large, wide-ranging wildlife populations — Dall sheep (on the high rocky ridges and alpine terrain of the Wrangell Mountains), Alaskan brown and black bears (throughout the park; the Copper River delta and coastal areas support large brown bear populations), caribou (Mentasta and Chisana herds migrate through the park), moose (in the lowland forests and river valleys), wolves, wolverines, lynx, and rich birdlife (golden eagles, gyrfalcons, ptarmigan and Boreal species). The park’s vast, intact wilderness supports wildlife at natural densities. The scale of the wilderness — larger than many states — means that wildlife exists here largely undisturbed.

Wrangell-St. Elias protects a complete and largely undisturbed subarctic and alpine ecosystem spanning from coastal rainforest (on the Gulf of Alaska coast) through interior taiga (boreal forest) to tundra and permanent glacial ice — one of the most intact large-scale ecosystems in North America. The park’s rivers (the Copper, Chitina and others) are critical salmon highways, connecting the coast to the interior and sustaining bears and eagles. Glacial retreat is ongoing and dramatic; new land is being revealed and ecological succession is active throughout the park. Protecting this vast wilderness and its ecological integrity across multiple habitat types sustains one of the continent’s most complete wild ecosystems.

Wrangell-St. Elias holds a revered place among the parks of Alaska and the national park system — the largest national park in the United States, a wilderness of staggering scale containing the greatest concentration of peaks and glaciers on the continent, the dramatic Kennecott Mines historic landmark, and the homeland of the Ahtna Athabascan and Upper Tanana peoples. It represents the ultimate expression of Alaskan wilderness — vast, barely touched, and humbling in scale. Wrangell-St. Elias is a cherished natural and cultural icon of Alaska.

Wrangell-St. Elias is in southeastern Alaska, east of Anchorage (approximately 3–4 hours by the Richardson and Edgerton Highways to the Chitina area). The McCarthy Road (60 miles of gravel from Chitina to McCarthy; high-clearance vehicles strongly recommended; no gas, no services on the road) provides the primary visitor access to Kennecott and the park’s interior. The Nabesna Road (43 miles of gravel from Slana) provides northern access. The park headquarters is in Copper Center (off the Richardson Highway). Flightseeing tours operate from Glennallen, McCarthy, and other towns. No entrance fee. Check the National Park Service for McCarthy Road conditions, Kennecott tour availability, and current access before visiting.

The National Park Service, in partnership with the Ahtna Athabascan people, manages Wrangell-St. Elias. The park’s vast wilderness and wildlife are protected by its very remoteness; visitors help by practicing strict Leave No Trace (bear canisters required for backcountry camping), keeping safe distances from all wildlife, respecting the fragile alpine tundra, not collecting any materials from the Kennecott historic site, packing out everything, and following all wilderness regulations. Subsistence uses by local rural residents are protected by law within the park. The retreating glaciers, the intact wilderness and the Kennecott heritage are irreplaceable.

Wrangell-St. Elias is a remote, roadless wilderness where self-sufficiency is essential — the park has minimal services, the distances are enormous, and rescue can take days. The McCarthy Road is 60 miles of rough gravel; carry a full-size spare tire, extra food, water and fuel, and do not attempt it in unsuitable weather. This is serious brown bear country throughout the park; carry bear spray, store food in bear canisters, and know bear-safe practices. Backcountry travelers must be skilled in navigation and wilderness survival. Glacial travel (crevasses, ice falls) requires mountaineering expertise. Respect the remoteness, the bears, the glacial hazards and the road conditions.

No entrance fee. The McCarthy Road requires a high-clearance vehicle (check road conditions with NPS before driving). Kennecott historic district tours require advance booking. Backcountry camping requires bear canisters for food storage. No collecting of any materials (historic or natural). No motorized vehicles off designated roads and airstrips. Pack out all trash; follow Leave No Trace. Subsistence activities for qualified rural residents are permitted under federal law. Drones are prohibited in the national park. Check the National Park Service for current road conditions, Kennecott tours, permit requirements and regulations before visiting.

The towns of McCarthy and Kennecott (at the end of the McCarthy Road — the only inhabited communities within the park, with lodges, guides, and glacier tours), the town of Glennallen (the regional hub on the Richardson Highway), the Copper River and its delta (a world-class shorebird staging area), Valdez (a scenic port city at the end of the Richardson Highway and the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline), and the Wrangell Mountains define the region. Wrangell-St. Elias anchors a remarkable loop: Anchorage – Glennallen – McCarthy/Kennecott – Valdez – Anchorage (via the ferry or Seward), one of the great road-trip circuits of Alaska.

Drive the McCarthy Road (allow a full day from Anchorage to McCarthy, with stops) to reach Kennecott — tour the historic copper mine buildings with an authorized guide (the mill town complex is extraordinary, and the guided tour provides essential context for the industrial history) and then hike on the Root Glacier beside the historic site for a combination of industrial history and glacier access found nowhere else in Alaska. Book Kennecott tours and lodging months in advance for summer. From McCarthy, consider a flightseeing trip that reveals the vast Bagley Icefield and the peaks — the scale is incomprehensible from the ground. Carry everything you need; the road is long, services are sparse, and the wilderness is immense.