Glacier Hiking In Wrangell-St. Elias Nat'l Park
Alaska's Largest National Park Offers Wilderness Adventures
Apr 27, 2009
If a wilderness adventure is the goal of an Alaskan vacation, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park should be on the itinerary. Wrangrell-St. Elias has no traditional campgrounds, trails or other services. It has back country camping, opportunities for glacier hiking and almost 11 million acres of Alaskan wilderness.
The Wrangell-St. Elias visitor center at Glennallen is significantly smaller than what many travelers experience at parks in the Lower 48. Park service personnel simply provide direction and information at a handful of visitor contact points throughout the park.
One of those contact points is in the community of Kennecot, home to the remnants of largest copper mine in the world, which ceased operation in the 1930s. Tours are available to the top of the 14 rickety stories of the Copper Mine that once dominated the town. A point of trivia: John Denver once recorded a video from the top of the Kennecott Copper Mine.
Park superintendent Vicki Snitzler has no way of keeping count of visitors because of the options to arrive by road or air. “You are on your own here,” Snitzler said. “If you are looking for private time and a wilderness adventure, this is the place to come.”
Getting to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Most travelers want to experience the remoteness of Wrangell-St. Elias and that is most easily done when arriving by air, a DeHaviland Beaver, to a gravel airstrip near McCarthy. Otherwise, reaching McCarthy, Kennecot and the Root Glacier requires traveling more than 100 miles on unpaved, ruttted roads with steep ravines on either side. Not a pleasant experience.
Glacier Hiking in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Many travelers to Wrangell-St. Elias come to hike the Root Glacier, accessed via a two mile hike along a dirt road to the base of Kennecot Glacier. This is a place where alpine guides, crampons, hiking poles, and a little physical conditioning make all of the difference.
It's possible to fill water bottles from the ice cold streams trickling a path to the ocean. Deep blue pools of water, called moulins, and crevasses as deep as the mountain itself are reminders a simple stumble could become a life-threatening fall.
Funky McCarthy Alaska
Such a wilderness experience helps explain the appeal of the town of McCarthy, a funky little place of 50 year-round residents located at the end of a 30-mile long gravel road that dead-ends in the river. Travelers cross a footbridge carrying any supplies in a handcart, to continue along a dirt path to McCarthy.
But it’s worth the effort to dine at the McCarthy Lodge,where the wine cellar includes more than 150 fine labels and salmon, halibut and other fresh meats are prepared in a world class setting. McCarthy and Kennecot, just five miles from each other, provide the only accommodations within the park’s boundaries, as well as an in-depth look into the history and the lifestyle of the people who make this wilderness their home.
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