Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve

A backpacking trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve can be an exciting and rewarding experience if you are prepared for the difficulties of traveling through rugged, undeveloped land.

Soar above mountains that make their own weather and glacier-carved valleys still emerging from the Ice Age, as you return with producer John Grabowska to a place of his boyhood dreams: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. With calving glaciers in hidden fjords, wildlife wandering a vast land and countless unnamed peaks, Wrangell-St. Elias fulfills the romantic, mythic image of Alaska.

Sport fishing in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park offers many opportunities. Arctic grayling, dolly varden, lake trout, steelhead/rainbow trout, whitefish, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, and chinook salmon are widespread. Nothern Pike, cutthroat trout, chum salmon and pink salmon are also available in select areas. Local residents catch burbot, lake trout, rainbow trout, and whitefish through the ice in the winter.

One of the best ways to experience the beauty and tremendous size of this park is from above! Fly past massive peaks, over jagged glaciers, and endless expanses of wild Alaska! There is a variety of air services available to visitors, including flightseeing excursions and air taxies for backcountry dropoffs for wilderness campers and backpackers. A wide variety of tours, trips, and itineraries are available. https://www.nps.gov/wrst/planyourvisit/air-taxis-flight-seeing.htm

Hiking in Wrangell-St. Elias can be spectacular and we encourage you to go, but be prepared! Most of the front country hiking trails are maintained for the first few miles and then become routes into the backcountry, where route finding and navigational skills are highly recommended. There are hiking trails in the Copper Center area, on Nabesna Road and on McCarthy Road.

Ghost towns were once thriving communities that have dwindled over the decades, often created by the search for gold, copper and other valuable minerals. Some vanished entirely after the boom or were absorbed into newer settlements, but many of these towns still stand today, allowing us a nostalgic glimpse into the past. These places are where people ventured into remote areas to find their mineral fortune and endured the hardships of wilderness, wildlife and weather.

Drive, Hike, Bike, View Wildlife, Picnic & Scenic Vistas on McCarthy Road.

Drive, Hike, View Wildlife, Picnic & Scenic Vistas on Nabesna Road

Explore with geologists and their helicopter pilot around Kennicott Glacier on an interactive website virtual tour to learn how National Park Service staff monitor changes in the size of the glacier! Check out the Terrestrial LiDAR Scanning Project with 3-D data collected which provides precise measurements needed for the Stabilization Project of the mill structures.