Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Active and Adventure Vacations

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Active and Adventure Travel Guide

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Mount St. Elias in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska (Valentin Sommer/courtesy, National Park Service)

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Active and Adventure Highlights

By Travel Expert: Karen Kefauver
  • For a challenging and rewarding trek with Pangaea Adventures, hike over the Root Glacier with your crampons. Camp with views of ice falls and towering peaks. It's a great escape without having to hire a bush plane. This moderately strenuous backpacking trip includes camping in the rolling tundra at the base of Donoho Peak. This section of the tour incorporates basic wilderness skills and is an introduction to off-trail, Alaskan-style hiking and glacier trekking.
  • Somewhat strenuous at times, but with great views of the Chitina river basin, Mount Logan, the Chugach Range, and Mount George, this Wrangell-St. Elias backpacking trip led by Alaska Alpine Treks visits some of the park's remotest country. Both grizzly and black bears roam here, and you may spot Dall sheep, mountain goats, wolves, and a variety of birds.
  • Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve has no entrance stations or gates and never actually closes. However, winter arrives early in interior Alaska, and by September 15, available services and facilities are few. The park administration building in Copper Center is open weekdays year-round.
  • No permit is required for recreational snow machines to operate anywhere in the park when there is adequate snow cover (approximately 12 inches) and frozen ground.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Overview

Looking at a relief map of Alaska, you'd think the portion drained by the Copper River was so overweighted with mountains that it might topple the whole state into the Pacific. The Alaska Range, in the center of the state, has the tallest mountain, but this Gulf of Alaska region, straddling the Alaska-Yukon border, has more mass -- the second- and fourth-tallest mountains...

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Hotels

expert favorite hotel
Kennicott Glacier Lodge
Kennicott Wrangell-St. Elias N.P.
Kennicott, AK 99588
Hotel Class: 3 class stars
Distance: 69.8 Miles
(from destination center)
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McCarthy Lodge & The Ma Johnsons Hotel
101 Kennicott Avenue
McCarthy, AK 99588
Hotel Class: 2 class stars
Distance: 68.4 Miles
(from destination center)
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Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge
Mile 102 Richardson Highway
Copper Center, AK 99573
Hotel Class: 3 class stars
Distance: 171.1 Miles
(from destination center)
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Attractions

expert favorite attraction
Hubbard Glacier
Yakutat, Alaska Map
Distance: 84.2 Miles (from destination center)
Description: Hubbard Glacier is a tidewater glacier that... Read More
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Malaspina Glacier
Yakutat, Alaska Map
Distance: 69.2 Miles (from destination center)
Description: The Malaspina Glacier is one of the largest... Read More
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Nizina River
McCarthy
McCarthy, Alaska
Distance: 69.8 Miles (from destination center)
Description: Rafters will depart at the edge of Kennicott... Read More
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Feature Articles

More Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Active and Adventure Feature Articles (33)
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Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Active and Adventure Travel Guides

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