Wrangell-St Elias National Park


Wrangell-St Elias Nat'l Park

As Denali becomes more crowded, people are increasingly making the trip to more out-of-the-way WRANGELL-ST ELIAS NATIONAL PARK in the extreme southeast corner of the Interior.

Here, four of the continent's great mountain ranges - the Wrangell, St Elias, Chugach and Alaska - cramp up against each other, and even the usually reserved National Park Service literature breaks ranks by saying, "Incredible. You have to see Wrangell-St Elias ? to believe it - and even then you won't be so sure." Everything is writ large: glacier after enormous glacier, canyon after dizzying canyon and nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the US, all laced together by braided rivers and idyllic lakes where mountain goats, Dall sheep, bears, moose and caribou roam.

The first whites in the area came in search of gold but instead hit upon one of the continent's richest copper deposits. The mines closed in 1938, after 27 frantic years of production, and today Kennicott , with over thirty creaking, disused buildings, is a virtual ghost town. You can visit the mill complex on fascinating two-hour walking tours run by St Elias Alpine Guides ($25; phone 1-888/933-5427), which is based in nearby McCarthy, the main social hub and base for outfitters.

They also run a number of hikes, ice climbing trips, mountain bike rides, raft trips and even glacier skiing out into what is essentially a trailers park.

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