Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve — Attraction in Alaska

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park has no entrance fee, but the visitors will be given DVD for self-guided tour into the park interior. While there are 2 roads into the park; we took the longest route, the 60-mile McCarthy Road to visit Kennecott Mines and McCarthy community. The other road is 42-mile 4wheel drive Nabesca Road that don't offer sceneries and it has no appealing. The 60-mile bone jarring road passes by many lakes, streams, a bridge then the road even rougher after 40-mile marker. No DVD nor instructions will prepare you for the let down at the end of McCarthy Road. We don't see problem when a guy collects $5 for graveled parking, or $15 for primitive camping if you up to it. Near the primitive camping, we see couple black bears foraging for soap berries. Can't wait to see these guys in a bad berry season! But the small metal foot bridge across a wide but shallow stream; Kennecott Mines and McCarthy community is a big letdown! Hmm, why would the park build 4-foot wide foot bridge when they could build a 16-foot wide bridge for vehicular travel? The 0.5mile dirt path was so muddy after the rain for any fun trekking, and the black bears can be seen foraging around remind us of rogue bear in Liard Hot Spring that appears too much of a challenge for us strolling to Visitor Center on the other side of the bridge. Can this national park built a metal vehicular bridge that accommodate everyone? Absolutely! Take the Hawilget Canyon Bridge for instant, it spans across a deeper and even more treacherous canyon built by the less funded Wet'suwet'en tribe. Frankly, nobody mind a park fee to put this beautiful and historic park within everybody enjoyment and not just for hikers, bikers, or content with a limited scheduling bus ride. So stop wondering why this National Park has a lot less visitors than any other...

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park can be challenging to adequately review. On one hand, it's one of the most stunning landscapes in the world; it's home to some of the largest mountains in North America, the world's largest vertical icefall, and over 1900 square miles of the seemingly infinite Bagley Icefield. The list of impressive geological features goes on and on. On the other hand, it is nearly impossible to experience most of our largest National Park. You could see most of it by air, but that's impersonal and abstract (although strongly recommended). Most visitors see it from McCarthy or Nabesna. Even fewer backpack into the remote wilderness. There are no towns, no roads, and no trails for almost all 13.2 million acres of this preserve

All that being said, Wrangell-St. Elias has risen to the top of my favorite National Parks. It is challenging to get to and ammendities are nonexistent in most of the park, but few places can compete with the natural beauty of this diverse glacial and mountainous landscape. It is a land almost untouched by human development and I believe the inability to fully explore most of this land adds to its grandness. I'll let these pictures speak...

If you like geology, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and the Copper River Valley are the ultimate wild and spectacular country. The Copper Valley alone, is the size of West Virginia. Volcanoes, glaciers, wind and water erosion, mass wasting, it's all there. Glacial Lake Ahtna created the lake bottom sediments through which the mighty Copper has worked its way down to gravel beds in classic braided formation. Fed by numerous glacier tributaries, the Copper carries the fourth highest siltload in the world. You need to spend some time here, from Nebesna at the northern end, and around to Copper Center, to Chitina, to Historic McCarthy and to the Kennicott copper mines. Glorious! Take a digital camera with several Smart Cards... And an...