Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Hi Blog!

We arrived in Tok, Alaska on Saturday, July 9, 2016. We had just enough time to get the rig set up and pack our bags for another road trip. On Sunday, July 10, 2016, we began our adventure to Kennecott, Alaska. Kennecott is an abandoned mining camp that was the center of activity for several copper mines. It is located beside the Kennicott Glacier inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. The camp and mines are now a National Historic Landmark District administered by the National Park Service.

As we drove down the Tok Cutoff, the Wrangle Mountains came into view. Here we got our first view of Mount Drum (12,010 ft).

Before entering Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, we had to cross the Mentasta Mountains. These mountains form the eastern edge of the great Alaska Range. Mineral Lake provided a lovely reflection.

The highest peak in the Mentasta range is Noyes Mountain (8,147 ft). We just can't get enough of these reflections.

As we worked our way south toward the Richardson Highway, we reached Gakona Junction. This huge braided delta is where the Gakona River joins the Copper River.  The Copper River is known for its extensive delta ecosystem, as well as for its prolific runs of wild salmon, which are among the most highly prized fish in the world.

Our next stop was the Wrangell-St. Elais Visitor's Center.  Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is one of the 10 least visited national parks. It is a vast national park that rises from the ocean all the way up to 18,008 ft. Mount St. Elias. At 13.2 million acres, it is the same size as Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and the entire country of Switzerland combined! Wow! Even Great White is excited about visiting this ginormous place.

Wrangell–St. Elias National Monument was initially designated on December 1, 1978, by President Jimmy Carter using the Antiquities Act, pending final legislation to resolve the allotment of public lands in Alaska. Establishment as a national park and preserve followed the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980. The park region is divided between national park lands, which only allow subsistence hunting by local rural residents, and preserve lands, which allow sport hunting by the general public.

We spent a couple hours at the Visitor's Center located just off the Richardson Highway. We watched the park video and strolled through the exhibit hall. After leaving the Visitor's Center, we made a slight detour to drive through Copper Center. Strategically located at the confluence of the Klutina and Copper rivers, Copper Center was originally a large, winter village for Ahtna Athabascan families who have lived in the region for more than 5,000 years. The first lodge in the Copper River Basin was built in 1896 and provided a soft bed and a hot meal to travelers, most of them miners following the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail during the gold rushes of 1897-98. We stopped to watch the fisherman on the Klutina River who were undoubtedly hoping to catch a nice big fat salmon.

We left the Richardson Highway behind and followed the Edgerton Highway east toward Chitina, paralleling the Copper River as it winds its way south. The clouds had moved in, so the top of Mount Drum was no longer visible.

The highway soon climbed up to a bluff and the Copper River was far below. Mt. Zanetti (13,009 ft) is just peeking out from behind the clouds in the photo below.

As we drove east on the Edgerton Highway, Wrangell-St. Elias was on our left and BLM land was on our right. Liberty Falls is an Alaska State Recreation Site tucked in among those federal lands. We made a quick stop to view the falls. These are one of the prettiest falls we have seen in Alaska.  Once we have more bandwidth, we'll upload a video.

As we approached Chitina, we passed three lakes - Three Mile Lake, Two Mile Lake and One Mile Lake.  After we passed One Mile Lake, we were only one mile from Chitina.  Here is a representative photo of Two Mile Lake:

We will do additional blog entries about Chitna, McCarthy and Kennecott, but we wanted to add a couple of our favorite mountains from the Wrangle Range to this blog entry, because they are important peaks in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. 

Mount Blackburn (16,390 ft) is the fifth highest peak in the U.S. On a clear day, it dominates the view from Kennecott.  It is the source of the Kennicott Glacier, which is the source of the Kennicott River and which dominates the scenery in McCarthy and Kennecott.  We were lucky enough to have three days of clear weather to admire Mount Blackburn, and it seemed that every time Kathy turned around, David was snapping another photo of this dramatic peak.

To the east of Mt. Blackburn is Regal Mountain (13,845). It is the source of Root Glacier, which flows into the Kennicott Glacier and is effectively absorbed by it.  The Root Glacier is the glacier we plan to hike.

We will only be able to explore a tiny fraction of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, but it certainly will be an adventure. Stay tuned.