Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve covers 13.2 million acres, about 20,625 square miles, and the Park Service calls it the largest national park in the United States. Its home page compares it with Yellowstone, Yosemite and Switzerland combined. In 2025 it had 108,840 recreation visits, up 33.3% on 2024, and 86.8% of them came in June, July and August.

Two gravel roads lead in, and neither has a gate or a fuel pump. We read the figures below on 29 October 2026 on the park's own pages and alerts, Recreation.gov and NOAA's normals.

How big is Wrangell–St. Elias, and which peaks can you see from the highway?

Wrangell–St. Elias spans four mountain ranges, the Wrangell, St. Elias, Chugach and eastern Alaska Range, and holds nine of the 16 highest peaks in the United States. Mount St. Elias, at 18,008 feet, is the second highest peak in the country, the Park Service says. Mount Wrangell, 14,163 feet, is an active volcano.

Many travellers never enter the park itself, the Park Service says, because roads are few. Mount Blackburn, Mount Sanford, Mount Drum and Mount Wrangell are clearly seen from nearby highways.

The park's figures for ice disagree. The home page counts more than 3,000 glaciers covering over three million acres. The glaciers page says glaciers cover 35% of the parklands, which three million of 13.2 million acres does not match. The Nabesna Glacier, about 53 miles long, is in the Park Service's words the longest valley glacier in North America.

Wrangell–St. Elias forms a World Heritage Site with Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and two Canadian parks, Kluane and Tatshenshini-Alsek. The park counted 108,840 visits in 2025, a fifth of the 543,300 at Denali National Park, for more than twice Denali's area.

Does Wrangell–St. Elias charge anything at its two road entrances?

Wrangell–St. Elias charges nothing at either road entrance: the park has no entrance fee and no entry gate on the Nabesna Road or the McCarthy Road.

Wrangell–St. Elias is not on the Park Service's 2026 list of parks that charge non-residents a $100 surcharge, a per-person fee for those aged 16 and over. Two adults from abroad therefore pay nothing to enter. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the parks that do charge it.

The park's visitor centres sell no federal passes, and the fee page says the park takes no cash.

The money goes elsewhere. Overnight and day parking at the Kennicott River footbridge is private and charged. Free day parking exists only at the State Wayside, Mile 55, and the McCarthy Road Information Station, Mile 58.6. The shuttle and the air taxis set their own fares, and the Park Service prints none.

Will a rental car be allowed on the McCarthy Road?

The McCarthy Road is off limits to most rental cars: the Park Service says most rental car companies do not allow their cars on it. Some discount and independent firms allow gravel roads, perhaps with added costs or conditions; the park names none.

The state of Alaska owns and maintains the road, not the Park Service. It starts at Mile 33 of the Edgerton Highway in Chitina and ends at the Kennicott River footbridge, Mile 59.4. The park's pages give its length as 59 miles on two of them and 60 on two others. One says to allow about 3 hours each way; the road guide says 2 hours each way.

The road follows the bed of the Copper River and Northwestern railway, begun in 1909, and turns to gravel after the Copper River bridge at Mile 1.4. The Park Service warns of soft edges, potholes, old railroad ties and possible spikes, and dust on dry summer days. Carry a full-sized spare tyre and an adequate jack. Most passenger cars manage it in normal summer conditions, but the park advises against RVs, buses and coaches.

No fuel is sold along the McCarthy Road or anywhere inside the park. The park's pages disagree about Chitina: one lists self-serve fuel there, and the road guide says it has no gas station. Fill up at Glennallen, Copper Center or Kenny Lake, at Mile 7.1 of the Edgerton Highway. Phone coverage is very limited.

The Kuskulana Bridge, at Mile 17.2, crosses 238 feet above the river on one lane. Dall sheep are often seen on the Crystalline Hills, Mile 34.8. Road conditions are on the state's Alaska 511 service.

How do you cross the Kennicott River footbridge to McCarthy and Kennecott?

The Kennicott River footbridge is where every visitor leaves the car: the Park Service says all vehicles must park at the bridge, Mile 59.4. From there McCarthy is half a mile on foot, by bicycle or by shuttle, and Kennecott 5 miles. There is no vehicle access to the Kennecott mill town.

The state-maintained bridge was designed and intended predominantly for pedestrian use. Two private car parks stand near it, and both charge.

Private companies run the shuttle on the far side, in summer only. The park's 2023 shuttle page speaks of several companies; its 2025 directions page says two. Their contacts are on a sign at the bridge, and the Park Service prints no fare.

McCarthy, homesteaded in 1906, has accommodation, places to eat, guides and flightseeing, the road guide says, though it names no hotel. Air taxis fly in daily in summer to the town's state airstrip.

What did the Kennecott mines produce, and what can you see of the mill town?

The Kennecott mines processed nearly $200 million worth of copper between 1911 and 1938, the Park Service says. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The Park Service bought many of its main buildings and lands in June 1998.

Kennecott was a company town. At its peak about 300 people worked in the mill town and 200 to 300 in the mines. The company built a hospital, a school, a store, a skating rink, a recreation hall and a dairy.

Summer exhibits fill several buildings. The General Store shows a park film, and the North Sacking Shed holds a scale model of Bonanza Ridge. The Kennecott Visitor Center occupies the old Blackburn School. Many other buildings stand abandoned, and the Park Service says they need immediate stabilisation.

A helicopter supported stabilisation of the Erie Mine Bunkhouse in mid-September 2026, and the park said on 14 September that more work might follow. The Park Service is also investigating a possible clean-up of the mill town.

How far is the Root Glacier from Kennecott after the 2026 reroute?

The Root Glacier is about 2.5 miles one way from the start of the reroute that the Park Service opened on 3 August 2026. The new trail leaves the Erie Mine Trail 1.8 miles along it, just beyond the Amazon Creek footbridge. It then drops about 0.6 miles over rocky talus to the ice.

The older route closed in July 2026, after the Park Service shut an area beneath an unstable hill on the access trail. Its 3 August release says that closure remains in effect. The park's Root Glacier page, last updated in 2021, still describes the old way: a moderate 1½-mile walk from Kennecott and 4 miles round trip.

On 29 October 2026 the park's only alert concerned this alternate route, with dates of 20 July to 25 September 2026. The feed was still serving it after its end date, and no later status had been published.

Traction devices are strongly recommended on the ice. Bears are present along the entire route, and the Park Service suggests going with an experienced guide. Primitive campsites with an outhouse and food lockers stand near the glacier access point.

The Kennicott River below rises every summer with the glacial outburst flood of Hidden Creek Lake. In 2026 the lake began to fall on 18 July, and rangers saw large releases on 19 July.

What does the Nabesna Road ask of a car?

The Nabesna Road runs 42 miles into the north of the park from Mile 60 of the Tok Cutoff Highway at Slana, with three stream crossings. The Alaska Road Commission built it in 1933 to serve the Nabesna Mine. Like the McCarthy Road, it is state-owned gravel.

The park's pages describe the road three ways. One says two-wheel-drive vehicles can usually drive it. Another recommends a high-clearance vehicle beyond Mile 29, and the road guide recommends high clearance and four-wheel drive. Trail Creek, Mile 29.8, Lost Creek, 31.2, and Boyden Creek, 34.3, may flow across the road. The last four miles are not maintained.

The road guide says to allow 1.5 hours each way. No fuel is sold in Slana: the nearest is at Chistochina, 28 miles south, or Tok, 64 miles north. There is no drinking water after Slana. The Slana Ranger Station issues free permits for off-road vehicles. Primitive pull-outs along the road are first come, first served.

Where can you sleep in Wrangell–St. Elias, from Kendesnii to a fly-in cabin?

Kendesnii Campground, on the Nabesna Road, is in the Park Service's words the only National Park Service campground in the park. Built in 2012, it has 10 sites, each with a picnic table and fire ring, and two vault toilets. The sites are free, open all year and taken first come, first served.

Recreation.gov lists only Esker Stream among the four cabins that need a booking. All the cabins are remote and very rustic, with no water or plumbing, and most are reached only by flying to a remote airstrip.

On the McCarthy Road, the Copper River Campground at Mile 1.6 has 12 primitive sites and is not run by the Park Service. Jumbo Creek Campground, 1.4 miles from Kennecott, is a Park Service site with no amenities, reached only on foot.

Backcountry permits are not required, but all backcountry food must be kept in a bear-resistant container. Chitina has a hotel and B&Bs, by the ranger station's page; the Park Service gives no hotel names or prices for the area.

When do the Copper Center and Kennecott visitor centres open?

The Wrangell–St. Elias Visitor Center at Copper Center opened from 11 May to 20 September in 2026, daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Every staffed visitor centre and ranger station in the park closes from October through April, and all were closed on 29 October 2026.

The dates are the park's 2026 schedule; the 2027 dates had not been published on 29 October 2026. The Copper Center complex also holds the Ahtna Cultural Center, run by Ahtna, Incorporated, and its gate is locked at 5 p.m. all year.

Winter changes the trip to Kennecott completely. There are no services in McCarthy or Kennecott, and the shuttle does not run. The only way in is the 5 miles on foot or on skis; the winter page adds snowmachines. Snow is usually on the ground by the end of September.

The park's pages disagree about winter roads: one says the state maintains the McCarthy Road all year, and two newer ones say not regularly.

Public lands stay open all year, and visitors must be self-sufficient. Trapping is legal in the park, so stay on trails. The northern lights are best seen between midnight and 3 a.m., from September through April.

How much wetter is McCarthy than Copper Center?

McCarthy gets 17.70 inches of rain and snow a year, half again as much as the 11.76 inches at Gulkana's airport near Copper Center, by NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. The McCarthy 3 SW station stands at 1,250 feet, about 2.6 miles from McCarthy, and is the nearest to Kennecott.

The table gives NOAA's average highs and lows. Summer is McCarthy's wet season: June to September brings 52% of the year's precipitation, and August is the wettest month at 2.65 inches. The station averages 66.5 inches of snow a year, with November the snowiest month at 13.5 inches.

McCarthy averages 10.3 days a year at 80°F or above and none at 90°F. Its low falls to 0°F or below on 90.5 days a year, and Gulkana's on 98.8.

How long is the drive from Anchorage to Copper Center and McCarthy?

The Copper Center visitor centre is approximately 200 miles northeast of Anchorage, by the Park Service's figure, and 250 miles south of Fairbanks. It stands at Mile 106.8 of the Richardson Highway, 10 miles south of Glennallen.

Our own routing starts from downtown Anchorage and Fairbanks. On the gravel McCarthy Road it is quicker than the park's 2 to 3 hours, so trust the park's times. The park's 75 miles to Slana is short of its own sum: Glennallen to Slana is 76 miles, plus 10 to the visitor centre.

From Anchorage the route runs east on the Glenn Highway, south on the Richardson Highway and east on the Edgerton Highway to Chitina, then along the McCarthy Road.

Gulkana and Chitina have public airports near the park, and the park has improved airstrips at May Creek and Chisana.

Wrangell–St. Elias is on Alaska time, which went back an hour on 1 November 2026. The park is one of the places in our guide to Alaska. The other national parks in Alaska are Denali National Park, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, Kobuk Valley National Park and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.