You must see Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve to believe it. The largest U.S. national park at 13 million acres, it equals six Yellowstones, with peaks upon peaks and glaciers after glaciers. The park lets you sample Alaska wildlife as well as historic mining sites. Hike its mountains, float its rivers, ski its glaciers, or fly over this landscape and you witness living geology. You sense discovery, the feeling you might be the first to see such sights. Roads are few, so this means many travelers will not enter the park itself, but major peaks – Blackburn, Sanford, Drum, and Wrangell – are seen from nearby highways. Four major mountain ranges meet in the park, which includes nine of the 16 highest peaks in the United States. The Wrangells huddle in the northern interior. The Chugach guard the southern coast. The Saint Elias Mountains rise abruptly from the Gulf of Alaska to thrust northward past the Chugach on toward the Wrangells. The eastern end of the Alaska Range-mapped as the Nutzotin and Mentasta mountains-forms part of the preserve’s northern boundary.
