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Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, photo 1 of 5

Photo: David Sinson, NOAA, Office of Coast Survey / Public domain · source

Mountains

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Copper Center, AK · Southcentral AlaskaFreeFree to enter

About

Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest national park in the country, over 13 million acres of south-central Alaska where the Wrangell, St. Elias, Chugach, and eastern Alaska ranges converge. It holds nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the US and some of the continent's largest icefields, plus the red ruins of the Kennecott copper mill near McCarthy. Two rough roads and bush planes are the only ways in.

Highlights

Largest U.S. national park, home to 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the nationKennecott, a remarkably preserved early-1900s copper mining ghost townGuided glacier treks onto the Root and Kennicott Glaciers from McCarthyBush-plane flightseeing over the Wrangell and St. Elias rangesMount St. Elias, the second-highest peak in the United States at 18,008 feet

Getting there

Mile 106.8 Richardson Highway, Copper Center, AK 99573

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The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.