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Wrangell - St Elias National
Park & Preserve
This is the "mountain kingdom of North America," where the Chugach, Wrangell, and St. Elias mountain ranges converge. It is the largest National Park, located a day's drive east of Anchorage, Alaska. The park has the continent's largest assemblage of glaciers and the largest collection of peaks above 16,000 feet. At 18,008 feet, Mount St. Elias is the second highest peak in the United States. The entire area, and the adjacent Kluane National Park in Canada, is a wilderness of remote towering mountains, massive glaciers, sweeping valleys, powerful rivers, and a seemingly endless variety of flora and fauna.
Travel to and in the park, is by road, air, trail, river or, for an added element of adventure, a back country trip. Hiking in the park presents challenges to even the hardiest backpackers, but those who persevere will be rewarded with a vast, pristine wilderness and incredible solitude. For more information, us the link here to visit the official Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Web Site.
Denali National Park & Preserve
Denali National Park & Preserve has 20,320-foot tall Mount McKinley, of course, which is North America's highest mountain, but the Alaska Range also includes many other spectacular mountains and large glaciers. With more than 6 million acres, the park also encompasses a complete sub-arctic eco-system with grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, and moose. Visitor use includes wildlife viewing, mountaineering, and backpacking, and hiking. For more information, use the link here to visit the official Denali National Park Web Site.
Aniakchak National Monument
& Preserve
The Aniakchak Caldera resulted from of a series of eruptions, the most recent in 1931. The caldera is nearly six miles in diameter and covers ten square miles. Located in the volcanically active Aleutian Mountains it is one of the finest examples of a dry caldera in the world. The crater contains many examples of volcanic features, including lava flows, cinder cones, and explosion pits. Surprise Lake is located within the caldera, and is the source of the Aniakchak River, which exits the caldera through a 1,500-foot gash in the crater wall.
You can only access the park by plane or float plane from King Salmon, Alaska or by power boat from one of the villages along the Pacific Ocean coastline. There are no facilities and no formal trails within the monument/preserve although open ash fields provide hiking and backpacking opportunities. For more information, use the link here to visit the official Aniachak National Monument Web Site.
Kenai Fjords National Park
From rocky coastline to glacier covered peaks, Kenai Fjords National Park contains 607,805 acres of unspoiled wilderness on the southeast coast of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The park is capped by the Harding Ice field, the largest ice field entirely within U.S. borders. The landscape is shaped by glaciers, earthquakes, and storms. Whales, otters, puffins, bear, moose and mountain goats are a few of the animals that make their home here.
The park, like much of this corner of Alaska, is mostly visited by water, but there are hiking opportunities here if you like isolation, and are prepared for potentially wet and cold weather. For more information, use the link here to visit the official Kenai Fjords National park Web Site.
Katmai National Park & Preserve
Katmai is known for its volcanoes, more than 2,000 brown bears, the world's largest sockeye salmon run, and rugged wilderness. It is also the site of the Brooks River National Historic Landmark, which has North America's highest concentration of prehistoric human dwellings (about 900). There are more than a dozen volcanoes in Katmai that are considered "active", but none are currently erupting.
Noatak National Preserve
The Noatak River area, in northern Alaska, is one of North America's largest mountain-ringed river basins with an intact ecosystem, and has some of the finest examples of arctic plants and animals. Weeks-long float trips down the river are possible, and the surrounding Brooks range mountains are a hiking heaven. For more information, use the link here to visit the official Noatak National Preserve Web Site.