This is the 25th in a continuing series about our trip through Canada to Alaska
Let’s start with the question: “What is Wrangell-St. Elias?” [answer below]
Our caravan is designed to give us a sampler of what Alaska has to offer. It’s like trying to see all of Colorado or North Carolina in two days. It makes us want to come back to spend more time here. The biggest difference is the time factor. We drive 180-300 miles between destinations, and there are numerous things to see along the way.
Thursday, we stopped for glaciers and waterfalls, sped by moose and looked at towering, snow-covered mountains. When we arrived at our campground, our fellow caravaners asked if we stopped at the railroad tunnel, site of a shoot-out, and other notable places. Others said they had just gotten back from the other side of the bay, where Mama Bear was showing her three cubs how to catch fish. The dozens of people salmon fishing had to scurry out of the way while they ate. Too much!
Our strong suggestion is that you try to spend as much time in Alaska as your resources allow. Around every corner are more wonders to behold.
Whether you are into just passively enjoying the splendor of the scenery or are interested in more active pursuits – like fishing and hunting; photography and bird-watching; whitewater rafting and kayaking; native culture, homesteaders’ living conditions; mining history; geology and the northern lights (in the winter); hiking and biking, or the many more things that have filled us with excitement – you’ll need time to see it all. Since Alaska is a long drive from the Lower 48, it’s not a trip most people will make more than once (I hope we will be back in a few years).
We have delved into most of those pursuits and know there is much more we haven’t seen or done that would we like to experience. We know that can be said of everywhere in America and Canada, but in Alaska, it’s all so immense. Unfortunately, the distances between most spots are great, so what takes a few hours to get to elsewhere takes a day of driving here.
Our Catamaran, The Valdez Spirit, Plows Through Ice to Reach the Glacier
Another reason to have more time is the weather. We have been extremely lucky on our tour. The rain has passed and the sun has greeted us on just about every scenic and history tour we have taken. But cruise boats don’t go out in the heavy fog, Mt. McKinley hides from Denali visitors most days, and a walking tour of Dawson City with dirt streets could be miserable in the rain.
A Close-Up View of the Imposing Meares Glacier
While our visit has been fantastic, the one thing we have missed the most is having the opportunity to get to know locals, which mostly means people who have been here 7 to 35 years. By the very nature of wanting to live in Alaska, they are interesting, usually different, and probably fun to talk with. Those we have met fall into those categories, so we wish we could spend more time getting to know them.
Rafts of Sea Otters Were Comic Relief on our 10-hour Cruise
One of our buddies in the caravan, who has been the butt of many jokes about sleeping through lots of the best nature tours and cruises startled me Thursday when he said he would love to move here. Alaska is that kind of place…people come for a visit and then, like our boat skipper Friday, go back home, pack up what they need and make this their permanent home. It happens all the time.
Think about it.
And now for the answer: Wrangell-St. Elias is America’s largest National Park. At 13.2 million acres, it’s six times the size of Yellowstone. The park contains the entire Wrangell Mountain Range and most or parts of three other ranges. Nine of America’s 16 highest mountains are here. There are two roads going into it and 9.6 million acres is a wilderness, which means no motorized vehicles equipment allowed. So how is it that you never heard of Wrangell-St. Elias? We have visited 39 of the 56 national parks plus lots of national memorials (like Mount Rushmore), etc., and we never heard of it either. And, oh yeah, what we’ve seen – albeit a very small area – was an unexpected, spectacular treat as we drove along miles of its border.
Peaks Peek Through at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
We considered taking one of those remote roads into the park from Valdez, where we are staying until we computed that it would be a 350-mile round trip, plus a hike and a $50 fee to tour a 14-story mill.
Maybe next time …
From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.