Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve
Alaska
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
Last quarter
Hikes
Strenuous
🔴
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
Free entry
Lakina River Update
A recently observed landslide across the Lakina River is creating a debris hazard on a popular packrafting route. The river water is cutting its way through, but is highly dynamic and should be expected to remain that way through the boating season.
Wrangell-St. Elias is a vast national park that rises from the ocean all the way up to 18,008 ft. At 13.2 million acres, the park is the same size as Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Switzerland combined! Within this wild landscape, people continue to live off the land as they have done for centuries. This rugged, beautiful land is filled with opportunities for adventure.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
The park and public lands are always open but visitor facilities have limited seasons: Open in Summer. Call ahead for hours: Copper Center (907) 822-7250, Slana (907) 822-7401, Chitina (907) 823-7250 and Kennecott (907) 205-7106. CLOSED Mid-September through April.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 9078225234
✉ wrst_info@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 59°F
⛅ 69°/53°
⛅ 70°/53°
🌦️ 70°/55°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
0%
Feb
0%
Mar
1%
Apr
2%
May
17%
Jun
69%
Jul
100%
Aug
76%
Sep
20%
Oct
2%
Nov
0%
Dec
0%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Live conditions
Things to do
Fishing at Wrangell-St. Elias · 3 mi · The duration of fishing depends on the location you choose, the time to get there and return, as well as the time spent fishing. It can range from a few hours to a multi-day camping-fishing trip.
Ghost Towns · The duration of the trip depends on which site you fly to and how long you spend in the area exploring and hiking.
🔴 Front country Hiking Trails · Self-guided hiking varies in duration, depending on distance and athletic capabilities of the hiker.
Backpacking in Wrangell-St Elias · 15 mi
Webcams · 12010 ft gain
Virtual Tours
McCarthy Road -- Drive, Hike, Bike, View Wildlife, Picnic & Scenic Vistas. · From Chitina to McCarthy, 60 miles one-way takes 3-4 hours on gravel road with washboard and potholes. Not recommended for large vehicles, such as RV, motor coach or large camper.
Nabesna Road -- Drive, Hike, Bike, View Wildlife, Picnic & Scenic Vistas. · Two (2) hours one-way -- 40 miles from Slana to Nabesna. Road ends at private property. Turn around to return.
Campgrounds
Kendesnii Campground · 10 sites · first-come
Visitor centers
Chitina Ranger Station
Kennecott Visitor Center
Slana Ranger Station
Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center in Copper Center
Yakutat
Accessibility
33 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve — each spans a cross-park journey.
Dora Keen
— Mount Blackburn, Mountaineering, WomenFrederica de Laguna
— Lacl, Alaska, ArcheologyPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Chitina Ranger Station
🎫 Kennecott Visitor Center
🎫 Kennecott Visitor Center in Blackburn School
🎫 Slana Ranger Station
🎫 Wrangell-St. Elias Visitor Center in Copper Center
🎫 Yakutat
Places to see
Ahtna Cultural Center
audio
Amphitheater
audio
Boreal Forest Trail
audio
Bremner Historic Mining District
audio
Chisana
audio
Chitina Wayside
audio
Copper River in Wrangell-St Elias
audio
Crystalline Hills Trail
audio
Entrance Loop Information Sign
audio
Exhibit Hall
audio
General Manager's Office
audio
General Store, Warehouse & Post Office
audioAudio & media
Learn more
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Microgrant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Microgrant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2015 Microgrant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Science Education Grant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Science Education grant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2017 Science Education Grant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Science Education Grant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Science Education grant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2018 Science Education Grant recipients and their outreach projects.
The Murie Science and Learning Center (MSLC) funds numerous outreach projects through the Science Education Grant program. These grants help MSLC partner parks pay for science education outreach projects. Funding for the Science Education grant program is provided by Alaska Geographic. Read about the 2019 Science Education Grant recipients and their outreach projects.
View 2022 recipients of the National Park Service Excellence in Education Awards, which recognize expertise within the field of education.
This issue of Alaska Park Science highlights projects funded by the Coastal Marine Grant Program administered by the Ocean Alaska Science and Learning Center.
National park units in Alaska precede the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. The first park unit, Sitka National Monument, was conceived in 1908, and by the mid-1920s four national monuments along with Alaska’s first national park were part of the growing park system. Discover how the early 1900s and observations of a few helped to establish the National Park Service in Alaska.
Marine debris can affect marine mammals and birds through entanglement, strangulation, and digestive blockage. In summer 2015, we conducted an extensive multi-partner project to remove over 11 tons of marine debris from remote beaches in five Alaska parks.
Ranger School
Park-grounded courses you can learn with the Ranger.
Basics of Habitat
Open →
Bat and Moth
Open →
Create A Habitat
Open →
Creature Meeting
Open →
Forest Exploration
Open →
Oh, Moose!
Open →
Pathways to Discovery - "Scent"sations!
Open →
Pathways to Discovery - Model Habitat
Open →
Pathways to Discovery – Field Exploration
Open →
Pathways to Discovery – Getting to Know a Tree
Open →
Pathways to Discovery – Muir’s Trees and Writing Activity
Open →
Where is the Native Forest?
Open →
How Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
Park
Activity
Topic
State
Campground
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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