Easy 5-Day Itinerary for Wrangell-St Elias National Park and the Copper Valley

Wrangell-St Elias National Park 5 Day Itinerary

I’m so glad you’re interested in visiting this beautiful National Park. I think that five days to enjoy the different parts of Wrangell-St Elias NP is perfect. It doesn’t rush you, but also you’ll not be bored. This itinerary can be done in reverse or you can add or take away a day if you need to. It’s a great travel plan to add to a visit to Valdez or if you’re doing the loop from Anchorage to Wrangell-St Elias NP to Fairbanks to Denali and ending in Anchorage. Really, there are lots of ways to make visiting this wonderful National Park a part of your summer trip to Alaska.

Copper Center

We start at Copper Center because if you’ve flow into Anchorage or Fairbanks, you’ll be able to drive here easily and start the adventure. Copper Center is the heart of the Copper River Valley and bucket list salmon fishing, so since this is an easy beginning to this itinerary, you can add a fishing day here. You’ll find that this is a very quiet area despite being the hub of activity in the Copper River Valley and having the primary visitor center for Wrangell-St Elias National Park. This is a chance to begin your trip with chill sightseeing and ramping up for hiking and more active adventures in the coming day.

Sleep in: Copper Center or Glennallen – there aren’t a ton of options for where to stay at Wrangell-St Elias National Park, so when you’re planning your trip, check the availability of a few places and then choose the option that’s most central to your plans. STAY HERE FOR 2 NIGHTS.

Lodging Suggestions: the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge is the nicest option, or the Tonsina River Lodge (with an awesome Russian restaurant), and then there are several small inns up in Glennallen. For vacation rentals and privately owned cabins, VRBO has the best inventory to search for a stay through. We really like the Whispering Pines Lodge (cabin) on Tonsina Creek.

Day 1 – Activities in Copper Center

If you arrive in Copper Center in the afternoon, start at the Wrangell-St Elias Visitor center where you can watch the orientation film (nice theater) and go through the many exhibits about the mountains, the Copper River and the wildlife of the National Park. Also, you can pick up maps and trail information. Be sure that you also spend time in the Ahtna Cultural Center at the Visitor Center Campus. This is a great chance to learn about the Indigenous history of the Copper River region. THIS IS WHERE THE NATIONAL PARK ENTRANCE SIGN IS if you want to do a photo.

If you drove to Copper Center and spent the night, thus waking up at the edge of Wrangell-St Elias National Park, you can do the previously mentioned activities in the morning and then do a half day fishing trip in the afternoon and into the evening. Copper River Guides does charters from Copper Center and lead an incredible fishing/rafting experience on the Klutina River (tributary of the Copper River). It’s so much fun and for many is a bucket list Alaska adventure.

Note: if you are staying in a lodge or hotel instead of a cabin with your own grill and kitchen, you may want to move plans around to do your fishing at the end of your trip so you can send your salmon home. If you’re able to cook what you catch, awesome! But if not, packaging your salmon and shipping it or carrying it onto the plane is an option if this is your last day of your trip.

Nabesna Road into Wrangell-St Elias National Park

The Nabesna Road is a 42 mile gravel road through the northern stretch of Wrangell-St Elias National Park. You enter it from the Glenn Highway / Tok Cutoff and it’s an adventure to drive. The scenery and wildlife are just what you’d hope for, and it’s unlikely that you’ll meet many people along the road or during your hikes. While you can just enjoy this as a scenic drive, most visitors like to do one or two of the hiking trails that go from Nabesna Road. There are no services here, so before you start driving, be sure that you’ve filled up your gas tank and gotten lunch, snacks and plenty of water for your day in this part of the park. Enjoy the views of both the Wrangell Mountains and the Alaska Range as you drive, and bask in the cell-signal-free-ness of it all.

Day 2 – Nabesna Road Hiking and Sightseeing

Start nice and early so you can take your time throughout the day, and be sure to stop at the Slana Ranger Station for trail recommendations and current conditions, as sometimes Nabesna Road will have washouts or the road in general will be extra rough. That’s just part of visiting Wrangell-St Elias National Park. As you continue your drive, you come to your first hiking opportunity. Caribou Creek is a six mile round trip hike and it’s all about the views. It’s one of the easiest hikes available on Nabesna Road. For another good hike, do the Skookum Volcano Trail, which can be an up-and-down or a loop.

As you continue driving Nabesna Road be sure to stop at viewpoints and wildlife viewing areas, check out the historic Nabesna Mine area (observe any posted access or safety restrictions), and if you have time and energy so some other hiking. You can always just do a part of a trail, and with the length of a lot of the options on Nabesna Road, just doing a partial trail totally makes sense. When you’re done with exploring the 42 miles of gravel road, return to Copper Center for one mor night’s sleep before your next adventure in Wrangell-St Elias National Park.

Available hikes:

• Caribou Creek Trail – Moderate day hike with awesome views. 6 miles round trip
• Trail Creek Trail – Moderate day hike up the Trail Creek drainage to the high country. 10 miles one way, suggest to plan for half of the hike
• Lost Creek Trail – Moderate day hike up the Lost Creek drainage to the high country. 7 miles one way, there are creeks to ford
• Skookum Volcano Trail – Moderately strenuous day hike to great views and geology! 2.5 miles one way or 5.5 miles as a loop continuing down the pass and back to the parking area
• Rambler Mine Trail – Short but steep day hike to an old mine and a panoramic view. 1.5 miles round trip

McCarthy & Kennicott – Central Wrangell-St Elias NP

Within the boundaries of Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve lie the towns of McCarthy and Kennicott. Kennicott is where the Kennecott Mines were, as well as access to the Root and Kennicott Glaciers. Now, this area is great because it’s one of the only parts of the park that you can drive to… or drive close to. Once you drive the 60 mile gravel road to McCarthy, starting in the town of Chitina, then you’ll actually need to park your car (pay for parking) and walk across the Kennicott River footbridge with your luggage for the shuttle into town.

Don’t worry, this may sound like a weird hassle, but it’s worth it. Once you’ve made it to McCarthy and then when you visit Kennicott, you’ll understand that it’s worth the unusual travel for your time here. The town of McCarthy is very small but it’s all walkable and is full of dogs running around. It’s kind of wonderful. You’ll be either using the Copper Town Shuttle or being picked up by guide services for getting where you need to go over the next few days. They have a very good system in place for helping guests get from place to place. It’s easy. You’ll be here for either two or three nights depending on how you want to manage your time.

Sleep in: McCarthy or Kennicott for 2 or 3 NIGHTS. I think 3 nights is ideal because there is a lot to do and once you depart the area, you’ll not want to do the long drive back.

Lodging Suggestions: the hotels in this part of Wrangell-St Elias National Park are the McCarthy Lodge Resort (the Ma Johnson Hotel, Rose House Hotel and Lancaster’s Backpacker) and then the Kennicott Glacier Lodge over in the town of Kennicott. None of these hotels are fancy, but you’ll find that they each have a rustic charm that suites the history and vibes of McCarthy and Kennicott.

Day 3 – Getting to McCarthy in Wrangell-St Elias National Park

When you leave Copper Center you’ll be heading south on the Richardson Highway to the Edgerton Highway. I like this drive and there are some really beautiful views along the way. One of the best stops to make as you approach the McCarthy Road is Liberty Falls State Recreation Site. Here you can just enjoy the waterfall and gorge, take in the cold mist from the river and relax for a few before driving the last stretch of the Edgerton Highway. Watch for moose and bear along the drive, because they’re all around here.

Important: you MUST get gas at the small singular gas pump in Chitina before you get onto the McCarthy Road. There are no services on the road so you need to be sure that you can make it to the end of the road and back safely.

As you drive McCarthy Road try to enjoy the viewpoints and historic railroad features along the way, always keeping an eye out for wildlife. There are some parts of McCarthy Road that are more rough than others, but for the most part it’s just a long and very dusty road. When you get to the end of the road, DON’T FOLLOW YOUR MAP PROGRAM. Just keep driving to the end, as the map will try to make you cross the river and you cannot.

Now, before you head across the footbridge, you should have a little adventure exploring the Kennicott Glacial Lake and Kennicott River. McCarthy River Tours does private rafting trips (you’re only with your group) around the lake at the end of the Kennicott Glacier, which is very unique, and then you transition into whitewater rafting on the Kennicott River that flows from there. It’s Class II and III rapids, and it’s a really fun way to start your time in this part of Wrangell-St Elias National Park. When you’re done, cross the Kennicott River footbridge and enjoy McCarthy. Check out McCarthy River Tours here! Use code MyAKtrip10 for a 10% discount on adventures with McCarthy River Tours.

Day 4 – Mining History and Old Alaska

Waking up in McCarthy feels like waking up in a different century (except for the random vans or shuttles rolling through town. After some breakfast, head to the mill town of Kennicott to either do a guided mill tour and access the big buildings (closed to the public, only accessible on a tour) or walk around town on a self-guided tour to the many buildings and exhibits open to the public.

When you’re done with the mill area, grab lunch in Kennicott either at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge dining room or at the Meatza food truck. Both overlook the Kennicott Glacier so your lunch comes with a view. When you’re done, go for a hike up to either the Bonanza or Jumbo Mine. Either of these trails is a bit intense, so if you’re not feeling like a big hike, you can head back towards McCarthy and then walk the Wagon Road to hike to the toe of the Kennicott Glacier, and then stop into the McCarthy Museum before you’re back to your hotel.

Another option for this afternoon if you don’t plan on do the rafting trip suggested for the day before, is to do a glacial lake packraft /kayak tour. This is a unique sort of kayaking that you can do around the end of the glacier, checking out the grounded and newly calved icebergs. When you’re done, spend the evening relaxing in McCarthy. McCarthy River Tours also leads this trip! Remember that you can use code MyAKtrip10 for a 10% discount on adventures with them.

Day 5 – Glacier Hiking on the Root & Kennicott Glaciers

This is your last day in McCarthy and Kennicott, and today’s plan is one of my favorite activities in Alaska. I love getting to explore glaciers, and in Wrangell-St Elias National Park there are a lot of then. Today though you get to visit the Root and Kennicott Glaciers. While you can hike to the glaciers on your own via the trail at the end of the Kennicott mill town, both for gear and safety’s sake, you’ll want to book a guided tour. Glaciers are amazing to explore but they are also full of all sorts of dangers and nuanced surfaces. When you’re hiking on the glacier you’ll see there are streams and waterfalls, but there are also crevasses and moulins (wells) that can be deadly. Also, sometimes you’ll come upon a surprise cliff that you just simply don’t want to walk off.

Both Kennicott Wilderness Guides and McCarthy River Tours lead trips for hiking on the glaciers here in Wrangell-St Elias National Park. Either one will do a great job (we went out with KWG and loved it) and we have

Once you’ve completed your beautiful root glacier hike, grab some lunch from the McCarthy Mercantile (great sandwiches to go) and catch the shuttle back to the Kennicott River footbridge, because it’s time for the 60 mile drive back out on the gravel road. If you didn’t stop at the viewpoints and waysides along the drive in, take your time on the way out, and then enjoy the more smooth driving when you make it to the Edgerton Highway. When you’re done with your time in Wrangell-St Elias National Park, you have options for where to go next: south to Valdez, north to Fairbanks or west to Anchorage.

Simple Wrangell-St Elias NP Itinerary

If that was too much detail for you to digest in your planning, here’s the simple version of our itinerary for Wrangell-St Elias National Park. This is an easy plan to follow and we’ve including links for booking accommodations and tours, and there’s even a version you can download and use offline while you’re exploring the park and the Copper River Valley.

ARRIVE:  drive to Copper Center from Anchorage, Fairbanks or Valdez

Tips:  1) always fill your gas tank   2) download an offline map of the area

• Day 1:  Explore Copper Center and the Copper River Valley
  • Drive to Copper Center if you haven’t yet
  • Wrangell-St Elias Visitor Center and trails
  • Do a Copper River Discovery Tour
  • 1/2 day Copper River salmon fish trip (Copper River Guides)
  • End in Copper Center

WHERE TO STAY IN Copper Center for 2 nights:  Copper River Princess Lodge, Tonsina River Lodge, Cabins in Copper Valley

• Day 2:  Nabesna Road, northern Wrangell-St Elias NP
  • Fill gas tank in Glennallen before begging your drive
  • Enter Nabesna Road, 42 mile gravel highway
  • Stop at Slana Ranger Station for road report
  • Hike at Caribou Creek
  • Hike at Skookum Volcano
  • Nabesna Mine and end of the road
  • Return to lodging in Copper Center
• Day 3:  Driving McCarthy Road
  • Depart lodging and head to the Edgerton Highway
  • Stop at Liberty Falls State Recreation Site
  • GET GAS in Chitina before starting McCarthy Road
  • Drive 60 mile gravel McCarthy Road
  • Rafting on Kennicott Glacial Lake and River
    • Or book direct with McCarthy River Tours and use code MYAKTRIP10 for a 10% discount on your booking
  • Park at footbridge (paid parking) and cross Kennicott River
  • Shuttle to lodging
  • Dinner in McCarthy

WHERE TO STAY IN MCCARTHY:  McCarthy Lodge Resort, Blackburn Cabins

• Day 4:  Old Alaska Mining History
  • Guided Kennicott tour for mill access (St Elias Alpine Guides)
  • Explore the Kennicott National Historical Landmark
  • Do one of the mine hikes from Kennicott
  • Short hike on the Wagon Road to the toe of Kennicott Glacier
  • Optional: Summer dog mushing camp (Waylon’s Way Dog Sledding)
  • Evening dinner in McCarthy
• Day 5:  Glaciers and Depart Wrangell-St Elias NP
  • Do a guided hike on the Root Glacier
    • Or book with Kennicott Wilderness Guides use code 2traveldads for a 5% discount on your booking (except fly-outs)
    • Or book direct with McCarthy River Tours and use code MYAKTRIP10 for a 10% discount on your booking
  • Get sandwiches for the road from McCarthy Mercantile
  • Depart McCarthy and continue your Alaska trip

I hope you’re excited to visit Wrangell-St Elias National Park and that our five day itinerary fits well with your plans. Remember that you can always move activities and daily suggestions around to fit your timeline and interests. If you have any questions about making this trip happen or if you need additional recommendations, please leave a comment or send us a note. We’re always happy to share more and help make your Alaska trip memorable!