St. Elias National Park

Back in September, we took a weekend roadtrip to St. Elias National Park.  St. Elias happens to be America's largest National Park (larger than Vermont & New Hampshire combined).  The fact that it is in Alaska doesn't surprise me one bit, but it's sort of funny because there's only 2 roads that go in, and they stop at 42 miles in, and 60 miles in.  They are both gravel roads that are not well maintained.  In fact, we managed to get ourselves a flat driving out of the park, and aside from the stopping to fix the tire, it took us 2 hours each way to travel that short of distance.  It was definitely worth it though.  

At the end of the road, visitors can not take a car further.  There is a foot-bridge at the end of the road into the very small town of McCarthy.  Population 28.  I read in the paper recently that there is another Alaska show that recently came out "The edge of Alaska" that features the town of McCarthy.  The article was talking about how upset the residents of the town were for how inaccurate the show was going to be, and that they portray the town to be "a lawless refuge." It's all about the ratings of course;)  

From McCarthy you either walk or take a shuttle to an old historic mine called Kennicott, and from there you're on your own to hike/fly/raft into the park.  

We happened to take the roadtrip during the week that it was fall just a bit further east of Anchorage.  Very scenic drive.   

It takes approximately 7 hours to get from Anchorage to St. Elias.  We left after work on Friday and slept in the car off the side of the road a portion of the way there.  

Arriving in McCarthy.

Hiking into the park. 

Not too shabby of a camping spot.  It's hard to see because of the fog, but there's a glacier there just beyond the tent.  

Kennicott Mine.  Love these photos.  

The foot bridge on the way out.

Second flat tire of the year. 

On the road again!