Wrangell St Elias National Park

Located in Alaska, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is America’s largest national park! It has elevations all the way from the ocean up to 18,008 feet, and is 13.2 million acres – the same size as Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Switzerland combined.

Visiting Wrangell-St. Alias National Park is a bit different than visiting other parks. It’s a true wilderness experience, as the park is filled with several living cultures, historic sites, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, and wildlife. Visitor services at the park can be limited, access throughout the park can sometimes be challenging and the weather varies. But, the visit is worth the reward! The National Park is rugged, beautiful and filled with opportunity for true adventure.

Weather in Wrangell-St. Elias can change quickly in any season, so when it comes time to pack, it’s all about layering! With the exception of the Yakutat part of the park, which is located along the coast, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park has long, extremely cold winters, and short, warm, relatively dry summers.

In general, it can snow any month of the year in the high country of the park. June and July are the warmest months, with highs reaching near 80 on some days. In general, rainfall increases in August and September, especially along the coast.

Autumn arrives early at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and the beautiful colors of fall start to appear by mid-August. The fall is short, however, as the first snows often begin in September. Winter at the park is long, dark and extremely cold. The highs are typically between 5-7 degrees F and lows dip all the way down to -50 degrees F. In the springtime, average highs are between 40-50 degrees F and the days begin to get longer.

In the coastal Yakutat area, weather can vary from other parts of the park. Storms with high winds typically occur during the spring, fall and winter, with the area receiving about 151 inches of rain a year. To avoid the rain, visit in June when the average precipitation is around 7 inches of rain. During the winter, the average low is around 26 degrees F, although you can expect plenty of snow, as Yakutat receives an average of over 200 inches of snow each winter.

The primary time to visit the park is between early June through mid-September. Because winter arrives early to this part of Alaska, by mid-September, many services and facilities have shut down for the season. There are two main roads into the park, Nabesna Road and McCarthy Road, both open year-round, but they are not maintained regularly during the winter.

Because the park is so large, there are plenty of things to see and do throughout the park itself and within some of the towns and communities located nearby. If you’re looking for in-park activities, view a full calendarhere.

Some of the activities you can do in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park include backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, boating, fishing, wildlife viewing, winter activities and much more. For a full list and more information about the park activities, clickhere. The National Park also created suggested trip itineraries for park trips ranging in length from one day to one week, which can be foundhere.