Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve: Comprehensive Collection of Planning Guides

The largest U.S. national park, where towering volcanoes meet massive glaciers in an epic alpine wilderness

Wrangell, St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve represents one of the planet's most spectacular mountain wilderness areas, where the collision of tectonic plates has created a landscape of extraordinary scale and drama. The park encompasses the entire Wrangell mountain range, the western portion of the Saint Elias Mountains, and the eastern reaches of the Chugach Mountains, protecting an area that dwarfs most other U.S. national parks combined. The mountains here rise dramatically from near sea level to nearly 18,000 feet within just miles of the Pacific coast, creating one of the highest reliefs on Earth. This dramatic elevation change occurs as the Pacific Plate subducts beneath the North American Plate, uplifting vast terranes that have been compressed and folded over millions of years. The result is a landscape of soaring peaks, massive icefields, and broad glacial valleys that remains largely wild and inaccessible, offering visitors true wilderness solitude in one of the most remote corners of North America.