Welcome to our roundup of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park facts. In this article we share 10 genuinely interesting things about the largest national park in the United States. For more, see the full Wrangell-St. Elias National Park hub and our overview of Alaska national parks.
Wrangell-St. Elias sits in southeastern Alaska, a wilderness of glaciers, volcanoes, and some of the tallest mountains on the continent. It is bigger than most people can picture, and despite its size it sees only a fraction of the crowds that pour into the famous parks down south.
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Facts
1. It Is the Largest National Park in the United States
At roughly 13.2 million acres, Wrangell-St. Elias is by far the largest national park in the country. It is bigger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the entire country of Switzerland combined. You could fit several smaller national parks inside it and still have room to spare.
2. It Holds Some of the Tallest Peaks in the Country
The park contains 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the United States. The tallest, Mount St. Elias, rises to 18,008 feet, making it the second-highest peak in the country after Denali. Four major mountain ranges meet within the park’s boundaries, which is part of why the relief here is so extreme.
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3. It Has an Enormous Glacier Bigger Than a State
The Malaspina Glacier, where it spreads out at the base of the mountains, is one of the largest piedmont glaciers in North America, covering an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. The park is wrapped in ice, with thousands of glaciers grinding down from the high country.
4. It Is Home to an Active Volcano
Mount Wrangell, at 14,163 feet, is one of the largest active volcanoes in North America. Steam still rises from vents near its summit, a reminder that this landscape of ice and rock is still being shaped from below.
5. It Was Created in 1980
President Jimmy Carter designated Wrangell-St. Elias as a national park and preserve on December 2, 1980, as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. That single law roughly doubled the size of the national park system and protected vast stretches of Alaska in one stroke.
6. It Is Part of the Largest Protected Wilderness on Earth
Wrangell-St. Elias connects with neighboring parks in the United States and Canada to form one of the largest protected wilderness areas on the planet. Together with Kluane, Glacier Bay, and Tatshenshini-Alsek, it makes up a UNESCO World Heritage Site spanning two countries.
7. It Has Deep Ties to Four Alaska Native Groups
The park has long-standing connections to four distinct Alaska Native peoples, the Ahtna and Upper Tanana Athabascans of the interior and the Eyak and Tlingit of the Gulf of Alaska coast. People have lived off this land for thousands of years, and subsistence traditions continue today.
8. An Old Copper Boomtown Sits Inside It
The historic Kennecott mine, once one of the richest copper operations in the world, ran inside the park’s boundary in the early 1900s. Its red mill buildings still stand near the town of McCarthy, now a National Historic Landmark and one of the park’s most popular destinations.
9. You Can Drive Into Almost None of It
For a park this enormous, road access is minimal. Two long gravel roads, the McCarthy Road and the Nabesna Road, are the only ways to drive in, and they reach just the fringes. Most of the park is true wilderness with no roads, no trails, and no facilities, accessible only by small plane or on foot.
10. It Is One of the Least Visited Big Parks
Despite its scale and grandeur, Wrangell-St. Elias draws well under 100,000 visitors in a typical year, a tiny number for a park its size. Remoteness keeps the crowds away, and those who make the trip often have entire valleys to themselves.
Wrangell-St. Elias is wilderness on a scale that is hard to grasp until you stand in it. For more, see our overview of Alaska national parks, our ranking of the national parks by size, and the full Wrangell-St. Elias National Park hub.
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