Wrangell-St. Elias quickly became one of my favorite national parks we've visited. Despite it being…read morethe largest American national park, since so much of the park is remote, it's hard to see the vast majority of it. Visiting Wrangell-St. Elias required more than our typical planning since it is so remote. A lot of rental car companies will prohibit their cars from driving on McCarthy Road, so we had to find a specialty company to book with who would also provide us with a spare tire just in case. Gotta say, arriving to McCarthy Road and seeing the massive warning sign made me even more nervous, but we got so lucky - the road was so incredibly easy to drive. We found out later that it been graded less than a week before we showed up. The drive was so beautiful that it made the two hours fly by. McCarthy itself was such an incredible town to spend time in. We didn't get to fully explore because we showed up so late in the season that a lot of places were already closed. But the historical bits we could see were fascinating. We ended up booking a flightseeing tour with Wrangell Mountain Air - the park is so large and diverse, we wanted a chance to get to see it all. And it was so incredibly gorgeous and so worth it. If you have the ability to do it, I'd highly recommend it. Make sure to head on over to Kennecott to explore and learn about the old mining town. Grab some food at The Potato - so delicious! We booked an airbnb in McCarthy. It was easy to park on the other side of the foot bridge. We just brought backpacks, and it was an easy mile walk into the town. I heard there were shuttles, but the walk was easy and we honestly never saw one during our walk into the town. Definitely recommend against bringing any roller suitcases. There's a few hikes we would've liked to do if we had the time (and we're already exhausted from the hikes we'd done before coming). If you have the chance to really visit this park, I'd highly recommend it. It's so incredibly gorgeous and has so much to offer.

I visited Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (WSE) on a trip to Alaska. Ive been back for almost a…read moremonth and Ive thought a good bit about this park since going there. WSE seems like it should be a great park. It has big mountains, glaciers, and it's that largest park in the system. Seems like going here would be a slam dunk right? Wrong. Like many places in Alaska, you are limited in where the roads go, so you are limited in what parts of the park are accessible. There's a road on the north side and a road on the south side that go into the park. At the visitor center, they said it was 2 hours each way to get to the north side road, but only 1 hour to the south side road. So we went south. Most of the stuff we'd researched was on the south side anyway, so that was fine. We drove to the edge of the park, crossed a bridge, and entered what we thought was the park. As it turns out, that wasnt really the park - the acutal park boundary was maybe 20 minutes down the road from there. The road was paved in places, but what scared me was when I read that there were railroad spikes on the road and if you ran over one, you would get a flat tire - in the middle of nowhere, hours from AAA, and that's assuming you have a signal to call them. Once you cross the bridge, it's 2 hours each way to McCarthy. Then you have to cross a foot bridge, get a ride, then continue to McCarthy and/or Kennicott. Once you reach Kennicott, you can see an abandoned mining town. Sounds cool. If you go beyond there, you can see the glacier. There's some tour companies that will take you out on the glacier, so that sounds awesome. Problem is, that's about it. The spots along the road are alright, but are not that spectacular. If you want to see anything more, you have to take a scenic flight which costs $$$. So if you go here, its hard to see a lot, and unless you want to pay a lot, you have to put a lot of time and effort into getting to the main attraction (Kennicott). Im sure the park is cool, has beautiful sights and things like that. But if you cant access it, it almost doesnt matter as a place to visit. Most of what I imagine the best parts are inaccessible and the next best places require a lot of effort to reach. Simply, I dont think the juice is worth the squeeze on WSE. Maybe I would check this place out again, but not at the end of a 2 week road trip. I had simply driven too much and was tired of driving and not up for the long drive to the end of the road near McCarthy.

Had dinner at the Whistle Stop bar. Menu had changed from what is on their website. You can still…read moreorder a couple of things from the old menu if you know about them. The Caboose sandwich (portobello mushroom) was great. Generous amount of vegetables and cheese. Fries were fries. Nice crispy pickle spear served with it. Hubby had the cheese quesadilla and there was nothing special about it. Guacamole with it was rather bland. He enjoyed his wings though. The White Golden Rush (alcoholic beverage) was yummy. Prices were pretty par for the course for Alaska. If you get there early enough you can order from the full dining room menu.

Literally cancelled my reservations after seeing how ol' HR Jeff and Supervisor Robyn treat their…read morestaff. Even if an employee is 100% calling in sick falsely, you cannot go banging on their door. Shame on her.

cute little campground and you can walk from the RV park to the gas station…read more also Nice restaurant across the street

Great spot. Some sites with full hookups, some with only water and electric. Showers and laundry on…read moresite. Horseshoes and cornhole games. Covered BBQ area with tables. DVDs available to borrow. Nice hosts and owners. Walking distance to Tesoro gas station and convenience store and visitor center.