Wednesday was a driving day… 311 miles from Fairbanks to Chitina. We stayed in the Hotel Chitina. We had the best corner rooms, on the second floor, facing this picture. But the rooms are as remote and sparse as any historic building in a mining town. Mike said: “It’s like stepping back in history.”
We were overjoyed to watch the Warriors win game 3 last night in Uncle Tom’s Tavern across the street (on the left side of this road. The joint was filled with a lot of locals, who just finished catching their limit of Red Salmon on the opening day of net fishing. I loved the knick-knacks on the bar and the vibe of the place.
Why did we drive to Chitina? In order to take a bush pilot airplane flight today into the National Park here in the southeaster corner of Alaska. It’s a park that very few people have heard of, at least those in the lower 48. It is Wrangell-St.Elias National Park, and has a long list of credentials:
- It is the largest National Park with 13.2 Million Acres
- It is six times larger than Yellowstone;
- This park is larger than Switzerland and has taller mountains!;
- At 13.2 million acres, you’d have to combine Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Switzerland to equal it!
- Largest Glacier in North America;
- 2nd tallest peak in North America – Mount St. Elias is 18,008 feet;
- 9 of the tallest 16 peaks in North America;
- 4 major mountain ranges:Wrangell, St. Elias, Chugach, and part of the Alaskan mountain range.
- It has the longest ice field anywhere in the world — 127 miles long by 6 miles wide.
- This park has the highest coastal mountains of any in the world.
- It had a famous copper mine that closed its doors in the 1930s.
- It gets 60 to 100 feet of snow each year;
In our next blog post we will show more pictures of the stunning beauty of this national park. Meanwhile, enjoy another view of Chitina.
