Wrangell-St. Elias National Park |
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska is the largest
park in the nation, covering 13.2 million acres. It has
extremely limited access, with only two major roads. One lies to the south, the McCarthy Road, and
the second road lies on the northern side of the Wrangell mountain range. This is the Nabesna Road, 42 miles of rough
gravel, including at least five water crossings. A high-clearance (preferably 4-wheel-drive in
wet weather) vehicle is necessary for the last ten miles.
We traversed the Nabesna during our 2010 trip. At that time, the park was building a
primitive (dry) campground but it was not yet complete. We stopped at the Salana Ranger station,
located at the beginning of the Nabesna Road to check road conditions. Dark clouds hovered over the mountains. The park ranger told us that with all the rain that some of the
water crossings may be high but should retreat quite quickly once the rain
passed. Another ranger told us that the
postal driver had turned back earlier in the afternoon at the third crossing
because it was too high.
We traveled as far as the same crossing. The water rushed through the gulley in a
torrent. Not knowing how deep it might
be, we retreated to the now-completed campground for the evening. The campground was nestled in the pines and
provided a quite and beautiful spot for the night.
The following morning, we broke camp and decided to try the
water crossings again. To our delight,
the water had gone down substantially.
We decided to ford and travel to the end of the road to the now defunct
and historical Nabesna gold mine.
Water crossing on Nabesna Road |
The
mountains before us boasted a fresh dusting of snow. In the distance, we spied mountain goats.
The town of Nebesna rests near the end of the road. It has maybe a dozen houses, a bed and
breakfast, an outdoor adventure guide, a few small planes, and a grass
runway. The road narrows substantially
after the town and dead-ends at a “road closed” sign. About 3-1/2 miles up this road rests the
ruins of the Nabesna gold mine.
We
decided to stroll up the road. About a
half-mile in, we discovered a trail to the Rambler Mine. We could see the water flume from the road
but dared not try to take the trail.
Although it was under a mile in length, the trail climbed over 400 feet
in altitude. Our Golden girl’s legs were
already trembling. We decided it best to
hike back to the truck.
As Roxanne snored softly in the backseat, we returned back
down the Nabesna Road, past our last night’s camp.
We decided to stay in one of the camping pullouts nearer the entrance
for an early morning start to Tok since we had several errands to finish before
leaving Alaska. It was a beautiful campsite,
overlooking Rock Lake and Mt. Wrangell.
Because it was a bit buggy in the sun, we put up the screened tent to
ward off those nasty gnats.
Evening began to settle in, and the mountain range had only
wisps of clouds surrounding it, promising a glorious morning. Suddenly a car pulled into the camp and two
men barreled out. They didn’t bother
saying anything to us, just went to a high spot and began to peer over the
lake. David met them. They said, “Oh, sorry to bother you, we’re
hunters.”
Seems that it was the first day of moose season for
subsistence hunters in the area. A large
bull moose had his territory around Rock Lake, and these fellows were trying to
locate him. By the end of the evening,
no less than seven vehicles stopped to look for this same moose. (Obviously our choice of campsites was the
envy of everyone.) David would get out
of the camper and explain to each one that we hadn’t seen the moose. All of the hunters seemed nice, but it was
still quite disconcerting to have so many pull into our one-spot camp. We were grateful when night fell but knew
that morning would bring a similar parade of vehicles.
Sunset on Mt. Wrangell |
It was as if the Spirit nudged me the next morning. Most of you know that I am not an early
riser. But I woke and rolled to look at
Wrangell Mountain. I quickly grabbed my
glasses to make certain that what I thought I saw was what I saw… the mountain
bathed in red. As I slid out of bed, a
bewildered David asked, “What are you doing?”
“Look at the mountain,” I said. “I’m taking photos.”
Sunrise on Mt. Wrangell |
He, too, scrambled out of bed. We spent the next hour in the morning chill,
drinking in the beauty before us. Wow!
With even the lower mountains dusted in snow and fall colors
showing more and more each day, we knew what we needed to do. Our battle cry now seems to be, “We’ve got to
get up the Dempster!”
We broke camp, drove to Tok, then on to Chicken. After taking showers, we traveled on to Walker
Creek Campground on the Taylor Highway.
Tomorrow we return to Eagle, then will leave Alaska for our final
northern goal… Canada’s Dempster Highway.
That's Mt. Sandford, NOT Wrangell.
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