Wrangell-St Elias Scenic Flightseeing Tour Review
There are eight national parks in Alaska. The biggest and perhaps one of the most scenic is Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Wrangell St. Elias National Park is the largest national park in the United States, with 13.2 million acres. This is equal to 6 Yellowstone Parks and is bigger than many countries. The best way to see everything is to book at Wrangell-St. Elias scenic flightseeing tour!
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However, the vast majority of the park is inaccessible for the casual sightseer. There are only two roads into the park, and only one road into the main park area. The McCarthy Road is 60 miles of road (most of it unpaved) and runs from Chitina to McCarthy. And from McCarthy, if you want to visit the Kennecott Mine Area you have to take a shuttle.
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Wrangell-St. Elias national Park Overview
Wrangell St. Elias is home to 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the United States. The park contains part of 4 mountain ranges- Saint Elias, Alaska Range, the Wrangells, and the the Chugach. Some of the mountains you can see on various tours include: Mt. Drum, Mt. Blackburn, Mt. Wrangell, Mt. Sanford, Mt. St. Elias (the 2nd tallest mountain in North America), University Peak, Mt. Churchhill, and Mt. Bona.
But the grandeur doesn’t stop with the tall mountain peaks. There are numerous massive glaciers like Nabesna Glacier, Malaspina Glacier, and the Hubbard Glacier. Tourists can hike on Root Glacier and easily see the Kennicott Glacier.
And one of the most impressive sights in the park is the Bagley Icefield. This ice field is massive and one of the largest subarctic icefields in the world!
The biggest Reason you should consider a flightseeing tour for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Unlike some of the national parks in Alaska like Denali National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park, Wrangell St. Elias is very remote and flightseeing is the only way to see much of the park, unless you are able to do some serious backcountry camping. Even then, much of the park is inaccessible to backcountry drop-offs unless you are utilizing an air service.
In my opinion, the best way to see Wrangell-St. Elias National Park by far is to book a flightseeing tour. Since our family booked a stay at Kennicott Glacier Lodge, we opted both to use an air taxi to fly to Kennicott, and we booked a flightseeing tour to see as much of Wrangell St. Elias National Park as time and weather would allow.
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How to Get to McCarthy and Kennicott, Alaska
You can opt to drive the very bumpy Mccarthy Road, but not all vehicles can make this drive (and rental cars are typically not allowed to use it). There is a bus ride you can use as well, but the easiest way to get to the area is with a quick flight. The air operator for both the air taxi and flightseeing tour was Wrangell Air. They offer three flights a day to Kennicott and the flight is about 30 minutes. Even though it’s not billed as flightseeing, the trip is incredibly scenic.
There are a few main air services for the park and depending on where you are coming from, there are numerous air taxis to Kennicott from Anchorage, Glenallen, or Chitina. Another popular air taxi option, especially if you are coming from Anchorage or Glennallen is the Copper Valley Air Service.
The flightseeing tour operator we used is Wrangell Mountain Air. Any tour with Wrangell Mountain Air will be the experience of a lifetime. The airplanes are small enough that everyone gets window seats. Your tour will be on a small plane but this will allow you to more easily soar past massive peaks and cover more of the park.
Flightseeing options with Wrangell Mountain Air
There are 4 main tour options for a scenic flight with Wrangell Air and each of them are a great way to experience the endless expanses of wild Alaska. Here is a full list of the tours:
Option #1: The Mile High Cliff tour
Length: 50 minutes. This tour costs $320/person and unique highlights of the tour include some of the more famous high peaks, the Mile High Cliffs rock glacier formation, the Stairway Icefall, and Erie Mine.
Option #2: Thirteen Glacier Tour
Length: 70 minutes. This tour costs $390/person. Highlights include the Mile High Cliffs, numerous high peaks, mountain ranges, and glaciers. You can also see hanging glaciers and the Stairway Icefall.
Option #3: Bagley – University Range Tour
Length: 90 minutes. At $430/person this is the most popular tour option. Because this tour is longer you will get to see numerous mountain ranges, high peaks, glaciers, and the Bagley Icefield.
Option #4- Jewels of the Wrangells Tour
Length: 120 minutes. The most expensive tour option is $520/person. At 2 hours of flying time, you really get to see everything with this tour option!
We booked option #3 because we wanted to see majestic mountains and the Bagley Ice Field. It was really cloudy and rainy on the day of our tour, but tours operate in the rain, as long as there isn’t a ton of wind. That being said, the view of Mt. St. Elias was non-existent so our pilot/tour operator changed up the route so we could see more of what was visible.
We did see quite a few mountains, glaciers, amazing land formations, the Chitina River, and of course the Bagley Icefield. This ice field is massive.
A tour with Wrangell Air is a great way to see spectacular scenery including massive glaciers, ice fields, and many of the largest mountains in North America, including spectacular views of the Wrangell Mountains. Honestly, even though a flightseeing tour is pricey, in order to get a true sense of how vast Wrangell- St. Elias National Park is, I would strongly urge you to book this unique, once in a lifetime tour.
This was certainly one of the top experiences of our Alaska vacation, and this is even during inclement weather and a little motion sickness!
My favorite part of the flightseeing tour was the Bagley Ice Field. You really can’t describe the sheer massiveness of the icefield. Seeing it is every bit as amazing as seeing the glaciers on a day boat tour.
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How does the Tour work?
The flightseeing tours from Wrangell Air fly out of the McCarthy Airport. Since we were staying at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge, we got the shuttle from the Kennicott area to McCarthy. You could also walk across the footbridge, but the distance between Kennicott and McCarthy is 5 miles.
Once you arrive, check in at the airport/tour building and go potty if you need to.
Your tour operator (also your pilot) will greet you and assign you a seat based on weight distribution and preference. Someone will get to sit shotgun in the cockpit too. So, that’s cool!
And you are off! Once the flight lands, the shuttle van will meet you and drive you back to Kennicott.
Tips for booking a wrangell-st elias scenic flightseeing Tour
Best Time to Book
The best time to book a trip is probably July or August. The flightseeing season is quite short. They open in early June and take the last flight typically by the first days of September.
What to Wear
Dress warm but not too warm. Even in the summer months, it will likely be slightly chilly inside the airplane but not unpleasant. The airplane is climate controlled. Also, given the altitude, it is likely to be chilly even on the ground.
Motion Sickness
Take motion sickness medicine or wear the motion sickness ear patch an hour or so before your flight is scheduled to take off. Because the airplanes are small and you are flying in and out of mountain ranges, it is likely you will experience turbulence.
Also, I would recommend eating something but not too much. Use the same rules you would use for a rollercoaster. This won’t be like a rollercoaster, but it also won’t be like your typical flight on an airliner either.
Should you cancel if it rains?
That is honestly a judgement call. Most people aren’t hanging around Wrangell-St. Elias for days at a time. If the weather is a concern, talk to the tour operator or call Wrangell Mountain Air. They are typically very accommodating as long as there is space available on a future flight.
That being said, it was pretty rainy when we took our tour, and we still had an utterly phenomenal time!
Is this Tour appropriate for kids?
YES! I think it is. It’s not super scary. The biggest factors for you will be: 1. Do you want to spend $300-$500 for your child/children to go on this tour? If not you might want to pick a less expensive tour. 2. Are your kids scared of heights and/or super motion sickness prone? If they are, you might want to reconsider only because there is no turning back once the plane takes off.
Bring Cash for a Tip!
Don’t forget to bring cash for a tip. Tipping is not required but is strongly encouraged. The pilots are also your tour guides and it is recommended to tip between 10-20% the cost of the flight.
What else can you do in Wrangell- St. Elias National Park?
After your Wrangell-St Elias scenic flightseeing, you might want to explore more activities in the park. A top option for many travelers is glacier trekking on Root Glacier Trail. Snap on those crampons and hike a full or half day on the Root Glacier. You might even be able to do some ice climbing!
Take a tour of the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark. This is a truly unique and amazing tour. You can’t actually tour inside the landmark unless you are on a guided tour.
Take a full or half day rafting trip. This could be as easy as floating on an alpine lake or something more adventurous like a drop in hike and raft combo adventure.
St. Elias Alpine Guides is the Best Tour Operator in Kennicott
St. Elias Alpine Guides is the main tour operator and they offer a wide variety of tours to suit most skill and adventure seeking levels. Some of the many options you can choose from include:
– Rafting
– Alpine Hikes
– Kennecott Mill Tour. Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark
– Ice Climbing
– Rafting
We did go on the Kennecott Mill Tour and it was fantastic. We opted not to hike on the Root Glacier because we had another glacier hiking experience lined up for a later part of the trip.
Unfortunately, the rafting trip we had planned had to be cancelled at the last moment because we all got super sick. Blegh. But St. Elias was super gracious and gave us a full refund even though it was less than 24 hours before our tour started. I only mention that to say that if stuff happens on your trip, you don’t have to always tough it out and be miserable. If you are courteous and have a great reason, don’t be surprised if you are given grace in cancellations. There is no guarantee, but all of these tour operators know that it’s easy to get sick on vacation. They are typically very accommodating.
Is It spelled Kennicott or Kennecott?
That is a great question! The mine is definitely spelled Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark. And the hotel is definitely spelled Kennicott Glacier Lodge. If you Google Map the town name it will revert to Kennicott, so it seems that is the official spelling. But, to further complicate the question, the local cemetery is the Kennecott Cemetery.
It seems there was a clerical error when the mining town was established. It was supposed to be spelled Kennecott (hence the spelling of the actual mine), but someone changed it in the paperwork to Kennicott. And there you have it.
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