Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness | |
---|---|
IUCN Category Ib (Wilderness Area) | |
Location: | Alaska, USA |
Coordinates: | |
Area: | 9,078,675 acres |
Established: | 1980 |
Governing body: | National Park Service |
Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness is a wilderness area in Alaska, United States. It is the largest U.S. Wilderness Area in Alaska. It is a land of remote valleys, wild rivers, and a fabulous wildlife population that includes the world's finest Dall sheep, grizzly bears, black bears, caribou, moose, bison, mountain goats, wolves, wolverines, beavers, coyotes, foxes, and marmots. In the north the glaciated peaks drop to tundra and boreal forested uplands. In the south massive glaciers spread from the mountains almost to the Gulf of Alaska. Several trails provide foot or horse access, but large braided rivers will often stop your progress. Mosquitoes are thick in the low country during the summer, and enough snow accumulates in the high country to make avalanches a year-round danger.
On the Canadian side of the border lies Kluane National Park, and together these two areas house this continent's most spectacular mountain kingdom.