Wrangell / St. Elias National Park

So raise your hand if you've heard of Wrangell St. Elias National Park. No? I'm not surprised. But you'd probably be surprised to learn it's the largest of America's national parks. And it's a true wilderness park... there are only two dirt roads into the park. It's kind of like 'going into the ghost' (for all you climbers out there, you know what I mean.... if not, it means a long ride down a poorly maintained dirt road which helps filter out the weeners, allowing only those determined enough to endure the ride. The result: peace and quiet for the dedicated).

Before leaving we backed up the car on seafood: Salmon, Halibut, and King Crab.

So we bid farewell to Valdez and headed up to McCarthy, a small town located within the park. The road is 100km, and takes about 2 hours. The road begins with stunning views of big peaks of the Wrangells: Mt. Sanford, Mt. Drum, and Mt. Wrangell. Interestingly, the first 25km are the worst (i.e. the coarse weener filter). Once there, we explored around. You can't really get to McCarthy by vehicle. We camped at a small campground just before the footbridge which takes you across the Kenicott river to McCarthy. This is the quintessential small-town, and embodies the concept of BFNW. The town population is 67, and the town is comprised of a handful of dirt roads, a hotel, a saloon, two guiding companies and two flightseeing companies.

Tonight we had Copper River Salmon, supposedly the best in Alaska. It lived up to its reputation, this is some of the best salmon we've ever had.