Paddling in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Wrangell-St. Elias holds more glaciated terrain than any other national park in the country, and the water that comes off it shapes everything about paddling here. Rivers run braided and glacially fed through valleys flanked by four converging mountain ranges.

The coastline holds tidewater ice. The scale is not figurative — at 13 million acres, the park is larger than Switzerland, and most of it has no road access at all. Getting to the water often means a bush plane.

The Kennicott River is the most accessible put-in, reachable from McCarthy on the park's main gravel corridor. Guided trips run from the glacier's toe down to the Chitina River, a full-day float that ends with a small plane pickup at the takeout.

Shorter trips paddle the glacial lake at the terminus of the Kennicott Glacier itself — a slow, surreal float among ice and rock debris, more about the landscape than the hydraulics.

Packrafting trips also launch from the Kennicott Glacier toe, pairing a short hike with time on the water. Icy Bay, on the park's remote Gulf of Alaska coastline, is the sea kayaking destination here.

Since 1900, four tidewater glaciers have been retreating and opening the bay, and the paddling now moves through frigid water shared with Steller sea lions, orcas, and seabirds.

Access is by small bush plane only — most paddlers fly in with collapsible kayaks, landing at Kageet Point, the standard entry. There are no designated campsites; beach camping is dispersed and leave-no-trace throughout the bay.

No backcountry permit is required for paddling or camping in the park.

Qualified local rural residents fishing under federal subsistence regulations need a federal subsistence fishing permit, available at the park's Visitor Center in Copper Center and the Slana Ranger Station, typically starting in May — check with the park for current requirements before you go.

The park doesn't punish the unprepared so much as it simply doesn't accommodate them. Self-rescue on a glacially fed river in a roadless valley is a different calculation than most paddlers are used to making.

The water is cold, the weather moves fast, and the bush plane that brought you in is the same one you're counting on to get out.