Free Camping on Nabesna Road
From Seward we drove about 400 miles up to the only drive-in campground in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Kendesnii campground on Nabesna Road. That road is 42 miles long and was originally built to access the Nabesna Gold mine which lies at the end of the road. The road receives minimal maintenance and is paved for the first third or so. The rest of it is unpaved and after mile 29 or so there a are a couple of creeks that flow across the road and while much of the time they are dry, there are times when they are flowing across the road (which was the case for our visit) and you need a high-clearance vehicle to pass. Fortunately for us, the campground is just before the first of those creeks so we had no problem getting to it beyon navigating around a few potholes along the way.
Kendesnii is a ten-site free campground run by the Park Service. Nabesna Road is a remote area and we found during our say that the campground never filled up completely although on a few nights most sites were full. Most of the sites would fit a moderately-sized RV. If you’re over 30 feet long your choices might be limited a bit. The campground has a couple of outhouses but no potable water so you’ll have to bring your own. There also are a few camp sites along the road that are interesting. Check the National Park Service page with more information about them.
Hiking in Wrangell-St. Elias
As is the case much of the time in Alaska, the weather wasn’t always cooperative. While we weren’t washed out on any days our time in Wrangell-St. Elias was mostly cloudy with some showers mixed in and low visibility. Hiking trails were minimal to non-existent but we were able to take a couple of hikes, both along creeks on the north side of Nabesna Road. The first was the Caribou Creek trail and is a former ATV trail that crosses the creek a couple of times. Neither has a bridge but we were able to get across without fording at one of them. The water was COLD! The hike was a moderate one with the biggest challenge being the creek crossings. The cabin is available for free but must be reserved with the Park Service. More information on the cabin here. Views of the Wrangell Mountains from the cabin are impressive!
The second hike we took in Wrangell-St. Elias was the Trail Creek hike. The hike is on the far side of where Trail Creek crosses the road, and with the creek flowing over the road about a foot deep we had to stop, ford the creek on foot and then find the trailhead. This trail starts as an old ATV trail and has several stretches where it’s hard to follow, especial where it crosses the creek, which is a typical Alaska braided creek that changes its course fairly frequently and can get quite wide. We lost the trail a few times and had to cross the creek a few times in trying to find it again. With the difficulties keeping on the trail we didn’t complete the hike, but we had lunch alongside the creek and enjoyed fantastic views of the Mentasta Mountains to the north on the way in and the Wrangell Mountains on the way out.
Overall Impressions of Wrangell-St. Elias
Wrangell St. Elias is the largest of all the National Parks and what we saw was just a small corner of the park. We were impressed with the scenery and solitude in this remote part of the park and hope to return one day.
Click here for more of our blog pages on our Alaska trip.
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