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Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska is the largest park in the national park service. Also known for having the continent’s largest assemblage of glaciers and the greatest collection of peaks above 16,000 feet, the park offers extreme adventure for the stout of heart. Mount St. Elias is the second highest peak in the United States at 18,008 feet and presents ample mountaineering opportunities. The park’s remoteness has resulted in little human occupation in the past, preserving its primitiveness.

 

The park is located a days drive east from Anchorage and lies adjacent to Canada’s Kluane National Park. There are three ways to view and get into the interior of the park. The 61-mile McCarthy Road is a dirt and gravel road that can take up to 3 hours to traverse. The Nabesna Road is a 42-mile gravel road from Slana to Nabesna that traverses the headwaters country of the Copper and Tanana drainages. The third way to view the park is by airplane where you can fly past massive peaks, over jagged glaciers, and endless expanses of wild Alaska.

 

The park and preserve encompasses four mountain ranges, the Chugach, the Wrangell, the Saint Elias, and the end of the Alaska Range on the northern borders. This in turn holds some of North America’s most remote wilderness. The terrain runs the gamut of mountains, glaciers, coastal and intertidal communities, rivers and lakes. Mountain climbing and ice climbing are big options to consider.

 

This truly wild Alaska is waiting to be explored by kayak, rafting, hiking, backpacking, mountaineering and mountain biking. Mountain biking can be done on the McCarthy and Nabesna Roads, some dry creek beds and a number of trails in the Glennallen, Copper Center-Chitina area. Sea kayaking can be done in Icy Bay on the coast and along the 150 miles of rugged coastline. Keep in mind that the coastline is for experienced sea kayakers as the coastline is wild and exposed to the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska or Yakutat Bay. Most kayakers are flown into the area to start at Kageet Point on the eastern edge of Icy Bay or Pt. Riou, located on Chugach Alaska Native Corporation land southeast of Icy Bay. Rafting opportunities are available in the rivers.

 

Hiking and backpacking can be done almost anywhere in the park, but conditions can often be muddy. Better hiking is available on the trails and routes that lead into the Mentasta Mountains north of Nabesna Road or past mile 36. You can also charter a plane to drop you off in the more remote interior. The landscape offers tremendous scenery and wildlife viewing. During the summer there are a wide variety of beautiful butterflies to be seen.

 

There are ample opportunities for fishing in the park and preserve. With the numerous lakes and rivers it can be a fly fisherman’s dream. Grayling, whitefish, Dolly Varden, lake trout, rainbow/steelhead trout, cutthroat trout, sculpin, burbot, lamprey, smelts, and suckers are all found in the park. The Gulkana River is a good place to catch salmon.

 

Sport hunting is allowed only in the preserve and in accordance with Alaskan regulations. It probably offers one of the biggest varieties of animals to hunt in the state. There are opportunities to hunt bear, Dall sheep, mountain goat, muskoxen, moose, waterfowl, and caribou. Off-road vehicles (ORV) can be used on established routes.

 

Winter also offers its share of outdoor adventure. Ice climbing, cross country skiing, snow skiing, snowmobiling, and snow shoeing are all options to enjoy if you love the cold weather. Remember that it can get minus 50 degrees F. in the dead of winter.

 

So no matter what your outdoor pleasure is, if you enjoy solitude and ruggedness, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the place for you. With the numerous shorebirds and two passerine migratory routes, the numerous wildlife, dragonflies and unique butterflies along with the rugged beauty of the terrain, you will experience something you won’t get any where else. This is definitely a park that should be on your must-see list.

 

The Sierra Club has launched in interesting new website called Sierra Club Trails that aims to be the Wikipedia of hiking, with a comprehensive, online, user updated, database of the best places to hike in the U.S.

The site is designed to be a place where we can all share information about our favorite places to hike, and post information on trails that we've discovered. Because it is user-updatable, the trail information can be altered on the go as conditions change, new trails open up, and unique places are discovered. You can search for trails in your area or some place that you will be visiting, and there are even easy options for finding the newest trails added to the database, as well as the most popular and highest rated. The trails don't even have to be on dry land either, as the website will allow you to enter paddling trails too.

If that wasn't enough, the Sierra Club is building a community around the site allowing outdoor adventurers to create a profile, logon, and join in the discussions on gear, trail food, and more. There is also an official blog for the website as well as news on upcoming events, and a "how to" section as well.

At the moment, the site isn't very well but it is technically still in beta, with many hikes missing. But the wiki just launched last week and I'm sure things will fill in very soon. Checking for my location here in Texas, i find only 11 trails so far, so there are plenty to add. But the ones that are there have some good information, including descriptions of the what to expect, including photos, and an indication of how challenging the trail is as well.

So, if you have a favorite trail, maybe you should head over to Sierra Club Trails and start sharing your thoughts. I'm sure your contribution will be appreciated by others, and you may find a few new trails for yourself while you're at it. This wiki looks very promising, and we can all use a few ideas on where to head out on a new hike.

South African adventurer Riann Manser is finishing up another long distance solo expedition according to this story at Adventure World Magazine. Manser has just 200km (124 miles) to go to complete the first ever solo circumnavigation of Madagascar by kayak. He is expected to finish the 5000km (3106 miles) journey on July 11th.

Manser set off in August of 2008 from the town of Tamatave on the eastern coast of Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world. From there, he turned north where is 'Round the Outside' journey properly got underway, as he paddled an average of 8 hours per day in a counter-clockwise fashion around the massive island off the coast of Africa. Along the way, he's been updating his website regularly and sharing his thoughts from the sea and tweeting his progress as well.

This isn't Riann's first "Round the Outside" adventure. He also spent more than two years riding his bike around the outside of the entire continent of Africa. In the process he covered 36,500km (22,680 miles), across 34 countries. You can read about that incredible journey on his website as well.

Another cool adventure that looks like will be coming to an end in the next few days. Exploring the coast of Madagascar by kayak has to be an amazing experience. Very cool!

Thanks to the team over at Adventure World Magazine for this one. Great story.

Update: Looks like I was off on the date of Riann wrapping up his adventure. According to a tweet on his Twitter feed, he'll finish up tomorrow, Wednesday, July 8th at 12:00 GMT. Congrats Riann!