The thing that’s shocking to me about Alaska, is that there’s so much wilderness. It can be found in abundance in Alaska, but it takes getting off a cruise ship or coach tour to do it. Sometimes it’s only a matter of pulling off the road at a scenic overlook and setting up the RV. There’s so much land that a person can legally camp any place that’s not private property.  And in Alaska we’re talking about a LOT of space.

In Wrangell St. Elias National Park, it takes us less than a mile and a half over a wide trail to depart the mining ruins of the Kennicott Copper Company, to be surrounded by wilderness with a 360-degree view that flickers in a mountain-glacier-mountain-glacier pattern when I spin.  I find myself looking at the gravel around my feet and suddenly glancing up and saying “wow!” because I forgot for a moment where I was, and when I see it again it startles me.

Quite simply, we are camping on the edge of a cliff – a valley cut by the active glacier beneath us.  It is like sleeping atop a groaning, living creature.  Rock falls slip from her scales.  Rivers rage through her pores.  The enormous icefall at the head of the valley shifts with a low-bass “whomp” that you feel in your chest more than hear with your ears.

We stumble upon a pair of porcupines on our way to the bear bins.  One of them lets us follow him for several minutes, flaring his broom bristle tail every few seconds.  Bear scat is everywhere made of half digested soapberries that look like bricks of vegan power bars.  A young moose lingers by the outhouse, and every time it sees someone he bolts into the forest.

All of this is within a day of Anchorage, yet the country’s largest national park (it’s even bigger than Switzerland) gets a fraction of Denali’s visitors.  Much of the park can only be accessed by bush plane, but in Alaska  abject wilderness can be found with only a short walk down the trail.

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