Alaska by Road: Valdez, McCarthy, Wrangell-St Elias and Denali

Arrive in Anchorage

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport to your hotel in central Anchorage

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Anchorage
• Environ 18 min de route

Soir

In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the road ahead: which days are long, how the gravel roads work, what to pack in your day bag for McCarthy, and what to wear on the boat and the ice. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner in town.

Compris

• Pick-up at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Activités en option

• Anchorage Museum

The Glenn Highway and the Matanuska Glacier

Anchorage to Palmer, the Matanuska Glacier, then Glennallen

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Glennallen
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

We leave Anchorage after breakfast and drive north-east on the Glenn Highway, past the farms of the Matanuska valley at Palmer, then up the river into a narrowing valley between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountains. After about two hours and 160 km we reach the access site at mile 102, where the Matanuska Glacier spills out of the Chugach to within walking distance of the road. Here a local glacier guide fits us with helmets and traction and leads a walk of about two hours onto the ice: blue pools, meltwater channels and ridges you can climb with care.

Après-midi

Lunch is nearby, looking at the glacier. In the afternoon the road climbs over Tahneta Pass and out onto the high plateau of the Copper River basin, with the Wrangell volcanoes on the eastern skyline if the cloud is high: Mount Drum, Mount Wrangell and Mount Sanford.

Soir

We reach Glennallen, at the crossroads of the Glenn and Richardson highways, in the late afternoon, and have dinner together.

Compris

• Guided Matanuska Glacier walk, with the access fee, helmets and traction
• Lunch near the glacier
• Dinner together in Glennallen

Over Thompson Pass to Valdez

Glennallen to Copper Center, then the Richardson Highway over Thompson Pass and through Keystone Canyon to Valdez

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Valdez
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

A short morning drive south to the Wrangell-St Elias National Park visitor centre at Copper Center, where rangers and a film introduce the largest national park in the United States, which we enter properly on day 5. From the bluff behind the centre the Wrangell Mountains fill the eastern view on a clear day. Then we follow the Richardson Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline south, climbing into the Chugach. At Worthington Glacier we stop to walk the short trail to the viewpoint over the ice, then cross Thompson Pass at about 816 m, one of the snowiest places in Alaska, and drop steeply into Keystone Canyon, where Bridal Veil and Horsetail falls pour off the canyon walls beside the road.

Après-midi

Valdez sits at the head of a deep fjord ringed by mountains; we arrive in the early afternoon after about 185 km and under three hours of driving, with lunch on the way.

Soir

The afternoon and evening are free on the harbour.

Compris

• Wrangell-St Elias National Park visitor centre, Copper Center
• Worthington Glacier viewpoint walk
• Thompson Pass and Keystone Canyon waterfalls
• Lunch on the way

Activités en option

• Valdez Museum

Prince William Sound by boat

Valdez, Valdez Arm and Prince William Sound to a tidewater glacier

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Valdez
• En bateau

Matin

A slow breakfast, then a short walk to the harbour for a full-day cruise into Prince William Sound. The boat runs down Port Valdez and through the Valdez Narrows into the open sound, past forested islands and seabird cliffs, to the ice of a tidewater glacier: the Columbia Glacier, one of the fastest-retreating in Alaska, whose fjord is often full of icebergs, or the Meares Glacier on the longer route. Which one we see depends on the season's route and the ice, and we confirm it with your final itinerary. The captain stops for sea otters floating on their backs, Steller sea lions hauled out on the rocks, puffins, Dall's porpoises and, on good days, humpback whales or orcas.

Après-midi

Lunch is on board.

Soir

Back in Valdez in the late afternoon, there is time to walk the harbour before dinner together, where halibut and salmon landed in Valdez are usually on the menu.

Compris

• Full-day Prince William Sound glacier and wildlife cruise from Valdez
• Lunch on board
• Dinner together in Valdez

Activités en option

• Sea kayaking on Valdez Glacier Lake (instead of the cruise, at extra cost)

The McCarthy Road into Wrangell-St Elias

Valdez to the Edgerton Highway, Chitina, then the McCarthy Road to the Kennicott River footbridge and McCarthy

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : McCarthy
• Environ 5.5 h de route

Après-midi

We leave after breakfast, back over Thompson Pass and north on the Richardson Highway, then turn east on the Edgerton Highway to a picnic lunch at Liberty Falls. At Chitina, where the Chitina and Copper rivers meet, we look at the fish wheels and dip nets set for the summer salmon run. Then the McCarthy Road, built on the bed of the old copper railway, which we drive at van pace with stops: the Kuskulana Bridge, about 72 m above the river gorge, and the old Gilahina trestle. The road ends at a footbridge over the Kennicott River. We walk across with day bags and a shuttle takes us on to our lodge.

Soir

Dinner together tonight.

Compris

• Liberty Falls picnic lunch
• Chitina and the Copper River fish wheels
• Kuskulana Bridge and Gilahina trestle stops on the McCarthy Road
• Shuttle from the Kennicott River footbridge
• Dinner together

Kennecott mill and the Root Glacier

Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark and the Root Glacier, with McCarthy in the evening

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : McCarthy

Matin

In the morning a local guide takes us through the 14-storey concentration mill, which can only be entered on a guided tour, following the ore down the building from the tram terminal at the top to the leaching plant.

Après-midi

Lunch is in Kennecott. In the afternoon you choose. The active option is a guided ice walk of three to four hours on the Root Glacier with crampons, among blue pools, moulins and meltwater streams. The easy option is the Root Glacier Trail to the edge of the ice with your guide, past the old mine buildings, and back at your own pace.

Soir

The evening is free: the shuttle runs to McCarthy, a small town of a few dozen year-round residents, with a bar and a handful of places to eat.

Compris

• Guided Kennecott mill tour, inside the concentration mill
• Lunch in Kennecott
• Guided Root Glacier ice walk with crampons, or the Root Glacier Trail with your guide
• Kennecott to McCarthy shuttle

Activités en option

• Flightseeing over Wrangell-St Elias National Park from the McCarthy airstrip, weather permitting

Up the Richardson Highway to Paxson

McCarthy to Chitina on the McCarthy Road, then the Richardson Highway north through Copper Center and Glennallen to Paxson

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Paxson
• Environ 5.5 h de route

Soir

Another long road day, about 315 km and five and a quarter hours of driving, which splits the way from McCarthy to Denali; without the Paxson night it would be one drive of more than ten hours. We cross the footbridge after breakfast and drive the McCarthy Road back to Chitina in the morning light, stopping wherever the clouds hid the view on the way in. From the Edgerton Highway we turn north up the Copper River valley, and lunch is a sit-down meal around Copper Center or Glennallen, about the halfway point. North of Glennallen the Richardson Highway follows the Gulkana River and the pipeline into emptier country, with the Alaska Range rising ahead. We reach Paxson, a roadhouse stop where the Denali Highway leaves the Richardson, in the late afternoon. Paxson has almost nothing else, so dinner is together at the lodge, and Summit Lake is a short drive north for an evening walk in the long light.

Compris

• McCarthy Road viewpoints
• Sit-down lunch in the Copper River valley
• Trans-Alaska Pipeline viewpoint on the Richardson Highway
• Dinner together in Paxson

The Denali Highway to Denali Park

Paxson to Tangle Lakes, Maclaren Summit and Cantwell on the Denali Highway, then the Parks Highway to Denali Park

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Denali Park
• Environ 5.5 h de route

Matin

It is slow, so we leave after breakfast and stop often. The first stop is Tangle Lakes, a chain of lakes on open tundra, in an archaeological district where people have camped for thousands of years. Then the road climbs to Maclaren Summit, at about 1,245 m one of the highest road passes in Alaska, with glaciers on the peaks to the north.

Après-midi

We eat a packed lunch at a viewpoint, crossing the wide Susitna River in the afternoon and watching for caribou, moose and swans in the kettle ponds. At Cantwell we join the paved Parks Highway for the last 45 km north to the hotel near the entrance to Denali National Park, arriving in the late afternoon.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Tangle Lakes
• Maclaren Summit viewpoint
• Packed lunch on the Denali Highway

Deep into Denali National Park

The Denali park road by bus, then the park entrance area

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Denali Park

Matin

We are on one of the first park buses of the morning, when animals are moving and the light is low, so it is an early start; we confirm the time with your final itinerary. Private cars may only drive the first 15 miles of the 92-mile park road, so the park's own buses are the way in. Our Tundra Wilderness Tour has a naturalist driver who stops for whatever shows: grizzly bears, moose, caribou, Dall sheep high on the slopes and, now and then, wolves. The road soon turns to gravel and crosses open tundra and braided rivers, with the Alaska Range along the southern skyline. How far the buses go is confirmed per season: in 2026 they turned at East Fork, about mile 43, a tour of 5 to 5.5 hours, and from 2027 they may run further, which makes a longer day.

Après-midi

A packed lunch rides with us. Back in the afternoon, choose the park's sled dog kennels or a hike.

Soir

Dinner together tonight.

Compris

• Denali National Park entrance fee
• Tundra Wilderness Tour on the park road with a naturalist driver
• Packed lunch on the bus
• Sled dog kennels demonstration with a park ranger
• Dinner together

Activités en option

• Rafting on the Nenana River

Down the Parks Highway to Talkeetna

Denali Park to Talkeetna on the Parks Highway, through Broad Pass and Denali State Park

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Talkeetna
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

A slow morning after the early park day, then about 245 km and three hours south on the paved Parks Highway. We pass Cantwell again and cross Broad Pass, the low gap in the Alaska Range where the country opens into tundra and small lakes, then follow the Chulitna River down into Denali State Park. If the mountain is out, we stop at the Denali Viewpoint South pull-out, which faces Denali and its glaciers across the valley. Talkeetna sits at the end of a 14-mile spur road where the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna rivers meet.

Après-midi

We arrive for lunch, then your guide walks you through the old centre of log cabins and false-front stores, down to the river and past the ranger station where Denali climbers register before their expeditions. If the weather is clear, the afternoon suits an optional flightseeing trip over the mountain.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Denali Viewpoint South, when the mountain is out
• Lunch in Talkeetna
• Talkeetna town walk with your guide

Activités en option

• Flightseeing over Denali from Talkeetna, with or without a glacier landing (about USD 220 to 630 per person on recent operator pages), weather permitting

Alaska Native cultures and home

Talkeetna to the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage, then Anchorage airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

We leave Talkeetna after breakfast and drive about two and a half hours south through Wasilla to the Alaska Native Heritage Center on Anchorage's eastern edge. After ten days on roads through Ahtna Athabascan country in the Copper River basin and Dena'ina and other Athabascan homelands around Denali, this is the place to hear Alaska Native hosts tell their own stories. Inside there are dance, song and craft; outside, a path around a small lake leads past full-size village sites, each built by and for a different group of Alaska's Indigenous peoples.

Après-midi

We spend about two hours here, with time for lunch at the café on your own account. Then it is a drive of about 15 minutes, making about two and three-quarter hours on the road today, to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, arriving at about 2 pm, or downtown if you are staying on. Book a flight leaving after about 4:30 pm. Your guide sees you to the airport before saying goodbye.

Compris

• Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage
• Drop-off at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) or downtown Anchorage