4 days of backpacking, flying into the backcountry from McCarthy, AK.
This is a great early and late season trip in a very special area in the Chugach range of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
We fly into a surreal non-glaciated nook of tundra, rock, sand, lakes, river, and wildflower where two absolutely massive glaciers meet. We’re surrounded by semi-glaciated Chugach peaks that provide endless eye-candy as their hanging glaciers pour down valley and, at the late-season time of year this trip is scheduled, their lower slopes are ablaze with autumn colors and full of blueberries!
As we humans are four-fifths grizzly bear, you’ll be able to get in touch with that primal part of your heritage by foraging for all the berries you like while hiking through some of the most spectacular bear habitat on planet Earth. No need to be bearanoid, though, you’ll be taught to be bear aware. Because of Wrangell-St. Elias Park’s prudent bear safety efforts (for the sake of both bears and humans), negative bear encounters are extremely rare (almost non-existent) and your guide (with over 1,000 days experience adventuring deep in Alaskan bear country) will be prepared for anything. CMI will have high quality binoculars on hand, and a highlight of the trip may be the incredible bear viewing.
While we can move camp on this trip it’s great for a base-camp style trip in which we hike out from our plane drop-off point, set-up camp once in our favorite spot, and spend the next few days exploring in different directions from camp with a light day pack. The two massive glaciers mentioned above provide a great introduction to glacier walking and we can explore these vast fields of ice wearing crampons or micro-spikes that we strap on to our hiking boots. Other options include exploring the many lakes that dot the surrounding landscape and hiking up the surrounding peaks’ lower slopes, that offer fabulous tundra walking at a not-to-steep incline for thousands of vertical feet. If you’re especially ambitious, we could even stand atop one of the many summits in the area.
The Fan Glacier area provides endless options for all ability and experience levels, and is also a very family-friendly trip.
Rates:
- Private Solo (1 person): $4750
- Private Couple (2 people): $3000 each
- Private Group (3 people): $2500 each
- Private Group (4-6 people): $2350
- Non-Private Group (4-6 people): $2350 each
Itinerary:
- Pre-trip: Evening meeting in McCarthy for introductions, trip overview, personal gear check, and distribution of group gear and food (pre-packed in bear-resistant canisters).
- Day 1: Morning rendezvous in McCarthy. We’ll take a van shuttle to the airport to get flown into the backcountry. Start trekking!
- Days 2-3: Trek, camp, eat, sleep, repeat in sublime wilderness.
- Day 4: Last day of trekking. Get picked up for the return to McCarthy.
Trips can be shorter or longer depending on client needs and interests. Rates and itinerary above are based on a 4-day trip.