Mountains and Glaciers

Wrangell-St.Elias National Park

This park is the largest in the national parks system. 13.2 million acres and contains the greatest collection of peaks over 16,000 feet on the continent. Also contains the largest concentration of glaciers on the continent. One of these, Malaspina Glacier, covers over 1500 square miles that is larger than the state of Rhode Island. The Hubbard glacier is one of the most active and, despite global warming, is still advancing. Unfortunately, visiting this park for motorists is very limited. The few back roads in require four-wheel drive and they caution that wilderness and survial skills are essential. The only way to actually see the area is by small plane. But the little we could see was breathtaking. If we ever make it back to Alaska, we will an Rv with four wheel drive.

When driving around Alaska, you can tell which areas have higher permafrost. Permafrost is ground that remains frozen year after year. It is thickest in the arctic, but is found to some extent beneath nearly 85 percent of Alaska. I find that amazing. The areas in high altitudes with large stretchs of treeless areas have very little topsoil. Kind of like a cold desert.