When it comes to memorable family travel, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park offers a truly one-of-a-kind experience. Nestled in Alaska’s wild frontier, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is America’s largest national park and a playground for explorers of all ages. Whether you’re drawn to glaciers, mountains, or the quiet vastness of the backcountry, this untouched wilderness provides endless possibilities for outdoor family bonding. Traveling with kids to Wrangell-St. Elias can be seamless and enjoyable with a bit of planning—and some tips from those who know it best!

Planning Tips with kids in mind

Getting around Alaska and transportation

Did someone say family road trip?! Packing into a rental vehicle or RV and traveling around the state by roadway is the start of every epic family adventure dream! It also allows for maximum independence and flexibility, which can be important, especially with smaller kiddos. So can having all your stuff and your home-away-from-home easily accessible. Driving Alaska is incredibly scenic and usually gets you a good amount of animal sightings along the way.

• Make sure your kids are equipped with snacks, games, and car activities that don’t involve a screen – guessing games and riddles, rock-paper-scissors, “I spy”, and state license plate collecting are classics!
• When planning a drive, allow time for scenic stops and bathroom breaks. Just because Google says it’s a 5-hour drive, it may well take 6+ hours with all the photo shoots, bear sightings, splashing in a creek, and other necessary stops along the way.

Fly to get there faster. Alaska is big and getting from place to place can eat up a lot of your itinerary. Flying is usually more expensive than driving but can cut your travel time in half or even more. Flying also provides an unforgettable view of the landscape and can be the wow-factor that takes this trip to the next level, especially for older kids or any pilots-to-be!

Travel by water to mix it up. Check out the Alaska Marine Highway for ferry schedules and connect the dots along the coast by water – the ferry is very comfortable for all ages and allows many opportunities for viewing the scenery and marine wildlife, too. Or check out a multi-day river rafting trip where you can start at Point A and end up in Point B like our Chitina River and Copper River trips.

Lodging

Once you arrive, the historic town of McCarthy and the Kennecott Mill area offer several lodging options. Check them out on our Transportation + Lodging Page.

Some accommodations offer family-sized rooms or cabins with fully-equipped kitchens, which can be really nice if you’re staying for several days. There are limited dining options in McCarthy/Kennecott and feeding large families daily can add up quickly. Most units have separate sleeping spaces so your teenagers don’t have to share a space with anyone they don’t want to. Check out the McCarthy Guesthouse for one such option.

Spend a night or two camping! No matter what their age, kids can have a blast and even amazing, transformative experiences in the wilderness. Get them out of their comfort zones and spend a night together in the backcountry!

What to bring

There are very few resources in McCarthy, so you’ll want to come prepared with everything you’ll need for a fun time with the whole family.

• Snacks and a water bottle. Make sure you have something to much on throughout the day as you may find yourself adventuring so hard you don’t sit down for a proper mid-day meal. Drinking water is easy to get in town and on the glacier, so just 1 water bottle per person works great.
• Layers – the days can range from hot summer temps to rain to what may even feel like winter. Make sure everyone in the group has quality rain gear and something to keep them warm. For kids, an extra set of clothes and shoes can be a good idea since it can be hard to stay out of water and mud when you’re that age in McCarthy.
• Make them carry their weight! Empower your little adventurers with a backpack of their own where they can keep their own gear, just like the grown-ups. Kids have fun using their own backcountry gear – a set of binoculars or plant identification book can keep them entertained and engaged long into a trip.
• Swimming gear. There is a local swimming hole in McCarthy, and although the water is chilly, on a hot day, it can be pretty awesome to splash around the shallows. Floaties welcome!
• SUP or personal boats like packrafts, kayaks, or canoes. There are no boat rentals in town, but if you have your own, there’s relatively easy access to the Kennicott Glacier Lake where you can paddle around and explore on your own. Be very careful out here as the lake is deep and has a current near the mouth of the Kennicott River. The water is sitting right at 32 degrees (or 0 Celcius) so swimming here is not recommended and can be quite dangerous.
• If you have the opportunity to bring bikes, we recommend that you do! Bike rentals are sometimes available in McCarthy, but not always, and usually not child-size bikes. Bikes can help a family get around the area independently and expand the map of available terrain for adventuring around town.

Activities for kids by age group

Babies

In some ways, babies can be easy to travel with here – if you’re comfortable hiking with them in a backpack-style carrier, they can go wherever you want to go! A backpack-style carrier is the way to go since McCarthy has no paved roads and most strollers do not do well on gravel. We recommend sticking to Day Trips, as camping with an infant in the wilderness is often much more challenging than it’s worth. It’s important to remember that the McCarthy/Kennecott is extremely remote and there is no medical care readily available, so be mindful of this when deciding what level of adventure to take your baby on. Also, when packing, keep in mind that there are no baby-specific supplies in town like diapers or formula, so you’ll want to come prepared with everything they’ll need.

Toddlers, and kids under 6

This can be a challenging age to travel with because these little kiddos want to walk everywhere! Most of the trails in the area are +4 miles round trip, which can be very hard or even impossible to accomplish happily at that age. We can point out some shorter hikes on location, as well as the swimming hole and playground to check out! National Creek, which flows through the old town of Kennecott is a prime location for rock throwing and bird watching on a nice day. The entire area is crawling with bugs and small critters and there are dogs everywhere, so this is definitely the place to nurture a growing animal lover.

Check out our Packrafting Day Trips if traveling with smaller kiddos! Spend a sunny afternoon paddling peacefully around the glacier lake, watching rocks slide down steep slopes and icebergs bob in the water. Very small kids can fit on their parent’s lap, while bigger kids can paddle on their own in a tandem boat with an adult. No previous experience is necessary.

And yes, we’re actually recommending our 2-hrHistorical Town Tour of Kennecott for your 5-year-old! This tour is unlike any other historical tour you’ve taken – think of it more like a game of Chutes & Ladders come to life! Our guides are great at making the historical material more digestible even for our smallest historians and it’s not uncommon for kids to ask the best questions on the tour.

• All participants of the Mill Town Tour must be able to get down a steep stair ladder on their own – you will not be able to hold their hand. Babies should go in a front or back carrier, and bigger kids usually have no problem on their own. Small toddlers can have the most trouble here. Check out the trip page to see a picture of what we’re talking about to decide if this trip is a good idea for your kid.

Kids ages 6-12

Now your kids are getting a little older, a little bigger, and they can handle extended outdoor adventures. Kids in this age group are usually great candidates for almost all of our Day Trip sand our Two- and Three-day Adventure Packages are popular options for families with kids this age. Families can learn about the park’s rich mining history, Alaskan flora and fauna, and the geology that has shaped this unique landscape, all while making memories to last!

Here are some details to keep in mind for the younger kids:

• Our Raft & Flightsee Day Trip has an 8-year-old age minimum.
• Ice Climbing gear can be heavy and bulky for small bodies – our smallest ice climbing boot is a Women’s size 5, and ice tools can be very hard to swing over your head to climb with. Every kid is different, but we recommend waiting till about 9 or 10, or a major growth spurt before trying ice climbing.
• • Want your kids to climb, but don’t want to climb yourself? No problem! You can join your kids out on the ice and be the designated family photographer. We’ll outfit you with basic crampons, but won’t provide you with any climbing gear. Give us a call if you’d like to set this up!

• We highly recommend the Private format for both Half andFull-Day Glacier Hikesfor families with kids in this age group. You’ll be able to travel at your own pace, take as many breaks as you want, and have a fully customized, kid-focused experience.

This is also a great age to take kids camping! Camping is an immersive experience for kids and can foster an early appreciation for nature. Check out our recommended trips:

• The Root Glacier Overnight Adventureis the perfect first backpacking trip for your little adventure buddy! Explore the best of the glacier by day, then set up camp at the glacier’s edge for a magical night under the stars.
• The Western Copper Rafting Trip is the best, kid-friendly stretch of river in Alaska! Adults relax and enjoy the big mountain views while the kids splash the days away. Multi-day Rafting allows for a more comfortable, less bare-bones, nature experience while still getting far into the backcountry.
• Base Camp Hiking and Base Camp Packrafting Trips are an incredible way to immerse your family in the wilderness. Fly out to a remote backcountry destination to set up a base camp. From here you’ll hike or paddle to explore the undeveloped backcountry of Alaska!

Teenagers

Phew! Good luck!

Just kidding, teens are great! Teenagers, especially as they get older, can usually keep up with most adults, and are often much faster and stronger than their parents. They can take on some of the biggest adventures out there – we’ve had multiple teenagers summit high-altitude peaks like Mt. Bona! It can be appealing to want to create an itinerary of Day Trips for a multi-sport experience where you try this and dip your toes in that. However, longer and more immersive Multi-day trips can be really impactful and memorable at this age as participants inevitably overcome the challenges of the wilds and bond with their group. With teens, we recommend going as big as the adventure appetite desires!

• Make sure you ask your teen their opinion when planning your family adventure. It’s much harder to drag your 16-year-old kicking and screaming on a glacier hike than your 6-year-old! Teens are known for their big emotions, which can make them seem less adaptive or stubborn and they also want to be seen and heard. Talk to them about what they’d like to do on the trip, what concerns they have, and what contingencies will be in place for if/when things don’t go according to plan.
• Alaska is quite different than the rest of the US and your family will likely have a very palpable cultural experience as you travel the state, especially when you get to McCarthy. Our end-of-the-road community welcomes all kinds and you’ll find an eclectic mix of artists, outdoorsmen, hermits, and dogs roaming our streets. Being out of the familiar can give teens opportunities to try new forms of self-expression and learn from people very different than themselves. Similarly, the wilderness itself and the challenges brought on by nature can teach us a lot about ourselves. Make time for intentional reflection on your Alaska trip, strengthening the bond between you and your soon-to-be adult!

We are excited to welcome you and your family to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park! If you have any other questions about traveling with children or what trips will work best for your kids, just give us a call!