UPPER CHITISTONE
GOAT TRAIL
Multi Day
- Backpacking
- Advanced
The most iconic backpacking route in Wrangell-St. Elias!
This popular trek follows a historic miner’s route through the backcountry, however, “trail” might be a bit of an overstatement! Winding around rocky cliffs, high alpine tundra, and lush mountain meadows, you’ll navigate the wilderness, occasionally picking up what remains of the historic trail.
Keep your eyes peeled for sheep, goats, marmots, and grizzly bears among the scenic vistas, endless waterfalls, and dramatic backdrops of the tallest peaks in the country!
As you round the corner to follow the Chitistone River you traverse bright yellow, orange, and red cliffs with a dramatic drop to the river canyon below you—this provides an exciting thrill amidst an otherwise very peaceful landscape!
- Breathtaking, expansive vistas
- Exciting exposure on colorful cliffs
- Alpine tundra trekking
- Good chances of wildlife sightings
- Waterfalls and wildflowers galore
- Some say it’s the best backpacking route in the Wrangell Mountains
Tour Details
Trip Length
5 days
Total Mileage
22 miles
Total Elevation Gain/Loss
6,000’
Rates
Private Solo
$5,775
Private 2 Participant
$3,650/person
Private 3-6 Participants
$2,945/person
Group
$2,710/person
Group Trip Dates
August 10 – 14, 2026
August 9 – 13, 2027 – Price TBD
Private Trips with custom dates are available. Book now or call our Expedition Coordinator to plan your trip today!
The “Alaska Factor”
There is a reason Alaska has such a rugged allure for the lower 48 and beyond: it is still wild! This raw and untamed landscape offers our clients the opportunity to authentically pioneer new territory and have real adventures. Part of embracing the “Alaska Factor” is understanding that things may not always go as planned and expecting the unexpected. Water levels might rise, snow might fall, glaciers may shift and move—the landscape is dynamic and unpredictable is what makes Alaska, Alaska!
All of our trips are customized as they unfold and your guide will fluidly make decisions based on weather, logistics, and group dynamics to maximize each day’s experience. There can be quite a bit of variation, but on each trip we promise a big slice of the real Alaska and authentic adventure!
DAY 0
DAY 1
Head to the airstrip and get your camera ready for the incredible views of Wrangell – St. Elias on your 25-minute bush flight into the backcountry! The Wolverine bush strip is known as one of the most epic and will let you see your pilot’s true skills at landing and take off!
Begin the trek navigating talus slopes and tundra with views of the Chitistone River almost 1,000’ below. End the day in a story-book meadow, with a private waterfall and gurgling stream at your camp.
DAY 2
Waking up you notice that the clouds were playing tricks on you, and there is ice up there…After checking it out on the map, your jaw drops to realize just how big the Hole-in-the-Wall Glacier really is!
Hike along the rolling hills of the alpine tundra and see if you can count all the grazing sheep around you. Following flowers and waterfalls, you discover geodes and fossils scattered about. Rounding the corner into the Chitistone Valley you begin the “goat trail”—a narrow path built and maintained by Dall sheep and the occasional hiker traversing the colorful scree slopes that plunge down to the Chitistone River below. Picking your way carefully on the narrow path, you’ll traverse this exposed section with the support of your guide—not for the faint of heart!
DAY 3
Crossing several creeks through the rocky valley bottom, you watch the morning mists dance along the tall walls of rock on either side of you. From spooky to impressive, your mind naturally creates legends and stories inspired by this majestic landscape. Views change as you make your way to an area we call “the Shire”. A carpet of tiny plants and lichen covers a lumpy landscape with glassy ponds and puddles that will have you looking for hobbits around every corner!
A large glacier spills into the valley, and you can feel the cold breeze from it a mile away. The terrain opens up as you arrive at Chitistone Pass, and caribou prance around the hills and kettle lakes.
DAY 4
DAY 5
What’s included?
- Customized trip planning
- Logistics consultation*
- Your professional guide(s) – 4:1 ratio
- Orientation and a Gear Shakedown
- Stunning 25min bush flights in and out of the backcountry
- All the food on the trip
- Group gear (bear canisters, cookware, fuel, tents**)
*Upgrade to a Trip Package and have logistics included with your trip!
**We recommend that you bring your own tent if possible
What’s not included?
- Gratuities
- Personal camping and hiking gear
- Logistics
You’ll need to be in McCarthy the day before your trip begins for an Orientation and Gear Shakedown. You’ll meet your guide, grab group gear and make sure you are fully prepared to go into the backcountry.
Please account for a full day for travel both to and from McCarthy and the next Alaskan destination.
We don’t recommend leaving McCarthy the last day of your trip as there’s always a small chance of your bush flights getting delayed. Plan to spend the night of Day 5 in McCarthy.
Check out our Transportation Page to learn how to get to and from McCarthy. Check out our Lodging Page for lodging recommendations in the area.
Trip Package
If you are planning your trip +2 months before your trip start date, upgrade to a Trip Package! A Trip Package will include transportation to/from McCarthy, local lodging, and any other local activities you’re interested in. We charge a non-refundable $50 Trip Package fee per person for this service.
This is a Advanced Backpacking Trip. 
On our Advanced Trips, we will be completely off-trail for the entirety of the trip, traversing some combination of steep and rocky slopes, tussocky and squishy tundra, loose and dynamic moraine, thick brush, and/or slick glacial ice in crampons – all of it uneven and hilly. On these trips, you will cover 6-10mi/day with up to 2500’ of elevation gain/loss while carrying your own gear along with a portion of the group gear (total pack weights usually come in at 40-50lbs). We highly recommend starting physical training in preparation for Moderate trips 2-3 months in advance.
These trips are great for very fit hikers or backpackers with at least a few +3-day trips under their belts, but honestly, the more experience you have, the better prepared you will be for the “Alaska factor”!
GALLERY
GET IN TOUCH
WITH AN EXPEDITION
COORDINATOR!
FAQ
Wrangell – St. Elias National Park is home to both black bears and grizzly bears and we are honored to share our home with such majestic animals. We treat the bears with respect and do our best to maintain their wild environment and nature. The bears out here are truly very wild and have very little contact with humans – this means that they are naturally afraid of us! Yes, even grizzlies! Bears do not hunt humans and our most common bear sighting is of a bear’s butt as they run away.
Although bear sightings may be exciting, we do our best to avoid close encounters with preventative measures at camp and while hiking that our guides will share with you. Just in case of unusually close encounters, our guides carry flare guns (to scare a bear away) and pepper spray (in case of an uncomfortably close meeting). It is very uncommon to have to use either.
If you want to, you can bring your own bear spray too, however, know that your guide has one and has been trained on how to use it. With over 40 years of guiding experience in the Park, we have found that practicing good bear etiquette, preventative measures, bringing the flare gun, and pepper spray to be sufficient mitigations.
Please refrain from bringing firearms with you on our trips. Firearms can make our other guests and guides uncomfortable, and have not proven to be necessary for bear safety in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park. We know that other areas of Alaska may recommend firearms for bear safety, but we specifically recommend against them.
We pride ourselves on cooking healthy and delicious meals even under the most adverse conditions! Your guide will create a custom menu based on the length and logistics of your trip, and the dietary preferences/restrictions you list in your Trip Application. All our guides are well-trained backcountry chefs and use time-tested recipes from our proprietary cookbook for their trips. We carry a plentiful and varied stock of ingredients and most meals are prepared from scratch (allowing for easy substitutions, additions or subtractions of ingredients). We only use pre-packed freeze-dried meals on summit pushes on our mountaineering expeditions.
On our backpacking and base camp trips, you can expect 3 meals a day, plus snacks of your choice. Breakfasts and dinners are usually hot meals and lunches are served cold. On mountaineering trips lunches consist of a variety of snacks as it can be hard to organize group meals while on a rope team.
We use a combination of fresh, dehydrated, and freeze-dried ingredients to make our delicious meals, however on longer backpacking and mountaineering trips your guides will use more freeze-dried foods than fresh foods to keep pack weights as low as possible.
On our rafting trips, we cook full multi-course meals with fresh ingredients and enjoy hot and cold breakfasts, cold lunches and hot dinners.
Meals for most trips start with Lunch on the first day and end with Lunch on the last day. *
*If you are signed up for a Custom Trip Package with us, it may include more meals. Check with us if you’re not sure. Mountaineering trips also include meals in McCarthy before and after the backcountry expedition.
We understand that you may have luggage or things you don’t want to bring into the backcountry with you so we have a designated area at our headquarters where your guide will label and store your stuff while you’re out. This area is not locked, however, we have never had any issues with loss or damage. If you have a small item of great value that you are particularly nervous about, we may be able to store it in our office for you – just ask your guide.
On the Chitina River, Copper River, Source to Sea, or Custom Trips with different start and end points, any luggage you leave behind with us will be brought out to meet you at the end of the trip.
