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Alaska Backpacking: Chitistone Canyon Expedition

Located in the heart of the Wrangell St. Elias National Park, the Chitistone Canyon offers some of the most spectacular backpacking in Alaska, if not the world. This superlative hike follows the "Goat Trail", so named by miners making their way to the gold fields of the Interior. This "trail" explores the only pass that bisects the magnificent Wrangell and St. Elias Mountain ranges. A short bush plane flight takes you just below the entrance of the Chitistone Canyon, where you and your guide begin eight days of hiking through spruce forests and deep canyons the color of the American Southwest. The first days of the expedition are spent in the lower part of the canyon, where the terrain is relatively flat and allows for a gradual breaking in to the physical demands of backpacking in Alaska. Hiking up into the high alpine, a day trip follows each day of moving camp, allowing for the exploration of the tundra covered valleys and remote canyons alongside the trail. (The 4-day Upper Chitistone Canyon hike joins here in the high country). The end of the adventure is spent in silent awe as you cross pristine Chitistone Pass and finish by scrambling out amid glaciers onto the tundra of Skolai Valley. The Chitistone Canyon Expedition is a moderately difficult trip designed for experienced backpackers who want to go beyond the trail and see some of the best the Wrangell St. Elias National Park has to offer.

Trip Highlights:

• Breathtaking views of the Wrangell and St. Elias Mountains
• Backpacking in Alaska through awe-inspiring terrain
• Exploring along the mighty Chitistone River
• Hiking amidst the glaciers and tundra of magnificent Skolai Valley

CHITISTONE CANYON EXPEDITION: DETAILED ITINERARY

The following is a sample itinerary for this trip. Due to individual abilities and goals, as well as the demanding environment of Alaska, all of our trips are customized as they unfold. The guide will constantly make decisions based on weather, logistics and group dynamics to maximize each day’s experience. There can be quite a bit of variation, but we always strive to make every trip your best ever.

DAY 1 - Your adventure begins this morning in Anchorage, Alaska. One of our knowledgeable and friendly staff members will pick you up at your hotel and drive you and your gear to our headquarters in the tiny mountain town of McCarthy. Located in the magnificent Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, McCarthy offers the perfect jumping off point for all of our wilderness adventures. Within minutes of leaving Anchorage, the scenery becomes impressive.On one side are the steep, snow-capped peaks of the Chugach, and on the other side, the tidal flats of Cook Inlet. Turning east, the Glenn Highway follows the Matanuska River valley where the long days of summer produce the famous sixty pound cabbages. As you approach Chickaloon Pass, the white ice of the mighty Matanuska Glacier fills the valley below. On a clear day the magnificent Wrangell Mountains will be directly in front of you as you descend the pass. Mt. Drum stands out and looks the highest, because it is much closer. In reality it is the smallest of these large peaks at 12,010 feet (3,660 m). Mt. Sanford at 16,237 ft (4,949m) is on the left (north), and the huge dome of 14,163 ft (4,316m) Mt. Wrangell is to the right (south). Mt. Wrangell is the largest active volcano in the world. On a clear day, it is even possible to see the massive form of Mt. Blackburn in the distance. At 16,390 ft (4,995m) this spectacular peak is the tallest of the Wrangells, and only twenty five miles from McCarthy. At Glennallen you follow the highway south towards Valdez. As you drive, keep your eyes peeled for glimpses of the famous Alaska Pipeline paralleling the highway to the right. Turning east at the Edgerton Cutoff, the Copper River Valley lies directly in front of you and you make your way to the tiny hamlet of Chitina and the beginning of the McCarthy Road. Originally the rail bed of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad; the unpaved McCarthy Road snakes through thick spruce forests, along the edge of the Wrangell Mountains, as it winds its way to McCarthy. If you look closely, you can sometimes see the original rail pushed aside into the bushes along the road, and careless travelers have been known to get flat tires from century-old railroad spikes. Evidence of the engineering feats of the early inhabitants of this region can still be seen in the form of railroad trestles and bridges that still stand today. As the end of the road comes into view, the roaring Kennicott River slices the road like a knife, and a narrow footbridge is all that connects this side to the town of McCarthy. From the river, it's just a short distance to McCarthy and the Mother Lode Powerhouse, the home of St. Elias Alpine Guides.

DAY 2 –Today you’ll have the opportunity to explore the historical towns of McCarthy and Kennecott by foot. In 1899, U.S. Army Captain W.R. Abercrombie led an expedition and confirmed the reports of rich veins of copper having been discovered in the vicinity of the Kennicott Glacier.This massive ice flow received its name from Robert Kennicott, a young naturalist, who accompanied the first U.Scontingent of scientists who explored Alaska and wrote a report in favor of its purchase to Secretary Seward.It was not long before financiers J.P. Morgan and the Guggenheims,with the aid of a young, ambitious man named Stephan Birch, formed the Alaska Syndicate to mine the rich copper. More than $24 million dollars was invested in the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad that went 196 miles from Cordova to the newly-created mill site of Kennecott (a secretary's error spelled the name of the glacier with an "e" and the company has been the Kennecott Copper Corporation ever since). Kennecott was a company town where booze and "women of the evening" were not allowed. However, its close neighbor, McCarthy, didn’t have such rules and leapt into existence and into business. There were over a dozen bars, a huge "red light" district and no church. Quite a contrast to the sleepy town of today. The Kennecott mine earned the Syndicate over $300 million before the Great Depression contributed to its closing. The last train ran on November 11, 1938, and with it went most of the inhabitants of the region. The 14-story processing mill and 45 abandoned buildings remain a mute testimony to an incredible era.

DAY 3 – Backpacking in Alaska requires careful preparation and your adventure starts at our headquarters in the historic Motherlode Powerhouse in McCarthy. Our professional mountain guides have been busily making preparations for your trip and are excited at the adventure to come. You are in good hands as they review your itinerary, go over the menu, and make sure that you are properly outfitted for the trip. After the final checks are complete, you head for the airstrip and the short, bush plane flight to the gravel strip at Glacier Creek. The strip lies at the bottom of Chitistone Canyon and was constructed by an old miner named Radovan. We once found the stub of an old check written to Radovan for $10,000. It was stuffed in an old tobacco can in the wall of his cabin. High rock walls soar away from you on three sides, and wonderful views of the University Range of the St. Elias Mountains lie just up Glacier Creek. A glacier-covered peak at the head of the valley was first climbed by St. Elias Alpine Guides years ago. As the sound of the plane’s engine fade, you and your guide hike down Glacier Creek and pick up a faint trail near the Chitistone River. Here, you add your footprints to a path that has been used for thousands of years by the original inhabitants of this land. It is the only way through the Wrangell and St. Elias Mountains to the tundra covered interior to the north. The afternoon is spent hiking a flat four miles to Toby Creek which gives you a chance to slowly adjust to your pack and some of the unique challenges of backpacking in Alaska. Two thousand foot rock cliffs line the bank on the other side of the Chitistone River and wispy falls cascade from unknown heights. One delicate water fall creates nine tiers as it drains the high plateaus above. You set up camp in the outwash plain at the junction of Toby Creek and the Chitistone River. Directly up Toby Creek, two pyramidal shaped mountains carve into the sky. The vertical rock faces are decorated with hundred foot hanging seracs, narrow ice rivulets, and steep fluted ridges that sweep up towards the summits. Neither has a name in this vast wilderness. Only one has been climbed. On a topo map, Toby Creek is nothing but a single thin blue line, a pleasant little stream. In reality, it drains a glacier larger than any that exist in the continental United States, and during spring run-off, or hot summer days, boulders the size of fire hydrants can be heard crashing along the bottom. This evening, along the bank of Toby Creek, you and your guide discuss several methods that allow the safe crossing of glacial rivers and revel in the unparalleled wilderness of the Wrangell St. Elias National Park.

DAY 4 – In the early morning you and your guide put your new knowledge to use and cross Toby Creek. A "war" dance ensues on the opposite bank, as you jump and scream, venting the wonderful feeling of cold feet. With dry socks you continue along the Chitistone, meandering through waist high soap berry thickets, spruce trees, and alder. Within a mile and a half from Toby Creek, the larger Chitistone River has cut so far into the bank that you are forced to ascend and side hill for nearly a mile. Underneath a canopy of spruce, poplar and cottonwood, you and your guide munch bright green sour grass, perhaps picking a plastic bag full to carry and have as salad at supper. An hour later you’re back down on the Chitistone River bar, and this time for good. After lunch, at a stream so clear it takes a moment to focus on the flowing water to know its there, you hike towards a huge scar in the southern hillside. Years ago, the entire side of this mountain let go and came crashing down into the bottom of the canyon. It spilled headlong up the opposite bank, forming an earthen dam. The waters of the Chitistone backed-up behind it, depositing glacial debris until a level plain formed and the water cut an ever growing swath through the landslide. Boulders, the size of small houses, are littered throughout the jumble of Earth and it’s enough to just sit and stare at the enormity and power of nature and to wonder what it sounded like; what it would have been like to witness such an act.

Away in the distance is a barely perceptible narrow defile. A high, green bench is along one side, with a rock strewn face that looks as if it were cleaved by a knife. The valley seems to go two ways, and so it does, one to the right, to the Chitistone Glacier, the birth place of the magnificent river you’ve been ascending. To the left the valley becomes narrow. Above the defile and bench are high mesas, looking like the American southwest during the Ice Ages! Glaciers adorn the tops of red rocked cliffs with pinnacles and hoodoos that stand out from thousand-foot high ice cliffs. This is the upper Chitistone Canyon; your only path to the pass.

The hillside and river slowly merge as you hike closer to the glacier. Through a dry lake bed you see the signs of timeless movement through this corridor. Bear and wolf tracks are etched in the hard, dried mud. Sign of their spring migration from the low country back into the alpine tundra. Moose and sheep tracks are intermingled, and on occasion, the skeleton of a sheep is found strewn with the fallen boulders at the bottom of a dangerous cliff. As you hike "around the corner," you’re met with a view of 16,421 ft (5,005 m) Mt. Bona, an icy wind, and the snout of the Chitistone Glacier. Tonight you camp in a hollow formed by gravel deposits laid down by ice and water.

DAY 5 – The Chitistone Glacier has receded several miles, leaving behind the towers of gravel and disconnected ice that you hike through today. Years ago, the silty-brown water of the Chitistone River splits into braids. Some of its forks disappeared into tunnels of ice, reappearing several hundred yards later. You and your guide quickly decide to take advantage of these natural bridges, and pick your way across the glacier and the river. At the toe of the glacier, crystalline blue ice breaks off with a thundering noise into the thick water and chunks of ice, sculpted by the wind, lie beached along the rivers course. You skirt blue green pools of water, fed from ice underneath the ground, with soft, dangerous quicksand along their perimeters. The sheer hillside rears up from the glacier, its bottom reaches denuded from the tear of ice. Above, the reds and yellows of eroded rock stand in fantastic formations. As you and your guide hike out onto the small outwash plain below the Chitistone Gorge, a smaller, thicker brown-colored river surges out from the narrow chasm that hides 400 foot Chitistone Falls. This is the Falls River, and though it is deeper, it lacks the force of Toby Creek at the point where you cross it. The route continues through boulders and around small swamps formed by run off from above. You enter a small tributary canyon, and then dense brush to access a hidden trail that switch- backs up 700 feet bursting out onto the alpine tundra covered bench above the falls and glacier. Taking a break, you can see the length of the lower Chitistone Canyon. The landslide, Toby Creek, and, just before the final bend is obscured by mountains, you can see the beginning of Glacier Creek and the airstrip. While crossing this natural meadow, views of both the upper Chitistone Glacier valley and upper Chitistone Falls valley surround you. The rock covered glacier snakes its way east into massive ice cliffs, tiering up and up to the summit of Mt.Churchill and Mt. Bona. Glaciers tumble off these huge peaks in every direction, and the immensity of the land begins to creep in.

At lunch, you sit on an exposed finger of earth, jutting out over the straight drop hundreds of feet below to the Falls River. The view north, up valley, is one of breathless beauty. Chitistone Falls crashes down into a hidden grotto, spray pulsing into the air. A narrow, green valley sweeps back from the edge of the falls, both sides soaring quickly to heights of 9,000 feet (2,743 m) with glaciers capping the tops of this canyon country. Your route curves from the falls, steeply ascending a tributary stream towards the large multi-colored scree slopes that make up the "goat trail" and give access around Chitistone Falls and into the upper valley. Small blueberry plants, alpine forget-me-nots, and dwarf fireweed cling to the edges of the trail. You follow Dall sheep tracks up into the reaches of this clear flowing stream. After two thousand feet of climbing, you and your guide camp along the boulder strewn edge of Clear Water creek. At over 5,000 feet (1,524 m), you are at the door to the upper Chitistone Valley.

DAY 6 – A rest day and a day to explore without a pack on. After a hearty breakfast you may decide to ascend Clear Water Creek, scrambling next to exquisite waterfalls. Dall sheep warily watch your progress as you hike into a huge basin that stretches all the way to the Nizina River to the west. This is a plateau hunted by bear and wolf, home to sheep, arctic ground squirrels and bald eagles. Sheer rock cliffs border the northern side, immense hanging glaciers straddling their tops. This is the dreamy world of the Hole-in-the-Wall glacier; a region of glaciers and rock formations seemingly touched by the hands of higher beings. The rolling tundra allows solitary wanderings, an opportunity to feel the Alaska wilderness. On a cloudless day, the tallest peak in the Wrangells, Mt. Blackburn, will be seen in the distance to the west. Turning east, Mt. Bona, the tallest of the St. Elias Mountains rises up from the surrounding peaks. You are indeed between the ranges.

DAY 7 – Morning dawns, and you may have to pinch yourself to believe that the past six days have been real. But the view outside your tent flap leaves no doubt that you are in an unparalleled wilderness kingdom and the excitement of the day rousts you from your warm cocoon. You leave camp, hiking slightly uphill to a saddle. This is the entrance to the "goat trail”; a narrow path built and maintained by Dall sheep traversing scree slopes that plunge down into the Chitistone Falls River below. You slowly pick your way across the first bowl, the multi-colored rocks reminiscent of hiking the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Footing is generally solid, with patches of hard earth that take concentration. Your guide discusses the hiking methods that will enable you to hike along this trail safely and points out areas of caution. After crossing the “goat trail” you are glad to break for lunch before hiking along the roiling Chitistone Falls River. Your boulder strewn course takes you past rushing tributaries, bursting from basins high above, and lined with hanging glaciers, free falling waterfalls and hob-goblin rock formations. At another narrow impasse, you begin to climb again and follow the imperceptible trail through a wonderland of tundra covered mounds, to camp below a massive rock tower soaring into the clouds.

DAY 8 – You grab your daypacks again and silently circuit the enormous tower, climbing gently to Chitistone Pass. You could easily spend the day in this radiant cleft between two enormous mountain ranges. This is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth. Caribou can be found high along one side, usually laying down on snow banks, keeping cool till evening. Hoary marmots and Dall sheep roam the hillside on the west, stopping motionless for an instant to monitor your intentions. The pass is a rather large expanse; U-shaped from glacial action. To the east are brilliant glacier covered peaks, the now familiar red rock, cleaving through the ice at summits. To the north, a view into Canada, and the tumbled surface of the Russell Glacier. To the west is Frederika Mountain and the opposite direction Mt. Sulzer. The delicate alpine tundra in the pass can't withstand the impact of humans camping and fierce winds can howl through this gap between interior Alaska and North America's Himalayas, so you return to camp in the evening. On the way back, you leave the trail and scramble onto the surface of the Chitistone Falls Glacier. This picture perfect ice flow is a beautiful example of glacial morphology, and as you walk along its surface, your guide may discuss its formation, its growth cycles and its intricate formations of crevasses and ice falls.

DAY 9 – With packs on you retrace your route to Chitistone Pass. From the top, you can stop and ponder the view of your entire ascent route up the Chitistone Canyon. You drop off the northern rim of the pass, and eat lunch out of the wind. Cascading glaciers tumble off the hillside to your left, seemingly close enough to reach out and touch. After eating, you can walk to an overlook of Skolai Valley. A meandering stream curves gracefully away from the jumbled Russell Glacier and forms a large lake at one end of the valley. Opposite, mountains climb back into the sky, corner-stoned by Castle Peak, a mountain so true to its name, it is still unconquered. Shouldering your packs once again, you drop straight down 1500 feet (457 m) to the valley floor, where you re-enter willow thickets and enjoy the smell of cranberry and cottonwood. The final four miles to the small airstrip near the lake is accompanied by views of vaporous waterfalls, misting off towering rock walls, to disappear in gusts of wind, only to reappear in spray at the bottom. Tonight you and your guide camp in a thicket of gnarled willows, and walk up a gravel spire for a view of the seven glaciers forming the Hole-in-the-Wall region.

DAY 10 – Today is the last day of your backpacking trip. By this time the routines and rhythms of backcountry life come easily and you and your guide share in the camaraderie of shared experience. The thought of returning home is a bittersweet mix but you’re thankful for the amazing experience you’ve had. After breakfast, you and your guide pack up camp for the last time and head to the landing strip to meet your bush plane for the ride back. As the plane takes off, you depart this gracious land, leaving it the way you found it, silent, exquisite powerful. The flight back to McCarthy gives amazing views of the massive Nizina Glacier, and the famous folds in the rock cliffs along this glacier's river. Upon return you and your guide enjoy a warm lunch in McCarthy and then scruboff the dirt in our wood-fired sauna. The therapeutic steam and heat will help ease your re-entry into civilization. At dinner in the Motherlode Powerhouse, you and your guide relive the stories of this adventure, and talk about new plans and now, old friends.

DAY 11 – After a hearty Alaskan breakfast, you retrace your route across the Kennicott River to the end of the McCarthy road. Slowly you drive towards Anchorage, still stopping to drink in the views of wild Alaska, but this time, enjoying in a new way, the comforts of man. Upon arrival in Anchorage we’re more than happy to drop you off at your hotel.A word of advice: We suggest that you don't make reservations for flights home this night, but the following, just in case there are any weather delays on our backcountry flights.

What’s Included?

As with all of our Alaska backpacking adventures, the Chitistone Canyon Expedition includes professional, experienced backpacking guides with extensive local knowledge and medical training. We provide all food for the backcountry portions of your trip, including hot and delicious meals morning and evening and plenty of snacks and lunch food for mid-day nourishment. St. Elias Alpine Guides also provides shared group gear, including stoves, pots, and tents, as well as any technical gear, such as crampons. All you need to bring is your personal gear, (clothing, rain gear, boots, sleeping bag and pad) You can find a detailed list of the backpacking gear that we recommend you bring on our backpacking equipment list.

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