Nebesna Road (North Entrance into Wrangell St. Elias National Park)

The 42-mile Nebesna Road leads into the northern side of Wrangell St. Elias National Park. It crosses three streams without the use of bridges. We have encountered a lot of rain recently so we didn’t know how far our van, Hans, would make it - but we thought we would give it a shot.

Some Scenery Along the Road

This road is home to a hardy group of locals since before the area became Wrangell St. Elias National Park. They have united to protect the area and their way of life. They had posted this neat sign near the Park Service Visitor Center.

We crossed the first stream without a problem. It consisted of a trickle of water over the roadbed. The second stream at mile 30.5 was a different story. It would have been a 50-50 shot if we made it or not. The water wasn’t too deep but it had cut out a pretty good channel and there was more rain in the forecast. We decided not to chance it and instead stayed at a nice FREE, Park Service campground just down the road. We had the place to ourselves. The rain ceased enough for us to have a nice campfire and to explore the nearby lake with the dogs.

Stream Crossing We Didn’t Chance

By the time we woke in the morning the temperature had dropped to 37 degrees. We packed up and as we were heading out the temperature continued to drop till the rain became a STEADY snow storm. The big, fluffy flakes were actually sticking to the ground. And this was August 21 – a bit early, even for Alaska.

This is a shot of when the snow first started falling. It had accumulated a lot more than this by the time we got back to the main highway.