Copper river princess lodge

[JP-Cruise]

I am going to be staying here for 2 nights next July/August on the SB3 cruise tour. I am wondering if anybody who has stayed here know if princess offers any excursions where you get to to tour through St Elias national park. Anything similar to the Denali bus tours?

 

I saw one posted some copper discovery tour but it's only 4 hours

[JP-Cruise]

I am going to be staying here for 2 nights next July/August on the SB3 cruise tour. I am wondering if anybody who has stayed here know if princess offers any excursions where you get to to tour through St Elias national park. Anything similar to the Denali bus tours?

 

I saw one posted some copper discovery tour but it's only 4 hours

 

Sorry, my mistake. I am doing the SB8 connossiur cruise tour

[reedprincess]

I am going to be staying here for 2 nights next July/August on the SB3 cruise tour. I am wondering if anybody who has stayed here know if princess offers any excursions where you get to to tour through St Elias national park. Anything similar to the Denali bus tours?

 

I saw one posted some copper discovery tour but it's only 4 hours

You cab see all avaikabke tours in your itinerary. From recollection, there wasn't much that went into the park similar to the Denali tours. Most were like the one you referenced.

It's a gorgeous location, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably iur favorite actually..

[tamsocal]

I just did this tour-

loved it

I would highly recommend flying both direction from CHitina or at minimum fly out and ride the shuttle home

http://www.wrangellmountainair.com

 

http://www.kennicottshuttle.com/wrangell.html

here is the shuttle that Princes uses if you book direct thru them.

I ended up paying for RT shuttle and had the shuttle pick me up at the airport in Chitina since we planned last minute.

http://raftthewrangells.com

we went to the copper mine buildings in kennicott and as well did the SUP/kayak tour- we opted for kayak- it was fantastic.

 

flying both ways gives you more time in the park assuming flights are on time.

shuttle also has risk of road closures and flat tires too.

 

we had a great day! amazing views from plane. drive was nice as well- saw moose & beavers

[JP-Cruise]

I just did this tour-

loved it

I would highly recommend flying both direction from CHitina or at minimum fly out and ride the shuttle home

http://www.wrangellmountainair.com

 

http://www.kennicottshuttle.com/wrangell.html

here is the shuttle that Princes uses if you book direct thru them.

I ended up paying for RT shuttle and had the shuttle pick me up at the airport in Chitina since we planned last minute.

http://raftthewrangells.com

we went to the copper mine buildings in kennicott and as well did the SUP/kayak tour- we opted for kayak- it was fantastic.

 

flying both ways gives you more time in the park assuming flights are on time.

shuttle also has risk of road closures and flat tires too.

 

we had a great day! amazing views from plane. drive was nice as well- saw moose & beavers

 

Sounds amazing!!! So I did find this one excursion on the copper princess lodge website. It's the Kendicott explorer. It's 12 and a half hours goes to Chinia, cross the steel bridge. Goes to the kendicottt mines and it said at kendicott we will have 5 hours of free time and can purchase an option acirivtity such as hiking etc. This sounds good. Has anyone done this?

[Thrak]

We just returned from a 7 week camping trip that took us to Glacier National Park in Montana and then to both Banff and Jasper National parks in Canada. We continued on up to Alaska and visited Denali National Park and also Wrangell - St Elias National Park. One rainy day we also dropped into the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge for Irish Coffee and lunch. We hung out in the lobby next to the fireplace (which had a nice fire going) and read for a couple of hours while having another Irish Coffee. :cool:

 

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park doesn't have much in the way of roads. One can drive in as far as the visitor center and can then hike on the Exit Glacier. There is another road that goes into the park but it is only paved for a short bit and then I don't believe it really "goes" anywhere much. We only went about 10 miles or so down the road after the pavement ended. There are signs along the road to the visitor center with dates on them. They indicate how far the glacier extended in those years. It's truly amazing how much the glacier has retreated.

[donaldsc]

The lodge, the mines and the glacier at Kennecott is really neat. We stayed there for 3 days. Shame that you will not have much time to really experience the place as you will have so little time there.

 

DON

[JP-Cruise]

The lodge, the mines and the glacier at Kennecott is really neat. We stayed there for 3 days. Shame that you will not have much time to really experience the place as you will have so little time there.

 

DON

 

Well I'll make the most of it by doing the 12 hour kennecott day tour, and maybe I'll do a hiking or kayak tour also

[FLSteve11]

We just returned from a 7 week camping trip that took us to Glacier National Park in Montana and then to both Banff and Jasper National parks in Canada. We continued on up to Alaska and visited Denali National Park and also Wrangell - St Elias National Park. One rainy day we also dropped into the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge for Irish Coffee and lunch. We hung out in the lobby next to the fireplace (which had a nice fire going) and read for a couple of hours while having another Irish Coffee. :cool:

 

Wrangell - St. Elias National Park doesn't have much in the way of roads. One can drive in as far as the visitor center and can then hike on the Exit Glacier. There is another road that goes into the park but it is only paved for a short bit and then I don't believe it really "goes" anywhere much. We only went about 10 miles or so down the road after the pavement ended. There are signs along the road to the visitor center with dates on them. They indicate how far the glacier extended in those years. It's truly amazing how much the glacier has retreated.

 

Are you thinking of Kenai National Park? Unless there is an Exit Glacier in Wrangell as well. That's where I saw the Exit Glacier that you could hike to that had all the signs on how far the glacier used to go.

[JP-Cruise]

Are you thinking of Kenai National Park? Unless there is an Exit Glacier in Wrangell as well. That's where I saw the Exit Glacier that you could hike to that had all the signs on how far the glacier used to go.

 

Oh speaking of Kenai national park I'm doing that cruise also when I'm in the Kenai princess lodge for 2 days :) I'm excited for that one :)

[Thrak]

Are you thinking of Kenai National Park? Unless there is an Exit Glacier in Wrangell as well. That's where I saw the Exit Glacier that you could hike to that had all the signs on how far the glacier used to go.

 

D'Oh! You are, of course, correct. After 7 weeks on the road I get confused. (At least that's the excuse I'm going to use!) Wrangell - St. Elias we just went to the visitor center and also drove part way down the other road as I mentioned above. There wasn't much to "do" there except check out the scenery. We did stay at a very nice campground but it wasn't actually in the park.

 

My wife is "collecting" US National Parks. She has a shirt with all 59 listed on it and a checkbox next to each name. So far she has 27 of the 59. In October she will pick up National Park of American Samoa and next march will score Virgin Islands National Park. (Somehow I don't really see her ever marking off Gates of the Arctic National Park.)

[JP-Cruise]

D'Oh! You are, of course, correct. After 7 weeks on the road I get confused. (At least that's the excuse I'm going to use!) Wrangell - St. Elias we just went to the visitor center and also drove part way down the other road as I mentioned above. There wasn't much to "do" there except check out the scenery. We did stay at a very nice campground but it wasn't actually in the park.

 

Did you see a lot of wildlife thrak?

[Thrak]

Did you see a lot of wildlife thrak?

 

Not in that park. We did, however, see a number of moose, several bears, and a lot of Stone Sheep. In Glacier National Park we saw both Whitetail and Mule deer. Very unconcerned about the people. At a campground in Banff National Park in Alberta there was a small herd of Elk that frequented the campground. One campground (which we did NOT stay in) allowed mostly hard sided trailers, etc. If you wanted to tent camp you had to pitch the tent within a tent enclosure. It was an area surrounded by a heavy duty, electrified fence. Not my idea of a great spot! We were in our teardrop trailer so could have camped there but it was ugly as well as totally bear infested so we went on further and found a really pleasant spot to camp. Almost everywhere we went was posted regarding bear safety and had bear proof garbage. Some places had bear proof cupboards but most didn't. We just store the food in the truck and keep a clean camp. I do love camping in Yukon as it is very inexpensive and they provide all the free firewood you want. Just be sure to bring an axe because it is cut but not split. ;)

[tamsocal]

Sounds amazing!!! So I did find this one excursion on the copper princess lodge website. It's the Kendicott explorer. It's 12 and a half hours goes to Chinia, cross the steel bridge. Goes to the kendicottt mines and it said at kendicott we will have 5 hours of free time and can purchase an option acirivtity such as hiking etc. This sounds good. Has anyone done this?

 

that is the tour we did-we booked thru princess- we just skipped the ride home from McCarthy to chitina- we flew with Wrangell air.

my suggestion for flying is to just get more time in the park- you would have ~8 hours

[tamsocal]

Are you thinking of Kenai National Park? Unless there is an Exit Glacier in Wrangell as well. That's where I saw the Exit Glacier that you could hike to that had all the signs on how far the glacier used to go.

 

root glacier is near the kennicott mine

[tamsocal]

Well I'll make the most of it by doing the 12 hour kennecott day tour, and maybe I'll do a hiking or kayak tour also

if you can swing the extra $$ I would highly suggest flying- 5hrs go fast.

I still recommend the shuttle, we loved our brief visit, but flying would be my preference for time and the beautiful scenery

 

keep in mind that there are tours of the mine and only at certain times- it is tough to do a kayak trip or hike and do the tour- if you flew both directions you could do both- if you do the shuttle thru princess you likely have to choose one or the other- mine tour or kayak or hike

[JP-Cruise]

if you can swing the extra $$ I would highly suggest flying- 5hrs go fast.

I still recommend the shuttle, we loved our brief visit, but flying would be my preference for time and the beautiful scenery

 

keep in mind that there are tours of the mine and only at certain times- it is tough to do a kayak trip or hike and do the tour- if you flew both directions you could do both- if you do the shuttle thru princess you likely have to choose one or the other- mine tour or kayak or hike

 

Oh that is so super smart! So you took the regular tour to kendicott. Then from kendicott you flew back to the lodge? How much did the flight cost? Do you remember ?