Discovery and high adventure await paddlers in Wrangell-St. Elias, largest U.S. national park. Along the northern Gulf of Alaska coast, the St. Elias Mountains cradle a mile-high icefield brimming with glaciers and cascading waterfalls. 18,008-foot Mt. St. Elias looms over spectacular Icy Bay, a remote ford reminiscent of Glacier Bay 100 years ago.

Four separate fjords have emerged from the retreat of Guyot, Yahtse and Tyndall glaciers, in perhaps the most dynamic glacial setting on Alaska's coast. The land is rugged, raw and formidable, yet the relatively protected waters of Icy Bay are ideal for sea kayaking.

In this place of exceptional magnitude, we paddle our sea kayaks to the faces of huge tidewater glaciers. Drifting silently among crystalline icebergs, we experience the thunder of ice calving, with a backdrop of nearly four-mile-high peaks. (See National Geographic, May 1994).

We push our way through floating ice to explore new terrain. Land that lay beneath ice a decade ago is now covered with pioneering plants. Places we hiked 15 years ago are now filling in with alders. We hike meadows, steep ridges, and broad sand beaches, sharing them with brown bears, wolves, mountain goats, coyotes, and thousands of birds!

This trip is recommended for people who have paddled a sea kayak previously, and have kayak camping experience. This is an extremely remote, pristine area, often with rugged conditions--a dynamic environment, perfect for the truly adventurous explorer. There are no tour boats here!

We take a spectacular flight by bush plane over Yakutat Bay, with views of the Hubbard Glacier, and across the Malaspina Glacier, a huge piedmont glacier with distinctive moraine patterns, formed by differential movement of glaciers sliding down the St. Elias Range.