I'm planning on heading over to the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park this next week to do some exploring in those parts. I have three five gallon fuel bags that I'm going to be taking along with me. From what Foreflight is telling me, there's no 100LL in Mccarthy? Therefore, it seems the closest spots for fuel would be Gulkana/Valdez/Cordova. I was hoping to use Mccarthy as a fuel stop, but if I can't get fuel there then I'll have to deviate from my plans. The plan was to head east after stopping in Mccarthy, towards the Nizina glacier to camp for a couple of days. I figure I can make it from Gulkana to Nizina and back with the fuel I'll have, but won't have much extra fuel for fun play.

Anyone have any advice on fuel options in the area? I noticed on a couple of past forum posts that there seemed to have been an FBO that sold fuel in Mccarthy in the past, but maybe that's closed now?

All the info to sign up for and get fuel at MXY is on my website http://fly2ak.com.

McCarthy fuel 907-554-4498. You have to call ahead and set up a account. Once you have the account set up it is self serve at the main strip. Don't wait until the day before you leave, they are busy and sometimes it takes a while to make contact. Let me know if you have problems. Have fun and be safe!
DENNY

Thank y'all! I'll give them a call tomorrow morning

Got my account all set-up and ready to go. I'm excited to get my adventure started! Any recommendations while I'm in the area?

Just sightsee? Camp? Really remote? Gravel bars? Hike?

Jake’s Bar Forest Service cabin is awesome. Wood fired sauna there too. AK0.

Short hike to old mine cabins at Bremner is well worth the visit. Tie down out of the way as other planes in there for hikers often.

Nizina glacier strip is neat. Short hike to glacier. Sometimes can find ice caves nearby. Again, tie down out of the way as the strip is very active.

Kennicott mine tour is very interesting! Maybe $20 or so each but worth it. Plus shuttle fee to Mill area $15 maybe?

The “Fosse” is a neat place. Good hikes. Again, often active so park and tie down out of the way.

tedwaltman wrote:Just sightsee? Camp? Really remote? Gravel bars? Hike?

Jake’s Bar Forest Service cabin is awesome. Wood fired sauna there too. AK0.

Short hike to old mine cabins at Bremner is well worth the visit. Tie down out of the way as other planes in there for hikers often.

Nizina glacier strip is neat. Short hike to glacier. Sometimes can find ice caves nearby. Again, tie down out of the way as the strip is very active.

Kennicott mine tour is very interesting! Maybe $20 or so each but worth it. Plus shuttle fee to Mill area $15 maybe?

The “Fosse” is a neat place. Good hikes. Again, often active so park and tie down out of the way.

Nice! Thanks Ted! I was looking at either staying at the Peavine or Glacier Creek, I may have to check out Jake's Bar though. The sauna sounds nice.
Nizina glacier strip is on the list, I'm excited for that. Hoping to do the mine tour at some point as well.

Any gravel bar recommendations or areas to land off-charts would be really appreciated. Really just looking forward to some nice flightseeing and camping in remote spots with good views.

Based only on satellite imagery, seems like the Nizina river would have some great gravel bar locations.

tedwaltman wrote:Nizina glacier strip is neat. Short hike to glacier. Sometimes can find ice caves nearby. .

Is that the one they call the "amphitheater strip" ?

IMHO, Jake’s Bar has a much nicer cabin. But the views at Peavine and especially Glacier Creek are better.

The Nizina valley river plains are covered by a very fragile white-ish plant. Any landings on other than pure gravel will leave a decades long track. Please respect nature when choosing landing spots.

I don’t recall anyone referring to the Nizina glacier strip as the “amphitheater” strip Z. There are a number of locations with amphitheaters, eg at the head of the Hawkins Glacier, but no where to land there.

tedwaltman wrote:IMHO, Jake’s Bar has a much nicer cabin. But the views at Peavine and especially Glacier Creek are better.

The Nizina valley river plains are covered by a very fragile white-ish plant. Any landings on other than pure gravel will leave a decades long track. Please respect nature when choosing landing spots.

I don’t recall anyone referring to the Nizina glacier strip as the “amphitheater” strip Z. There are a number of locations with amphitheaters, eg at the head of the Hawkins Glacier, but no where to land there.

I saw what you meant by the white-ish plants on the river plains, I was sure to avoid. I enjoyed staying in the Peavine, if anyone's interested in possibly staying at Peavine, here's a video of part of my time there.

We have been to that strip twice on fly outs. The little cabin is great and pretty bug proof if I remember correctly. One trick if you get to a cabin that has a lot of mosquitos is to just put you tent up in the cabin makes for a bug proof space in the cabin. Bit of smoky fire with the stove door cracked usually will drive them out also. DENNY