Alaska's most extensive and rugged glaciated wilderness is in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It is here in the massive icefields of the St. Elias Range that the Chitina River gets its start. This huge river bisects the Wrangell Mountains as it flows west toward the mighty Copper River. Most raft trips begin at McCarthy on the Kennecott River, which then flows into the Nizina, Chitina and Copper. This seemingly circuitous route allows rafters time to visit the interesting ghost town of McCarthy and the abandoned Kennecott copper mine before the multiday wilderness river journey to the Copper River at the small town of Chitina.
      The Copper River, below Chitina, flows swiftly through the beautiful Copper River Valley adjacent to the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park until it reaches the park's coastal Chugach Mountains. The Childs and Miles glaciers enter the Copper River creating Miles Lake. During summer, rafters frequently observe ice calving: large chunks of ice breaking away from the glacier.