The program is a seven week intensive field course for students interested in glaciology, Earth sciences and subarctic ecology, including connections with the arts, humanities, policy, park interpretation and science communication, taught in the field, based at the Wrangell Mountains Center in McCarthy in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve, backpacking up the Kennicott Glacier and into adjacent mountains and valleys. Wilderness travel skills are taught; previous experience not required.

While curriculum is geared towards undergraduates. the program is also appropriate for graduate students and non-traditional students. We do not require students to be currently enrolled in school. There are no specific prerequisites.

In the front country (~3 weeks), students live at the Wrangell Mountains Center campus in McCarthy, Alaska, taking classes, studying, and participating in cooperative living (cooking, gardening) as part of the Wrangell Mountains Center community, which includes researchers, artists, staff and faculty.

In the back-country (~4 weeks), students learn to travel through remote and rugged terrain conducting research and natural history observation, supported by interdisciplinary faculty.

LIFE IN TOWN

Daily life in town revolves around the Wrangell Mountains Center campus at the Center’s National Historic Register headquarters “Old Hardware Store.”  Students and instructors work alongside local residents to experience off-grid home life in a rural and rugged national park gateway community. Classes take place at the Old Hardware Store and in the field nearby. In addition to coursework, students participate collaboratively in cooking meals, maintaining facilities, tending a garden and sleeping in tents. Workshops, lectures, and artist residencies hosted by the Wrangell Mountains Center create diverse opportunities, residing and studying alongside visiting experts.

Sample Day in Town:

7:15 – Awake in “Tent City,” a campground with stunning, 360-degree mountain views. Gather with some fellow students and walk the 10 minutes to the Old Hardware Store. Along the way, you see a ravens flying overhead and make note for your Species Account.

8:00 – Breakfast is ready! (A couple students were up early with staff to light the wood stove, make coffee, bake muffins, and start packing lunch.)

9:00 – Morning meeting: Introduction to the day’s schedule; announcements.

9:15 – The group splits to spend the day with local experts. For example:

Half the group travels to the homestead of local resident Mark Vail to learn about his innovations in subsistence living, his recent wildlife observations, and the latest meeting between McCarthy residents and the national park service.

The other half of the group attends a hydrology lecture with faculty. After lunch, walk to the nearby river bluff to practice geology research techniques that students will use in upcoming field research projects.

4:00 – Free time for homework, leisure, and socializing. Lie in a hammock by the creek and read a scientific paper for tomorrow before doing garden chores of watering and picking a fresh salad and raspberries for dinner.

6:00 – Dinnertime.

7:00 – Wrangell Mountains Center Summer Arts and Lecture Series presentation by a visiting landscape artist.

8:30 – Sun will be out for several more hours! Armed with ideas from the artists’ lecture, you find a wildflower you're studying and do a detailed sketch for a portfolio assignment.

9:30 – Back in Tent City you wind down for the day, organize your notes, talk with your friends around a bonfire and banjo, and prepare for sleep. 

LIFE IN THE BACKCOUNTRY

On week long and three week backpacking trips, glaciers, rock glaciers and alpine ecosystems are primary teaching tools. Glaciers melt while walking on them, rivers cut new channels, plants sprout and go to seed in a few weeks. Complementing field observations, students read and discuss science literature about natural processes encountered. Distance from electricity, internet, and mobile devices allows students sustained observation, creative writing and drawing, using the field journal in the classic natural history tradition.

Sample Day in the Backcountry:

7:00 – Awake in your tent on a river bar near an alpine meadow. Pack your backpack and join your cook group for a camp stove breakfast.

9:00 – Packs on and snacks ready. After going over the route for the day, backpack down valley, keeping water, snacks, and field notebooks handy to record observations of Arctic ground squirrels and changing rock types visible with descent. 

10:00 – Hike over moraine to Kennicott Glacier ice.

12:00 – During lunch, a faculty glacier hydrology lecture.

3:00 –  Students split into teams to investigate ice topography and diagram hypotheses for its formation.

5:00 – Make camp. Set up your tent and organize field notes from the day for a portfolio assignment; join your cook group to make the hearty dinner you earned hiking. 

7:30 – Seminar on anthropology article about oral histories of glacier travel in multiple cultures, followed by conversation until bedtime.

Hosting Field Studies since 1985

Inquiries

Question you’d like to ask us about the program? We’d love to talk. Please get in touch using the form below and we will follow up with you shortly. Or email program coordinator Joseph Boots-Ebenfield: fieldstudies@wrangells.org.